SARChI Insights on Sustainable Livelihoods: Recent Episodes
Host - Dr Sokfa John
The SARChI Insights on Sustainable Livelihoods Podcast, hosted by Dr Sokfa John, is an initiative of the DST-NRF SARChI on Sustainable Local (Rural) Livelihoods held by Prof. Betty C. Mubangizi at the School of Management, IT and Governance, University of KwaZulu-Natal.
It aims to continue the conversation on saving livelihoods while saving lives in the context of Covid-19 initiated with a webinar series in April-May 2020. We will be engaging stakeholders and community members in short conversations on different topics related to public governance, sustainable livelihoods of rural and peri-urban communities, and other topics aligned to the interests and objectives of the SARChI
Nicky has been in the field of environmental resource management in rural areas for about 28 years. She has worked on several projects and initiatives around soil conservation, sanitation, water supply, and low-input vegetable production and contributed to local and international policy. Nicky and her partner at the ERS, received the prestigious WWF Living Planet Award for 2019. Any use of this episode should credit the ERS http://www.enviros.co.za/index.html
Thabathani and Phindile Tshaka are young entrepreneurs in Mount Fletcher, Eastern Cape. Together, they own a small enterprise that offers tourism services, fashion design, events hosting, organic gardening and catering services, with a lot of visions for the future of their business. In this episode, Thabathani shares his experience with lockdown, with lessons on how to survive such shocks in future.
In this episode we share a Prof. Betty C. Mubangizi's public lecture for the international year of the nurse and midwife event organized by Mangosuthu University of Technology. Prof Mubangizi holds the SARChI in Sustainable Local (Rural) Livelihoods. In the lecture, we encounter her in-depth understanding of rurality, and hear her wisdom on creating the right environment for nurses and midwives in rural areas.
Ms Dan’sile Cindi is the Deputy Director of the Biodiversity Mainstreaming Directorate at the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). She coordinates a network of partnerships on ecological infrastructure. Dan’sile currently leads the Living Catchments project convening communities of practice, and guiding mainstreaming work on biodiversity and ecological infrastructure.
Ms Joyce Loza is a Conservation Specialist for the Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation and Development Programme (MDTP) - a partnership initiative between Lesotho and South Africa. One of Ms Loza's areas of focus is in the planning and implementation of community fire management activities to reduce the negative impact of veld fires on the ecological infrastructure of the conservation area.
Mr George Kasumba draws on is wealth of experience to answer questions about livelihoods in Uganda, sometimes offering a comparative perspective based on his work in other African countries. Mr Kasumba is a Development Economist with over 30 years of experience with the Ugandan government and organizations such as the the UNDP, WFP, UNCDF, DANIDA and World Bank. He is a PhD candidate at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
This episode is my recorded conversation with Clr Mkhuseli Qumba who is a councilor at Mbizana Local Municipality. He speaks about several issues of interest including the limitations of government Covid-19 strategies, particularly on how these are insensitive to rural dynamics. He also shares how rural economies in Mbizana are surviving and being challenged by Covid-19
My guest today is the municipal manager of Mbizana local municipality, in the Eastern Cape, Mr Luvuyo Mahlaka. He enlightens us on the responsibilities of a municipal manager. He explains how the municipality ensures a balance between government priorities and the needs of local communities, and local networks that have remained active to support livelihoods in rural communities during the covid-19 pandemic