5th Dialogue and Ideas Lab Series on Resilience Research

The Centre for the Study of Resilience (CSR), Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria, and RAN Southern Africa Resilience Innovation Lab (SA RILab) (funded by USAID) co-hosted the 5th event in the Dialogue and Ideas Lab Series on Resilience Research, titled “Building resilience communities: Science dialogue for resilience in challenged contexts”. This event took place at the Protea Manor Hotel on the 3rd November 2016.

Eighteen presentations shared transdisciplinary, evidence-based findings in terms of five pathways to resilience, psychological, livelihood, socio-cultural, environmental, as well as education pathways to resilience. Attendees included representatives from and academic institutions (University of Pretoria, North-West University, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources and University of Limpopo), government (CSIR Meraka Institute,), NGO’s (World Food Programme and World Vision) and funding agencies (USAID). Click here for the programme of the 5th Dialogue and Ideas Lab Series on Resilience Research (2016): Building resilience communities: Science dialogue for resilience in challenged contexts.

Cross-cutting transdisciplinary resilience themes were evident to address adversity synonymous with a postcolonial, global south settings. Common resilience pathways included social support from significant relationships on family and community level; aspiration (individual and community level); as well as investment in quality and accessible infrastructure. In addition it was apparent across disciplinary findings that human capital development and political action was indicated as pathways to move from coping with structural disparity to changing the odds of inequality. Please click on the researcher’s presentation title to view a summary of available presentations:

Presenter

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Short Biography

Presentation

Ayo-Yusuf, Lekan (Prof)

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Lekan Ayo-Yusuf is currently a Professor and the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (formerly known as University of Limpopo’s MEDUNSA campus). He is also an Extraordinary Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Pretoria and a visiting scientist at the Harvard University’s School of Public Health. Lekan is a C-2 NRF rated researcher and a recognized leader in public health in Africa. He has extensive experience conducting evaluations of policy and public health programs in Africa. He has served as a consultant to governments and to a number of international health and development agencies including the UNFPA and WHO, with special interest in health systems performance and Non-communicable disease prevention, particularly cancer prevention. Having previously conducted one of the first longitudinal studies on sense of coherence or resilience in relation to chronic disease risk behaviours in a South African adolescent’ population, he currently serves as the Director of the Southern Africa Resilience Innovation Lab (SA RILab). In addition to over eighty peer-reviewed scientific publications, he has served and continues to serve as a scientific reviewer for several journals and research organizations such as the South African National Research Foundation. Having recently served as a reviewer for the US Surgeon General’s report, he currently serves as a member of the editorial board of a number of scientific journals, including serving as the African Editor for the American Journal of Health Behaviour. He is also a member of a number of local and international professional organizations including serving as a member of the WHO tobacco regulation scientific study group (TobReg). He has received several local and international research awards, including an award as a 2013 finalist in the National Science and Technology innovations award.

Developing a data driven Resilience Model for food security in the context of poverty and HIV

 

 

Brouard, Pierre (Mr)

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Pierre Brouard is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender (CSA&G) at UP and a Clinical Psychologist. He has worked in HIV since the mid 1980’s and at the Centre since 2001. His interests include sexualities, gender and human rights. Selected publications: Research challenges around gender, same-sex sexuality and HIV/AIDS in South Africa; Constructions of masculinity among a group of South Africa men living with HIV/AIDS; Equality and Sexual orientation in South Africa 2009 – 2011; Institutional integrity in the tertiary sector; and Sugar daddies, sugar mummies, sugar babies and HIV in contemporary South Africa.

Sexual and gender minority youth: strategies for resilience

 

Dlamini, Sifiso (Mr)

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Sifiso Dlamini is a 31 yr old male born and bred in S.A. He is an aspirant academic in the field of Social Sciences. His academic interests in Industrial Sociology are on the evolution of the labour system in South Africa with specific focus on the mining industry. He is currently at the CSIR working as a multidisciplinary researcher. He is also a strong believer in the living labs methodology that focuses on making rural communities incubators for knowledge generation. His current passion is in using technologies to manage change in various structures that constitute deep rural communities.

Challenges in managing interventions for rural education improvement

Ebersöhn, Liesel (Prof)

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Liesel Ebersöhn is the Director of the Centre for the Study of Resilience and a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Education. An NRF-rated researcher, Prof Ebersöhn is regarded as a leading scholar and teacher in resilience and resilience promoting interventions in high-risk school settings. Her research is positioned in contexts characteristic of an emerging economy country in transformation. She combines emancipatory and intervention methodologies to investigate pathways to resilience as human-ecological and cultural adaptive responses to chronic and cumulative adversity. Her recognised scientific contributions include a generative theory (relationship-resourced resilience) describing an emic system to counter chronic adversity, as well as ‘flocking’, a word she coined to depict a collectivist indigenous psychology pathway to resilience. Prof Ebersöhn is the appointed Secretary-General of the World Education Research Association (WERA). She serves as Chair of the International Research and Scholarship Committee (Division C, Learning and Instruction, of the American Educational Research Association), and was the South African international representative to the Building Resilience in Teacher Education (BRITE) Project Reference Group , Murdoch University.

She presented a plenary session in March 2016 as an invited speaker to the Global Development Network 17th Annual Conference in Lima and at a symposium on Indigenous Pathways to Resilience at the 2014 meeting of the American Psychological Association. She was visiting professor at Yale University and Edith Cowan University. Her research focus has had a decided impact on curricula for teacher training in several higher education institutions in South Africa. With students, co-researchers and as single author, Prof Ebersöhn has contributed more than 70 peer-reviewed articles, numerous book chapters and several edited and co-authored books. Her teaching and research outputs attest that higher education can effectively integrate research, teaching and learning as well as community engagement. Her pedagogy aligns with global citizenship and education as key strategies to restructure postcolonial conditions.

Leveraging cultural pathways to resilience in high risk, high need schools

 

Finestone, Michelle (Dr)

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Michelle Finestone is a postgraduate lecturer and Project Manager in the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria. Michelle was the Research Coordinator for the NIH funded longitudinal Kgolo Mmogo Resilience project that was a joint research project between the University of Pretoria and Yale University. She holds an MSc in Medical Applied Psychology, a Master degree in Educational Psychology and a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Pretoria. She is currently working on the development and training of the Tulane HIV/AIDS Parenting Project sponsored by USAID. Her research focuses on child development, child and adolescent mental health, resilience and HIV/AIDS.

Promoting resilience of young children affected by maternal HIV/Aids

 

Leask, Mariska (Mrs)

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Mariska Leask completed her Honours in Psychology (RAU) in 1988 and after a very long gap decided to start studying again.  In 2011 she completed her Honours in Educational Psychology (UP) and in 2014 her Masters in Learning Support and Guidance (UP). She is currently busy with her PhD in Learning Support and Guidance (UP). Her area of interest is Second Language Reading in English.

Developing high level comprehension and critical thinking skills as a pathway to resilience in rural schools

Machimana, Eugene (Mr)

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Eugene Machimana is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Education, Educational Psychology Department, at the University of Pretoria (UP). Eugene’s educational qualifications include a Higher Diploma in Education from Giyani College of Education, a BA (Psychology major) from Stellenbosch University, while he also completed Honours and Masters degrees in Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS through the University of South Africa. Eugene worked in the non-profit organisation sector, in which he held various positions related to community development, for just over a decade. He joined the UP’s Faculty of Veterinary Science in August 2010 as their Community Engagement Coordinator.

HE-CE Provides Human Capital Support to a Marginalised Community

Malan van Rooyen, Marlize (Dr)

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Marlize Malan Van Rooyen is a registered educational psychologist and Control Technical Assistant in the Department of Educational Psychology. In this capacity, she is involved in the practical training and supervision of Honours and Masters students’ case work. Marlize completed her PhD in Educational Psychology in 2015. Her thesis titled “Indigenous Pathways to Adaptive Coping in Rural Communities” formed Indigenous Pathways to Resilience (IPR) Project. As part of the IPR project the study aimed at contributing to a growing indigenous knowledge base on resilience through comparing indigenous pathways to adaptive coping in two high adversity rural South African communities. The focus to contribute to an indigenous knowledge base on resilience within the field of psychology was motivated by the realisation that psychological research, training and services are dominated by Western theories and are often found to be irrelevant to non-Western cultures.

Documenting indigenous voices: Values as a pathway to resilience.

 

Mayega, Roy (Dr)

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Roy William Mayega is the Deputy Chief of Party, ResilientAfrica Network (RAN) www.ranlab.org and a Lecturer in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Makerere University, involved in teaching Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Research Methodology to graduate and undergraduate students. He is also the Program Coordinator for the Strengthening Leadership in Disaster Resilience Program (SLDRP), Makerere University, a program funded by the World Bank and the Gates Foundation. He underwent basic training as a Medical Doctor at Makerere’s Medical School. Later, Dr. Mayega pursued and received a Master’s Degree in Public Health at the School of Public Health, Makerere (2006). Dr. Mayega is also the Instructional Materials Designer and Editor for the Masters Degree in Public Health by Distance Education. He is spearheading the Open Education Resources initiative at the School of Public Health and is at the centre of e-learning activities there. He completed a joint PhD in Medical Science at Karolinska Institute, with a focus on health systems options for prevention of type 2 diabetes in low income countries. Dr. Mayega’s current research interests include disaster management and resilience, non-communicable diseases, health systems, reproductive health epidemiology, adolescent health, communicable disease control and Monitoring and Evaluation of public health interventions and e-learning. He has worked closely with the Uganda Red Cross Society and the Danish Red Cross to transform their Health and Care Programme in the East African Region. Prior to his academic career, Dr. Mayega also worked as a Medical Officer at Primary Care levels in a District Health system. He has 15 years working experience in public health.

Recent work on measuring pastoral livelihoods diversification and resilience in Africa: A perspective from the RAN Secretariat

Milupi, Inonge (Dr)

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Inonge Milupi is a PhD candidate at the University of Pretoria, faculty of Natural and Agricultural sciences. She is an environmental educator from the University of Zambia in the school of Education. Her research interests include environment and society.  Her presentation is entitled “Developing an Environmental Education Programme to address factors behind weak community participation in wildlife management in Mumbwa and Lupande Game Management Areas in Zambia”.

Developing an Environmental Education programme to address the weak community participation in wildlife resource management in Zambia.

Morwane, Refilwe (Ms)

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Refilwe Morwane is a qualified speech therapist and audiologist who specialises in severe disability. She works as a lecturer at the centre for AAC. She has a master’s degree in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). She is currently in her first year of PhD studies. Her interests are disability and employment issues.

Disability Pathways to Resilience through Career Construction for Hephapreneurship

Omidire, Funke (Dr)

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Margaret Funke Omidire is a lecturer in the Department of Educational Psychology, University of Pretoria. Her research interests centre on multiplicity of languages in education and issues of psychological well-being of students/teachers/parents affected. She has researched the use of dynamic assessment as an alternative form of assessment for multilingual students in mainstream classrooms. She is exploring how multilingual education and translanguaging can be embraced as part of an asset-based approach to teaching and learning. She is currently working on the Quality Talk South Africa (QTSA) Project which is a collaboration between the CSR-UP and the Pennsylvania State University.

Developing high level comprehension and critical thinking skills as a pathway to resilience in rural schools

Peres, Edna (Dr)

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Edna Peres holds a PhD in Architecture focusing on resilience theory from the University of Pretoria which she completed in 2016. She lectures part-time at the Universities of Johannesburg and Pretoria, and is also a free-lance industry writer. Her areas of interest include regenerative design, resilience and sustainable architecture and urban systems.

Unpacking a sustainable and resilient future for Tshwane

 

Phiri, Christopher (Dr)

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Christopher Phiri holds a PhD in Social Science Rural Development He is an economic development and Research lead at World Vision International. He has vast experience in academia and community development environment as researcher, practitioner as well as Monitoring and Evaluation. With his passion of community development he capacitated, trained, mentored and coached youth and vulnerable. He has published a book 2014 on: ‘Rural Livelihoods and Rural development in developing countries: Case study of one Province in South Africa’. He has published papers on resilience and livelihoods and about to publish another book on transformational development. Dr. Phiri is an adjunct Professor at Monash SA University. He is a member of the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association and mentor of Young African leaders in southern Africa.

Resilience and livelihood in southern Africa

 

Sefotho, Maximus (Dr)

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Maximus Monaheng Sefotho is a Lecturer in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Pretoria. Passionate about Career Guidance, Disability, Philosophy of Education, philosophy of science and philosophy of mind, he includes the excluded through hephapreneurship, a neology he coined for persons who are Neither in Education, Employment or Training. 

Disability Pathways to Resilience through Career Construction for Hephapreneurship & HE-CE Provides Human Capital Support to a Marginalised Community

Ssentogo, Julius (Dr)

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Julius Ssentongo works as the Program Coordinator at the Eastern Africa Resilience Innovation Lab (EA RILab), Makerere University School of Public Health-Resilient Africa Network (RAN) www.ranlab.org. Dr. Ssentongo is the lead of the day-to-day activities at the RILab and deputizes the RILab Director in steering the Lab forward. With its headquarters at Makerere University, the RILab brings together 5 Universities (Makerere and Gulu Universities in Uganda, University of Rwanda in Rwanda, University of Kinshasa in DRC and Muhimbili University of Health & Allied Sciences in Tanzania) to examine community resilience with a focus on two themes: 1) Climate change and 2) Chronic conflict. The rationale for the RILab is based on the fact that although development efforts have saved lives, they have not sufficiently built resilience of target communities. The same shocks/stresses recur with similar consequences. The RILab therefore seeks to break these negative cycles by tapping into the adaptive capacities of communities to develop solutions. It focuses on leveraging the creativity and scholarship of Universities-working together with the humanitarian sector-to develop innovations to the pressing community challenges.

Prior to joining RAN, Dr. Ssentongo worked as a Medical Officer in Bushenyi which is one of the rural districts in southwestern Uganda. He has 7 years working experience in Public Health. Dr. Ssentongo studied at Makerere University where he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine & Surgery and later a Master’s Degree in Public Health.

Resilience to Adverse Climate Events: Insights from the EARILab, Resilient Africa Network

Theron, Linda (Prof)

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Linda Theron, D.Ed., is a full professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Pretoria, and an extraordinary professor in Optentia Research Focus Area, North-West University, South Africa. Her research explores the resilience processes of South African young people challenged by chronic adversity and accounts for how sociocultural contexts shape these processes of resilience. Together with Dr Michael Ungar (Resilience Research Centre, Canada), Linda was the principal co-investigator of the 5-country Pathways to Resilience Study (2009-2015). In 2013, she received the Education Association of South Africa’s research medal for her rich contributions to understanding, and promoting, resilience processes that support the positive adjustment of South African youth. She is lead editor of Youth Resilience and Culture: Complexities and Commonalities (Springer, 2015), an associate journal editor of Child Abuse & Neglect (Elsevier), and the co-organiser of the 4th International Pathways to Resilience Conference (14-16 June 2017, Cape Town).

One day my mother will eat my money!” – agency, aspiration and adaptation among Sesotho-speaking adolescents

 

 

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