Innovation for improved hygiene: testing a handwashing station that uses recycled water in the field.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Reynaert
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Research Team ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Global South ◽  
Recycled Water ◽  
Transdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Water And Wastewater ◽  
Environmental Goals ◽  
Improve Access

Access to handwashing facilities is limited in cities in the Global South. On-site recycling of water can improve access to handwashing facilities in places that lack water and wastewater related infrastructure. A handwashing station prototype that uses recycled water was tested in real-life applications in Switzerland and South Africa, where it addresses both social and environmental goals. The transdisciplinary approach taken by the research team (a strategy where researchers from different disciplines work closely together with the users and beneficiaries of interventions) was a crucial factor in the acceptance of the handwashing station using recycled water.

UTAUT2-Based Questionnaire: Translation to Canadian French, Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Cognitive Debriefing (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Pagé ◽  
Marianne Roos ◽  
Olivier Collin ◽  
Sean Dean Lynch ◽  
Marie-Eve Lamontagne ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Technology Acceptance ◽  
Research Team ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Cognitive Debriefing ◽  
French Canadian ◽  
Final Version ◽  
French Version ◽  
Canadian French ◽  
Forward Translation ◽  
Consumer Perspective

BACKGROUND From the early stages of development of a new tool or device to its implementation in real-life settings, it is crucial to take the perception of potential users into consideration. A number of theories have been proposed to better understand acceptance of technology. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) combines eight of these theories and has been shown to accurately predict technology acceptance. An extended version, the UTAUT2, was proposed in 2012 and includes three new concepts to accurately analyze acceptance and usage of technology from a consumer perspective. No validated Canadian French version of this tool currently exists. OBJECTIVE The main objective was to cross-culturally adapt the UTAUT2-based questionnaire for use in the French-Canadian population. A cognitive debriefing involving potential users (workers) and experts (rehabilitation clinicians) was included to confirm clarity and relevance of questionnaire content. METHODS The procedure was developed in line with published guidelines and included five steps: (1) Forward translation by two bilingual members of the research team, (2) Synthesis of the translated versions by the research team, (3) Backward translation by two other bilingual members, (4) Synthesis by a multidisciplinary committee and proposal of the Pre-final Canadian French UTAUT2-based questionnaire, and (5) Cognitive debriefing. Cognitive debriefing consisted in the assessment of the clarity of the pre-final version content by a French-Canadian sample of potential responders (i.e. workers) and by an expert panel of rehabilitation professionals. Experts also appraised the relevance of each item of the pre-final version. Any questionnaire content or item not reaching an 80% inter-rater agreement for clarity or relevance was re-evaluated by the multidisciplinary committee until a final version was unanimously approved. RESULTS The multidisciplinary committee (n=6) was composed of researchers and clinicians from four different backgrounds. Twelve workers and 12 experts participated in the cognitive debriefing step. Each content or item (n=40) was judged as "clear" by at least 92% of the worker sample. When clarity was assessed by the experts, six terms/phrases did not reach 80% agreement and were therefore reviewed by the multidisciplinary committee. Four of the 27 items were also reviewed by the committee following the experts’ relevance assessment. The final version of the Canadian French UTAUT2-based questionnaire was approved unanimously by the members of the multidisciplinary committee. CONCLUSIONS The final version of the Canadian French version of the UTAUT2-based questionnaire is culturally appropriate for use in French-speaking Canada. Further studies are necessary to determine its psychometric properties.

Disappointed Remains: Trauma, Testimony, and Reconciliation in Post-apartheid South Africa

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Field
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Trauma Survivors ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
Democratic Elections

The apartheid regime in South Africa and the fight against the same, followed by the reconciliation is the crux of this article. The first democratic elections held on April 27, 1994, were surprisingly free of violence. Then, in one of its first pieces of legislation, the new democratic parliament passed the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act of 1995, which created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. At the outset, the South African TRC promised to “uncover the truth” about past atrocities, and forge reconciliation across a divided country. As oral historians, we should consider the oral testimonies that were given at the Human Rights Victim hearings and reflect on the reconciliation process and what it means to ask trauma survivors to forgive and reconcile with perpetrators. This article cites several real life examples to explain the trauma and testimony of apartheid and post-apartheid Africa with a hint on the still prevailing disappointments and blurred memories.

scholarly journals The Community PrEP Study: a randomized control trial leveraging community-based platforms to improve access and adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV among adolescent girls and young women in South Africa—study protocol

Trials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Medina-Marino ◽  
Dana Bezuidenhout ◽  
Sybil Hosek ◽  
Ruanne V. Barnabas ◽  
Millicent Atujuna ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Adolescent Girls ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Randomized Control Trial ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Adherence Support ◽  
Randomized Control ◽  
Exposure Prophylaxis ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Improve Access

Abstract Background HIV incidence among South African adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) remains high, but could be reduced by highly effective pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Unfortunately, AGYW report significant barriers to clinic-based sexual and reproductive health services. Even when AGYW access PrEP as an HIV prevention method, poor prevention-effective use was a serious barrier to achieving its optimal HIV prevention benefits. Determining the acceptability and feasibility of community-based platforms to increase AGYW’s access to PrEP, and evaluating behavioural interventions to improve prevention-effective use of PrEP are needed. Methods We propose a mixed-methods study among AGYW aged 16–25 years in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. In the first component, a cross-sectional study will assess the acceptability and feasibility of leveraging community-based HIV counselling and testing (CBCT) platforms to refer HIV-negative, at-risk AGYW to non-clinic-based, same-day PrEP initiation services. In the second component, we will enrol 480 AGYW initiating PrEP via our CBCT platforms into a three-armed (1:1:1) randomized control trial (RCT) that will evaluate the effectiveness of adherence support interventions to improve the prevention-effective use of PrEP. Adherence will be measured over 24 months via tenofovir-diphosphate blood concentration levels. Qualitative investigations will explore participant, staff, and community experiences associated with community-based PrEP services, adherence support activities, study implementation, and community awareness. Costs and scalability of service platforms and interventions will be evaluated. Discussion This will be the first study to assess the acceptability and feasibility of leveraging CBCT platforms to identify and refer at-risk AGYW to community-based, same-day PrEP initiation services. It will also provide quantitative and qualitative results to inform adherence support activities and services that promote the prevention-effective use of PrEP among AGYW. By applying principles of implementation science, behavioural science, and health economics research, we aim to inform strategies to improve access to and prevention-effective use of PrEP by AGYW. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.govNCT03977181. Registered on 6 June 2019—retrospectively registered.

scholarly journals The Conditions for after Work: Financialization and Informalization in Posttransition South Africa

PMLA ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 127 (4) ◽  
pp. 782-799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Maria Makhulu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Global South ◽  
First Century ◽  
Informal Employment ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Informal Economies ◽  
Forms Of Life ◽  
Modes Of Life

This essay situates the problem of twenty-first-century work in the global South—specifically, in South Africa—to challenge northern theories of the crisis of work. Addressing the break between Fordism and post-Fordism peculiar to the postcolonial context, it argues that new regimes of work should be understood in relation both to longer histories of colonial resistance to proletarianization (to the racisms of the shop floor) and to colonial Fordisms, as well as to the way these two factors inform the current expansion of informal employment. What practices and forms of life emerge from the precarity of informal economies and informal settlements? How are precarious modes of life connected to and informed by the steady dematerialization of the economy through financialization?

scholarly journals The effects of greening the supplier and innovation on environmental performance and competitive advantage

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Unine Van den Berg ◽  
Jean-Pierre Labuschagne ◽  
Hugo Van den Berg
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Competitive Advantages ◽  
Latent Constructs ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Environmental Goals ◽  
The City ◽  
Strength Of Association ◽  
Managerial Innovation

Companies in South Africa should realise the important influence of greening their suppliers and of innovation to achieve environmental goals and competitive advantages. In order to prove this, a questionnaire survey was conducted with 75 companies from 11 industries in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality region, South Africa. A confirmatory factor analysis was done, followed by bivariate correlations to determine the strength of association between the latent constructs. Correlations between greening the supplier, innovation, environmental performance and competitive advantages were done. The research found that a green innovative process had a significant effect on environmental performance. Green managerial innovation further had a significant correlation with competitive advantage. The primary result of the study indicated that all the constructs positively related to each other, meaning that greening suppliers, by means of green innovation, leads to an enhanced environmental performance and to competitive advantages.

scholarly journals Cybersecurity Policy and the Legislative Context of the Water and Wastewater Sector in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 291
Author(s):  
Masike Malatji ◽  
Annlizé L. Marnewick ◽  
Suné von Solms
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Computer Security ◽  
Critical Infrastructure ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Cyber Terrorism ◽  
Electronic Communications ◽  
Response Team ◽  
Water And Wastewater ◽  
Security Incidents

The water and wastewater sector is an important lifeline upon which other economic sectors depend. Securing the sector’s critical infrastructure is therefore important for any country’s economy. Like many other nations, South Africa has an overarching national cybersecurity strategy aimed at addressing cyber terrorism, cybercriminal activities, cyber vandalism, and cyber sabotage. The aim of this study is to contextualise the water and wastewater sector’s cybersecurity responsibilities within the national cybersecurity legislative and policy environment. This is achieved by conducting a detailed analysis of the international, national and sector cybersecurity stakeholders; legislation and policies; and challenges pertaining to the protection of the water and wastewater sector. The study found some concerning challenges and improvement gaps regarding the complex manner in which the national government is implementing the cybersecurity strategy. The study also found that, along with the National Cybersecurity Policy Framework (the national cybersecurity strategy of South Africa), the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, Critical Infrastructure Protection Act, and other supporting legislation and policies make provision for the water and wastewater sector’s computer security incidents response team to be established without the need to propose any new laws or amend existing ones. This is conducive for the immediate development of the sector-specific cybersecurity governance framework and resilience strategy to protect the water and wastewater assets.

scholarly journals The use of real life contexts in the CTA: Some unintended consequences

Pythagoras ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 0 (69) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Bansilal
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Assessment Programme ◽  
Assessment Tasks ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Assessment Activities

The Common Tasks for Assessment (CTA) was a new assessment programme that was introduced in 2002 in South Africa for all Grade 9 learners. The purpose of this paper is to articulate some concerns around the use of contextualised assessment activities in the CTA. The study reported here was carried out in 2003. Data for the study was generated from lesson observations and interviews with the participant teachers and groups of learners. It is argued that although the intentions behind the design of the CTA are well meaning and noble, there are in fact some learners who may be unintentionally disadvantaged by the design of the CTA which uses an extended context as a source for all the assessment tasks. In this paper two unintended consequences of using ‘real life’ contexts are identified and the implications of these are discussed, by linking the observations to research carried out in the UK and the USA.

scholarly journals Exploring the Effects of Adult and Community Education and Training on Economic Development of Women, in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sampson Tawiah
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Women ◽  
Community Education ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Educationally Disadvantaged ◽  
And Training

In South Africa, Adult and Community Education and Training (ACET) is established to cater for the educationally disadvantaged individuals, especially rural women, hence, ACET programmes are running in the country nationally. One of the aims of ACET is to open economic opportunities for women; however, the majority of rural women are still performing poorly economically. This empirical study aimed to explore the effect of ACET on the economic development of women in the Lusikisiki district of South Africa. A qualitative approach in the form of a case study design was used for the study to help the researcher relate to the real life circumstances of the women. Purposive sampling was used to select 35 participants from a population of 115. The participants were selected because they had wealth of information and could explain better the phenomenon under study. Data collection instruments used were face to face individual interviews which were audio recorded with the consent of participants. The major findings of the investigation include the following: inadequate learning resources available to women; inadequate skills development programmes provided and skeptical perception of the economic benefit of ACET to women. The study suggested that the programmes of ACET should be restructured and skills driven to meet the needs of women, especially in rural communities.

scholarly journals The colonial matrix of power: Image ontology and the question of blackness

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Itumeleng D. Mothoagae
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Africa ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
Black People ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global South ◽  
Black Theology ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

The question of blackness has always featured the intersectionality of race, gender, sexuality and class. Blackness as an ontological speciality has been engaged from both the social and epistemic locations of the damnés (in Fanonian terms). It has thus sought to respond to the performance of power within the world order that is structured within the colonial matrix of power, which has ontologically, epistemologically, spatially and existentially rendered blackness accessible to whiteness, while whiteness remains inaccessible to blackness. The article locates the question of blackness from the perspective of the Global South in the context of South Africa. Though there are elements of progress in terms of the conditions of certain Black people, it would be short-sighted to argue that such conditions in themselves indicate that the struggles of blackness are over. The essay seeks to address a critique by Anderson (1995) against Black theology in the context of the United States of America (US). The argument is that the question of blackness cannot and should not be provincialised. To understand how the colonial matrix of power is performed, it should start with the local and be linked with the global to engage critically the colonial matrix of power that is performed within a system of coloniality. Decoloniality is employed in this article as an analytical tool.Contribution: The article contributes to the discourse on blackness within Black theology scholarship. It aims to contribute to the continual debates on the excavating and levelling of the epistemological voices that have been suppressed through colonial epistemological universalisation of knowledge from the perspective of the damnés.

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