Browsing by Author "Diga, Kathleen."

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Aspirations for higher education : evidence from youth living in Kenneth Gardens municipal housing estate (Durban)
(2015) Mseleku, Zethembe.; Ballard, Richard James.; Diga, Kathleen.
Inadequate and unequal access to higher education has been identified as a major development issue internationally. This issue has received practical attention from different stakeholders in an attempt to increase youth participation and to promote equal access to higher education. However, it has been recognised that such attention was not adequate to ensure access to higher education for the majority of deserving youth. Similarly, in South Africa, limited access to higher education for the majority of youth remains a major development problem. This study was conducted at Kenneth Gardens which is the municipal housing estate in Durban KwaZulu-Natal. Most youth at Kenneth Gardens lack higher education. As a result, higher education is one of the possible aspects making youth vulnerable to non-participation in the economy. It thereby remains critical that the public, private and civil society sectors cooperate to develop appropriate strategies to improve youth access and participation in higher education. The enhancement of competences and skills for young individuals can contribute to development. There are many practical barriers that hinder youth to participate in higher education. This study goes beyond looking at these practical obstacles which hinder youth from accessing higher education. More specifically, the study explores the lesser known factor of “lack of aspirations” for higher education. This study demonstrates that although it is important to address practical barriers such as providing funding for higher education, increasing the number of tertiary education institutions, strengthening the capacity of primary and secondary education to prepare learners for higher education, increasing youth aspirations for higher education is very critical for youth to access higher education. The major finding from this study is that lack of aspirations is one of the major obstacles that hinder youth from accessing higher education. Aspiration for higher education is one of the main drivers for youth to become motivated to access higher education. This suggests the need to implement effective programmes that aim at increasing youth aspirations for higher education.
Early childhood development and South Africa: a literature review.
(University of KwaZulu-Natal., 2016-08-01) Mbarathi, Nduta.; Mthembu, Mbali Emerald.; Diga, Kathleen.
Early Childhood Development (ECD) has become a priority sector within South Africa, particularly in respect to ensuring equity and high quality of care for the youngest members (ages 0 to 5 years old) of the population. South Africa is also burdened with high levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment as well as unequal levels of service delivery and public provision of infrastructure. Given the recent development and request for feedback on the provisional ECD policy, there would be a benefit to examine the current state of this draft policy, its respective white papers, and its national and international mandates as well as to understand their relationship to South Africa’s context of poverty. Furthermore, child poverty remains a major concern in the country, particularly in respect to the geographical and living conditions where children live, study and play. This paper wishes to bring to light literature on poverty and, from a multi-dimensional lens, understand how early childhood development provision, whether it be through its programming or the physical centres themselves, are affecting the lives of children, particularly those within households living in urban poverty. ECD are intended to provide children with a safe facility to stay and with some standards of conditions which would allow children to learn and improve their skills. ECD also provides parents with the ability to leave their children in safe places so that they can work or learn. The proximity of ECD centres, their costs, the staffing and their physical conditions influence the choices of parents to leave their children at an ECD centre. The ECD centres within informal settlements are also explored in this paper, given the need for further understanding of such physical infrastructures within a municipality’s planning. Planning for ECD centres within the ‘grey areas’, such as informal settlements or those located in traditional land, can be problematic, especially for ECD managers or principals in gaining access to much needed ECD resources through the appropriate departments. Those parents who have limited and erratic income stream are provided with inadequate choices which may put a mother and/or father in difficult situations of child care. The ECD policy would benefit poor households, particularly those living within informal settlements, through understanding the conditions of the poor and their limitation of choices in ECD centres. In understanding their limitation, government could help provide a more meaningful policy which caters to their needs.
Exploring the informal business sector in Clairwood, Durban, South Africa,
(University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2017-09-13) Tshabalala, Ayanda.; Diga, Kathleen.; Bracking, Sarah Louise.
This paper aims to investigate alternative measures of value amongst marginalised citizens in South Africa. More specifically, the objective of this study is to understand the value of informal business within the under privileged area of Clairwood, Durban. The rationale is to explore the under-reported economic activities and advantages of micro enterprises operated by low income households. These livelihood and small enterprise activities are at risk by changing infrastructural developments which threaten displacement to this community, which is based within an industrial complex. This study highlights the contribution that informal traders make to the city and re-imagines sustainable development in the urban low-income context. This locally driven micro economy provides sufficient resources to raise many out of poverty. Clairwood is one of these unique scenarios: a mix of formal, yet declining manufacturing industries, surrounded by complementary micro informal businesses, as well as formal to informal dwelling settlements. These characteristics somehow work symbiotically and in harmony to support each other, benefiting residents’ financial and work needs. Findings show that Clairwood residents are not necessarily unsupportive of economic activities in their community, but that they are concerned about the encroaching and non-participatory nature of national infrastructure and specifically port sector imperatives which further debilitate their efforts to preserve their heritage and economic livelihoods. Worryingly, residents feel continuously framed as uncooperative and unable to participate. Such perceptions miss the true value of the economic and participatory contributions of the local community of Clairwood. This study offers an alternative that hears the voice of this diverse community and allows them to express their values, further contributing to an alternative vision of low carbon, sustainable development.
Exploring the use of mobile banking services : case study of Wizzit Bank, South Africa.
(2014) Makore, Mildred P.; Diga, Kathleen.
The rate of penetration of the mobile phone has exceeded all other communication technology, particularly in the developing world. This has seen the introduction of mobilebased financial services to address financial exclusion. However, there is limited research on the usage of these mobile banking services by the poor. This study therefore seeks to explore how mobile banking services are being used by the urban poor in four townships in Johannesburg, South Africa (SA). It seeks to explore the social, technological and economic factors that have enhanced or inhibited use of mobile banking initiatives. In-depth interviews with 10 users of a mobile banking initiative and a focus group were conducted. The study applied the Capabilities Approach by Amartya Sen to analyse the contexts that can affect use of mobile banking services. Analysis of the data shows that mobile phone ownership and uptake does not directly translate to mobile banking uptake and usage. The study finds that there are contextual influences of uptake and usage - specifically the social, technological, personal and factors related to the banking environment that the usage decision is made in. However, social factors seem to impact the usage decisions most, as decisions whether to use or not to use the Wizzit Bank services were highly dependent on trust. The study also finds that mobile banking has the potential to contribute to development through expansion of freedoms. Mobile banking gives low income users the freedom to participate socially and economically in ways that can improve their livelihoods.
The impact of saving with mobile money transfer technology on the livelihoods of rural wage-earning women: a case study in Maragua District, Kenya.
(2015) Mbarathi, Nduta Muita.; Valodia, Imraan.; Diga, Kathleen.
Information and communication technologies have been shown to potentially aid in leveraging financial inclusion among low-income groups. This study investigates whether mobile money transfer technologies can be utilised by women in an empowering way within rural agricultural settings. Through a case study focusing on rural women in the agricultural Kenyan context, the research explores whether the savings mechanism offered by mobile money transfer technologies is being utilised. Guided by a qualitative research approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 purposively selected women in the Gakoigo sub-location in the Maragua district, of Central Province, Kenya, some of whom used mobile money transfer technologies and others who did not. The Choice Framework was applied to the findings gathered in order to provide an in-depth and holistic understanding of how mobile money transfer technologies provided women engaged in rural wage labour access to new financial options. The findings show that some of the choices made by these women, including the usage of both formal and informal savings, complements their current financial practice, as well as the achievements attained as a result this choice. The study finds that although mobile money transfer technologies do benefit women who make use of mobile savings, pre-existing policies have formed structures within institutions and organisations which do not cater for the needs of rural women. For this reason, these policies prevent women whose livelihoods depend on the agricultural sector from exerting their full potential to use mobile phones as a saving tool. Informal methods of saving, such as Rotating Service and Credit Associations therefore continue to be used as a preferred method of saving amongst these rural Kenyan women.
Mobile cell phones and poverty reduction : technology spending patterns and poverty level change among households in Uganda.
(2007) Diga, Kathleen.; May, Julian Douglas.
This paper exammes the spending behaviour of households with mobile phones in rural agricultural Uganda and whether such strategies such as substitutions have affected the well-being of these community members. According to the findings, rural households are willing to make sacrifices such as travel expenses and store-bought food budget in order to address the expenses of mobile phone services. While gender inequality through exacerbated asset control and mobile phone inexperience drive further digital divide in this village, the proliferation of small businesses development encourages phone ownership for women. Such strategies to afford a mobile phone or mobile phone services are undertaken to help facilitate longterm asset accumulation. For development studies, the analysis recommends a revised form of development thinking in a growing knowledge economy.