Name

The entity is called the Centre for the Study of Resilience (abbreviated as CSR) [Afrikaans: Sentrum vir Veerkragtigheidstudies; Sepedi: Senthara ya Twantšho], hereafter called the Centre.

Vision

The Vision of the Centre is:

• to be a knowledge generation platform of merit that makes a meaningful contribution to generating knowledge on Global South resilience, i.e. adaptation to chronic and cumulative adversity with an eminent local and international reputation for its prominent role in leading the field of transdisciplinary resilience research in South-to-South collaborations.

Mission

The Mission of the Centre is:

• to build a transdisciplinary knowledge base on resilience as manifested in the Global South in order to add to existing resilience knowledge;
• to build human resource development in the relevant fields;
• to perform leading research by combined scholarship of the University and their networks in the stated domain;
• to enhance the status of the University and South African science by implementing the above.

Objectives

The Objectives of the Centre are:

• to fulfil the indicated mission of the Centre;
• to create sources of renewable funding;
• to develop national and international standing for the Centre;
• to add to the national and international scientific community;
• to promote national objectives of human research capacity development, and human resource development through the training of candidates representative of the South African demography;
• to extend national and international collaborative linkages.

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG's and the Centre:

In current studies, the CSR addresses seven Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely Quality Education (4), clean water and sanitation (6), decent work and economic growth (8), reduced inequalities (10), sustainable cities and communities (11), responsible consumption and production (12), and partnerships for the goals (17).

For Quality Education (4) the CSR global research group on Schools as Enabling Spaces investigates evidence to support positive education and psychological wellbeing outcomes in challenged education settings. Decent work and economic growth (8) is studied by investigating relevant career theories, psychometric media and therapeutic intervention for career counselling in a global south, non-western dominant society. Reduced inequalities (10) is achieved by documenting indigenous knowledge in psychology and welfare for use in training, practice and policy. To achieve sustainable cities and communities (11) a multidisciplinary CSR-team focus on associated disciplinary issues of social connectedness and adapting to unfamiliar living environments. National policy on Rural Education have included CSR-evidence in this regard. Responsible consumption and production (12) is studied in a world-wide partnership that combine a focus on gas emissions and human objective and subjective health and wellbeing. A range of significant partnerships to achieve the goals (17) exist, including with government departments in South Africa, non-profit organisations and community-based associations, as well as international scholars in the field of resilience. An example is a South-to-South partnership studying education innovation in postcolonial settings with scholars from Latin America (Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Chile, Argentine) and Africa (South Africa, Ghana, Boleswana).