Towards appropriate, accessible information networks in developing communities : an assessment of selected information literacy projects and programmes in South Africa and Namibia

The central theme of this study revolves around information delivery in a developing community. The notion of appropriate, accessible information networks is scrutinised. The Okavango region in Namibia is used as a case study of a developing, rural community. The region is underdeveloped in important spheres such as health, agriculture and education. Library and related information services are either underdeveloped or undeveloped. The region has a favourable rainfall pattern and a viable agricultural resource base. This is important for Namibia, because the country has large areas of semi-desert and desert. Although the Okavango region is vast ( some 4.6 million hectares), the majority of the population (137,000 at the 1991 census), are settled in a narrow 5-10 kilometre strip along the south bank of the Okavango river. This in itself offers challenging opportunities to improve connectivity and access to appropriate information for community development. The current situation with regard to information delivery and information literacy levels in Namibia is sketched and a detailed description of two projects striving towards appropriate, accessible information delivery given. Both projects are based in a tertiary environment, one at the University of Namibia and the other at five Western Cape tertiary institutions in South Africa. Although, essentially these projects aim at improving information delivery at a tertiary level, community outreach components are woven into the long term vision of both projects. The information literacy components of the projects described are of special significance. The concept of information literacy and the potential of information literacy projects and programmes to facilitate the delivery of appropriate, accessible information to developing communities are probe

Service Design Workshops in Design Practice

The research interest of this article-based dissertation has focused on service design workshops and their connection to design practice. They have been studied through four distinctive sub-studies in which the focus has been in the people and their experiences of the service design workshops by gathering together academic, professional and pragmatic perspectives. The empirical data was collected in three different contexts: ARSTMO, PARTY and GLiV as well as in four different countries: Finland, Russia, Namibia and South Africa from 2014 to 2018. This dissertation introduces a practice-based perspective towards service design workshops. The study has focused on investigating the theme through the main research question: How do service design workshops foster design practice? Overall, the term ‘practice-based’ connects all the elements of this study: theoretical, designerly and practical. The key themes, which unfold through the dissertation, connecting research and practice are service design, design practice, community and social (includes societal and interaction perspectives). In the dissertation, services are understood as practices that are performed through people’s day-to-day activities. They are not only happening and created in companies and organisations but deeply rooted in our ways of living and being and in our cultural habits and societies. This places service design inherently in local and social contexts where acknowledging and embracing complexities, plurality and diversity are required from the designer. Service design workshops are spaces where discoveries, development and remodelling of existing as well as future practices can emerge in collaboration. This has a strong influence on designers as it makes them part of a community of practice that is appearing in the workshop through the co-design activities. Workshops are discussed as a possibility to look beyond the immediate outcome of design and service. Through them, it is possible to embed the design process and practice in local and specific situations. The focus of the research has been on the people and their experiences of the service design workshops. I have positioned myself as a researcher–practitioner–designer in the workshops, and I have realised the value of shifting my position along the way in order to study service design workshops from different viewpoints. Also, the focus has changed through the sub-studies from design students and teachers to professional designers and on to the participants of the workshops. Accordingly, the results are discussed from three different perspectives: 1) academic, 2) professional and 3) pragmatic. This way, the dissertation promotes a perspective where service design workshops are seen as one of the central ways of practicing design and design research with communities.Tämän artikkelipohjaisen väitöskirjan tutkimuskohteena ovat palvelumuotoilutyöpajat ja niiden tarkastelu osana yhteisöllistä muotoilutoimintaa. Työpajoja on tutkittu neljän erillisen alatutkimuksen kautta, jotka ovat keskittyneet työpajoihin osallistuvien ihmisten kokemuksiin eri painopistein. Empiiristä tietoa on kerätty kolmessa eri projektiluontoisessa kontekstissa: ARSTMO, PARTY ja GLiV sekä neljässä eri maassa: Suomessa, Venäjällä, Namibiassa ja Etelä-Afrikassa vuosina 2014–2018. Väitöskirja esittelee käytäntölähtöisen näkökulman palvelumuotoilutyöpajoihin. Teemaa on tutkittu pääkysymyksen avulla: Kuinka palvelumuotoilutyöpajat edistävät muotoilutoimintaa ja -käytäntöä? Kaiken kaikkiaan termi käytäntölähtöinen yhdistää kaikki tämän tutkimuksen elementit. Väitöskirjassa avautuvat pääteemat, jotka yhdistävät tutkimuksen, käytännön ja muotoilun, ovat: palvelumuotoilu, muotoilutoiminta, yhteisöllinen sekä sosiaalinen, pitäen sisällään vuorovaikutuksellisen ja yhteiskunnallisen näkökulman. Väitöskirjassa palvelut ymmärretään käytännöiksi, jotka ovat osa arkea ja konkretisoituvat ihmisten päivittäisissä toimissa. Palveluita ei suunnitella ja toteuteta vain yrityksissä ja organisaatioissa, vaan niiden käyttö on osa arkipäivää, jonka kautta ne juurtuvat syvälle ihmisten elämäntapoihin sekä laajemmin myös kulttuureihin ja yhteiskuntaan. Tämä sijoittaa palvelumuotoilun luonnostaan paikallisiin ja sosiaalisiin tilanteisiin, joissa muotoilijalta vaaditaan kykyä navigoida monimutkaisten tilanteiden läpi yhteisöjen kanssa sekä moniarvoisuuden sekä monimuotoisuuden huomioimista. Palvelumuotoilutyöpajat ovat tilanteita, joissa olemassa olevien ja tulevaisuuden käytäntöjen kehittämistä voidaan tehdä yhteistyössä ja yhteisöllisesti. Tällä on vaikutusta muotoilijan työhön, koska se sijoittaa hänet osaksi käytäntöyhteisöä, joka syntyy ja muokkaantuu työpajassa jaetun muotoilutoiminnan kautta. Väitöskirjassa työpajoja käsitellään mahdollisuutena nähdä muotoilun ja palvelun välittömän lopputuloksen yli. Niiden kautta on mahdollista keskittyä muotoilutoimintaan laajempana ilmiönä sekä sulauttaa muotoilukäytäntö paikalliseen ja kyseiseen kontekstiin. Tutkimuksen painopiste on ollut ihmisissä ja heidän kokemuksissaan palvelumuotoilutyöpajoissa. Itse olen työpajoissa ollut tutkija-toimija-muotoilija ja tuntenut tärkeäksi vaihdella omaa positiotani tutkiakseni työpajoja mahdollisimman monesta tulokulmasta. Tutkimuksen painopiste on siirtynyt neljän alatutkimuksen johdattamana muotoilun opiskelijoista ja opettajista ammattilaisiin ja lopuksi työpajojen osallistujiin sekä yksilöinä että yhteisöinä. Näin ollen tuloksista keskustellaan kolmesta eri näkökulmasta: 1) akateeminen, 2) ammatillinen ja 3) käytännönläheinen. Tutkimuksen tulosten mukaan palvelumuotoilutyöpajat voidaan nähdä yhtenä keskeisenä tapana muotoiluun ja muotoilun tutkimukseen yhteisöjen kanssa

Exploratory study to evaluate the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Namibia's manufacturing sector

This study sought to explore what is termed the 'entrepreneurial ecosystem' that exists for small businesses operating in the manufacturing sector in Namibia. The objectives were to establish whether there exists a conducive business environment – that is an environment conducive for small businesses in the manufacturing sector to develop networks and build new institutional capabilities. The study also sought to determine if there existed an environment conducive to foster cooperation between different stakeholders in the manufacturing sector in Namibia. Finally the research also sought to make practical recommendations on how stakeholders in the small business sector in Namibia can create an integrated holistic system that encourages a healthy entrepreneurship ecosystem. Through an analysis of literature information provides an overview of the business environment, and through analysis of the primary findings, the researcher shares perception on the ecosystem from the manufacturers themselves. The interviews revealed that the challenges faced by small businesses operating in Windhoek were similar to those documented by existing literature. Of key note however, was the increasing perception of a lack of cooperation between various stakeholders, the government, the private sector, tertiary institution and consumers to make concerted efforts to foster a conducive environment for these small businesses. It is recommended that government initiatives be supported by the private and civil sector – particularly and awareness of and access to funding opportunities, compulsory skills development and training, and capacity building through mentorship and incubation and facilitating market access. The research concludes by suggesting a systematic model that illustrates the relationships (as suggested by the theory and the interviews) between the elements of the ecosystem, as well as recommendations for future research

Exploring evidence-based practice in Namibia - a co-operative inquiry

Includes bibliographical references.Since no scientifically obtained information existed on engagement in EBP by Namibian-based occupational therapists, the researcher set out to explore the usefulness and feasibility of evidence-based practice (EBP) for occupational therapists in Namibia. An action research, specifically co-operative inquiry was chosen as methodology. This enabled the researchers to simultaneously raise awareness of and disseminate information reading EBP and collect experience based data from co-researchers. Purposive sampling, in particular maximum variation sampling, promised a wide yield of data; this was collected from participants' experiences as they engaged in and reflected on retrieving evidence and participation in focus group meetings. A qualitative content analysis and coding of verbatim transcriptions of focus group meetings together with written reflections of participating occupational therapists (co-researchers) revealed three themes. Co-researchers reported mixed feelings about the possibilities of evidence-based practice; they observed shifts in their understanding and skills base of EBP; and they provided suggestions on how EBP could be implemented in Namibia. An interpretation of the findings of the study suggest, however, that intent to change and gain knowledge and skills do not necessarily lead to changed behaviour; social structures, including hegemonies related to lack of access to evidence, are shown to impact negatively on implementing EBP in Namibia. It is suggested that a group approach with agreed upon targets, incorporating monitoring of attitudes and intention to perform, broadening and deepening knowledge and skills, while addressing structural constraints and bad habits, could deliver positive results

Oudano as praxis: archives, audiotopias and movements

Several Namibian studies have looked at Oudano as an expansive Oshiwambo and Rukwangali concept that implies utterances of play, performance, and performativity in spheres of culture, sports, religion, and politics. This thesis offers experiments that explore the critical usefulness of Oudano. I embark on these experiments in a deliberately undisciplined way, crossing media, time periods, ethnicities, geographies, and emphasising embodiment and mobility. In the process I show how Oudano is a practice of critical orientation in various respects, by looking at cultural work that questions institutional constraints and exclusions. This study departs from the disjuncture between cultural work that is authorised by hegemonic national heritage discourse and unauthorised cultural work in action, offering other ways of knowing with different aims that slide into the cracks, between and outside of power. The disjuncture endorses structural disparities that are a direct result of a cultural hegemony, its aims and exertion of power. I was motivated by a deep anxiety caused by Namibia's post-apartheid dominant epistemologies that fundamentally exclude indigenous and subaltern methods of knowledge production. This thesis was aimed at finding a range of conceptual and methodological approaches for critical consciousness and radical imagination across place and time. I made a choice to focus on a set of ‘unrelated objects' which include my cultural practices and those of other cultural workers in Namibia. African queer and performance theories are interfaced with Oudano to demonstrate the relatedness of these objects. The objects gathered and analysed in this study were given status of archive to point to their role of memory making in social and cultural movements. Methodologically, I relied on Archival research and Practice-as-Research (P-aR) to interweave my (performance and curatorial) practice and historical research. The thesis is a collection of six papers divided in two movements which offer specific insights about the various objects of analysis. These objects include lino-cut prints, rock art, colonial photography and sonic archives, performance art, museum theatre, site-related performance, jazz, struggle music, HipHop, Kwaito, Shambo, documentary film, orature, oral history, protest action, as well as curatorial practice. Given its epistemic potential, Oudano is a generative approach of decolonising our understandings of performance cultures. Through close reading and listening to works of Oudano produced in Namibia, I demonstrate how people have historically practiced Oudano to construct audiotopic imaginations and build social movements. While this offers decolonial lessons for both performance and archivality, Oudano is an indigenous framework of preserving and queering knowledge. In that sense, a queer understanding of Oudano exceeds geo-political and ethnic borders, signifying how it has historically accompanied historic migrations of artists and material culture, as well as activists and non-normative ideas. By reading Oudano across time allowed this study to interrupt periodisation, showing Oudano's potential as a trans-temporal practice. Overall, this study contributes to the long- existing gap of performance studies as a field in Namibian studies. It pays attention to overlooked archives of cultural work, most of which have hardly received any scholarly attention. The thesis exceeds my disciplinary training of drama and theatre, demonstrating Oudano as an intellectual praxis that is leaky, slippery, and undisciplined

Upper Primary Science Curriculum Development for Physically Active Youth

Physically Active Youth (P.A.Y.), is an after-school program in Katutura, Namibia that provides a safe and nurturing learning environment for Namibian children grades 1-12 coming from disadvantaged communities. The goal of this project was to develop an engaging science curriculum for P.A.Y.’s learners. Before arriving in Namibia, a standard for lesson creation and facilitation was established through a survey, lesson plan feedback, and a practice lesson. Second, at P.A.Y. during implementation, the lessons were refined through daily reflections and online video critiques. Third, the team conducted surveys and interviews with stakeholders to evaluate success. The team produced a guidebook compilation of all science lessons and worksheets to leave behind for future educators

Invoking learner voice and developing leadership: what matters to learners?

AbstractEducational leadership and management (ELM) research overly focuses on adult leadershipdevelopment at the expense of leadership of learners. Framed by the concept of learnervoice, this article focuses on learner leadership and argues that learners should be treated aspeople whose ideas matter. It draws on a Bachelor of Education Honours (ELM) electivewhich required students (practicing teachers) to establish school leadership clubs andinvolve learners in a reform initiative in pursuit of leadership development. Thelongitudinal study which informed this article was designed as a multi-case study to explorelearner voice and the development of leadership across 44 leadership clubs drawing onthree data sources. The study found that while the phenomenon of learner leadership wasnot common across schools, leadership clubs offered a space for the development of learnervoice. Learner voice was generated in relation to the school physical environment, Englishproficiency amongst learners, improved learner conduct, developments pertaining to theextra-mural curriculum, and leadership training initiatives. In addition, the clubs affordedlearners the opportunity to initiate and lead a change project in their schools. However, thetake-up of learner leadership as a whole school initiative was problematic in the majority ofschools. The article concludes with some suggestions for a future research agenda emergingout of the first phase of the project