Faculty of Theology
Department of Science of Religion and Missiology
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
The Programme has made good progress with different aspects of the project on the low-income household in the African context:
Air pollution
The speed of implementation of the Basa Magogo method to reduce air pollution caused by the domestic use of coal, has improved. This is important if more than a million households are to be reached as envisaged, and without compromising effectiveness (40% reduction in ambient pollution). The aim in 2005 will be to find ways to improve the effectiveness to 60%, by convincing more households in the community to adapt to the new method. One of the possibilities that will be investigated is to find the social networks in the community through which technology transfer could spread. There is at the moment almost no transfer of the method, e.g. from neighbour to neighbour. Churches, schools, burial societies and clinics can be investigated.
Housing
Progress has been made with work on the design of low-cost houses to drastically reduce the need for costly space-heating - and the high peak demand for electricity during winter evenings. In a survey of 528 low-income households, 98% of residents indicated that they closed their windows at night because of a fear for crime, and 78% because of a fear for witchcraft. This has important consequences for the way an energy-efficient house should be designed.
Household-based production
Progress was made towards the aim to develop the traditional role of the household as the center of economic production. In Soshanguve, 120 households produced vegetables for own use. The role of different churches in promoting entrepreneurship was investigated. It was found that protestant churches did so by promoting modernisation, through education, rationalism, etc., while pentecostal churches did so by preaching a powerful message of liberation from the spirits and forces of the traditional world. The effects of the different approaches will be investigated further in 2005.
Household-based care
The household is not only the the center of production in Africa, but also the center of care. This role is becoming extremely important because of the growth in numbers of terminally ill people, as well as children, who need care. The development and evaluation of a method to make a comprehensive analysis of the impact of a specific event - such as the death of a parent - on the functioning of all aspects of a household, as well as the changes in the ability of the household to satisfy its needs, was one of the main activities of the research team in 2004.
Contact person: Dr AS van Niekerk.
|
