4 research outputs found
South Africa perspective
The capabilities" approach has overtime offers instructive insights into the improvement of human capabilities in various fields such as behavioural change, social inequalities, poverty, unemployment, and education. To this end, the capability approach may influence the achievement of social cohesion in the family. The family is an important unit that may be used to inform social policies and aid social cohesion. This article evaluates the use family as an instrument of policy in drawing out human capabilities. First, it defines and unpacks a family in South Africa"s context. Secondly the value addition that a family adds as an instrument for policy is done. Thirdly, the concept of human capabilities with the aid of the capabilities approach is done. The final step is a qualification of the capabilities approach in South Africa"s context. A conclusion and recommendations follow. The article utilised secondary data to evaluate how policies on family impact human capabilities in South Africa by aid of capability approach
Understanding refugee durable solutions by international players: Does dialogue form a missing link?
This study evaluates durable solutions in relation to refugees from East
Africa. It particularly focuses on the Great Lakes countries of Rwanda, Burundi,
Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. The study is based on the conviction that
these four countries have never had peaceful transfer of power which in essence has
been a major contributing factor to political violence that has caused forced mass
migration in the region to this day. The use of force or military suppression has been a
norm since independence of these countries in the early 1960s. This suppression has
continuously forced many people to flee their homes facing abuse of their human
rights, dictatorship, persecution, indiscriminate arrests, ethnic wars and political
violence. Based on a survey used to collect data and in-depth interviews with selected
refugees from the Great Lakes region living in Cape Town, South Africa, this paper seeks
to understand durable solutions through analysing the current refugee situation. It
demonstrates that durable solutions can present both challenges and solutions. It also
revisits the concept of durable solutions and seeks to re-evaluate whether these
various solutions offer a chance for dialogue. With the aid of a legal perspective on the
refugee situation in the region, the paper qualifies the concepts of dialogue as a
mechanism for peace building as well as driver for voluntary repatriation.IBS
The terrain of urbanisation process and policy frameworks: A critical analysis of the Kampala experience
Kampala is urbanising in an unplanned manner, but without a clear picture
of the underlying dynamics. The city is characterised by lack of proper zoning
of economic activities and construction of physical infrastructure without regard to
subsequent spatial quality and environmental conservation. Consequently, there are
sharp differences in residential standards where expensive housing and luxury flats
co-exist with shanty towns and informal settlements, with about 60% of the city’s
population living in unplanned informal settlements and often faced with challenges
of unemployment. The unprecedented increase in the urban population in
Kampala and the prospects for further increases in the near future have economic
and social implications concerning employment, housing, education and health,
among others. Understanding the nature of the dynamics of the growth or decline
of cities like Kampala helps planners to support the processes that lead to harmonious
urban development and to deal with the negative consequences of urban
growth. This paper reflects the urbanisation dynamics explaining Kampala’s urbanisation
process with the view to analysing the implications for an alternative urban policy framework. It argues that the conditions that have allowed the situation to
exist have serious policy implications which require the need for an integrated policy
framework that can be used to effectively prevent or halt Kampala’s unplanned
urbanisation while promoting planned urbanisation. Induced by the migration and
lack of information, understanding urban dynamics is crucial to the development of
urban policies that can effectively ensure that further urban changes occur in a systematic
and satisfactory manner. The current urban process in developing countries
like Uganda is associated with poverty, environmental degradation and population
demands that outstrip service capacity