UNESCO: Exploring the potential of data innovation for the promotion of urban inclusion in Southern Africa
Abstract
The study will comprise an attempt to test and assess the dynamics of using an on-line data platform as a tool for empowerment of excluded urban populations, with particular reference to youth living in informal settlements in the two metropolitan areas of Johannesburg and Pretoria. It is anticipated that a concept model of the interactions involved will be developed as the key deliverable product, incorporating both the experiential benefits and the emerging reflections on the obstacles and barriers to establishing a successful interaction between excluded youth in shacks and the municipal planning and budgeting process as well as the enabling conditions for promoting such inclusion. The study will utilize largely qualitative methods, including workshops and individual interviews, with a particular focus on the youth in shantytowns as the target population most able and best equipped to take up the potential of engaging with on-line data platforms. Two severely excluded shack communities have been selected for the study, on the basis of being well-known to the research team through research interactions over a period of more than five years in each case.
