Repository logo
 

Faculty of Management Sciences

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/13

Browse

Subject: search.filters.subject.Empowerment

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Challenges of women entrepreneurship and empowerment in South Africa : evidence from rural areas
    (PT Keberlanjutan Strategis Indonesia, 2023-09) Nhleko, Mary-Ann Nokulunga; Msomi, Thabiso Sthembiso; Ogunsola, Sijuwade Adedayo
    This study aims to identify impediments to expanding women-owned businesses in rural areas of South Africa. The study used a quantitative research method to collect data. The study concentrated on 250 female business owners in the rural communities of Hluhluwe, Ulundi, and Eshowe in northern KZN. The study found that the main obstacles to expanding women-owned businesses in rural areas were financial constraints, a lack of education, and inadequate infrastructure. However, these difficulties experienced by women business owners in rural South Africa can be conquered. Overcoming these obstacles could empower women entrepreneurs and stimulate economic growth in rural areas, thus reducing poverty and enhancing the living standards of rural communities. Based on these findings, the study recommends various interventions, such as alternative financing models, targeted education and training programs, and infrastructure development, to support the growth of women-owned enterprises in rural areas. Future research should examine additional issues such as cultural and social hurdles, a lack of access to markets and information, and legal and regulatory restrictions that impede the establishment of women-owned businesses in rural areas.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Reducing school violence : a peace education project in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
    (Education Association of South Africa, 2022-05) Ngidi, Lucia Zithobile; Kaye, Sylvia Blanche
    Violence occurring in South African schools takes various forms and is a concern for all stakeholders. All forms of violence have negative effects, i.e. physical and psychological, educational damage and societal breakdown. The overall aim of the study reported on here was to explore the nature, causes and consequences of school violence, and then to design an effective intervention strategy to reduce it. In this study we used action research methodology in which stakeholders were empowered to interrupt the occurrence of violence, stop the spread of violence and change group/community norms regarding violence. This strategy of violence reduction was tested at 1 school in Umlazi, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, in 4 stages: initial data collection, formation of an action team, design and implementation of a strategy, and evaluation of its efficacy. The action team was composed of teachers, community members, parents and learners who developed a strategy entitled, We Care (WC). Initial from both schools data showed that schools were unsafe, with school violence caused by substance abuse, theft, vandalism, physical violence, religious discrimination, sexual violence, cyber bullying, gender-based violence and gambling. WC clustered abnormal behaviour patterns demonstrated by learners into categories: violent cases and behavioural indicators of physical, sexual, alcohol and drug abuse. WC assisted high risk learners who had decided to act non violently, help victims and assist parents and community members who perpetrated violence. A preliminary evaluation was conducted 1 year later and WC reported that they had developed capacity to assist with these categories of violence, leading to a reduction in violent behaviour at the school.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The role of South Sudanese refugee and Ugandan women in peace and conflict transformation, Uganda
    (2022) Dawa, Irene; Kaye, Sylvia Blanche
    This study was guided by two research questions: (1) what explains the current participation or lack thereof of refugee and host community women in conflict transformation and peacebuilding in their communities? and (2) how can women and men be empowered to work together and what are the opportunities and limitations to their participation? The study adopted a mixed methodology approach. An exploratory and constructivism worldview orientation was employed to facilitate participation and understanding the meanings narrated by participants. Data pertaining to the study were collected from respondents comprising refugee and host community women and men through observations, individual interviews, focus group discussions, semi-structured questionnaires, and document analyses. The study revealed that women of Bidibidi refugee settlement played a major role in conflict prevention/transformation and peacebuilding through information sharing, motherhood and childcare, intermarriages between communities, social support psycho-social and spiritual healing to resolve and transform violent conflict. The study identified several findings: that the inclusion of men into women programs is beneficial as it facilitates relationship-building for sustainable peace; the positive impact of women participation in conflict transformation. The study further revealed that peacebuilding was being undermined by multiple factors including: a lack of resources for women including access to education, gender-insensitive infrastructure in the settlements, a lack of knowledge and skills, cultural barriers that restrict women’s participation in public lives, a general lack of focus on peacebuilding and conflict transformation, and an inadequate level of education/training for women. The study concluded that achievements by women in conflict transformation and peacebuilding at grassroots level received little to no attention as they continue to be side-lined by all actors including the humanitarian actors in peace processes in the settlement. The study therefore makes a deliberate call to stakeholders, especially the Government of Uganda and humanitarian actors, to utilise the untapped expertise of women and address these challenges for sustainable peace in the settlement and the country at large. Being a pioneer study in a refugee settlement in Uganda, further studies will need to be carried out to identify appropriate strategies through which these challenges can be addressed in order to achieve meaningful participation of women in peacebuilding and conflict transformation.