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This paper provides an overview of learning losses and altered schooling patterns in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021). Five major trends emerge from a review of the evidence. These include significant learning losses (38–118% of a year of learning), widened learning inequality, lowered grade repetition rates, increased secondary school enrolments and an unprecedented rise in candidates writing and passing the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination. School completion significantly increased in 2021 and 2022, spurred by COVID-19 adjusted assessment and promotion practices in Grades 10 and 11. Larger numbers of youth also achieved a NSC pass or Bachelor's pass enabling access to university. With twin pandemic shocks of learning losses and secondary school enrolment increases, remediating losses and realigning progression rules to effective assessment practices should be prioritised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite high rates of education expenditure, South Africa's education system remains sharply unequal and underperforms overall compared to other countries. One approach to addressing education inequality and underperformance is community-based peer mentorship. This paper presents evidence from the Nine Tenths mentorship programme in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) as a way to improve academic performance among matric students in under-resourced secondary schools. Using school matric pass rates from 2012 to 2021 and student admission metrics for participants in 2020–2022, a strong association is found between the activities of Nine Tenths and improved academic performance. No-fee schools where Nine Tenths is active record pass rates that are 28 percentage points higher on average than schools without Nine Tenths. Matric students who participate in Nine Tenths increase their Admissions Points Score (APS) by 4.23 points on average, and every student between 2020 and 2022 earned a bachelor pass. While the evidence suggests that Nine Tenths is effective, the programme operates on a relatively small scale and is not broad-based in its implementation. The programme shows is a promising example of community-based interventions to address schooling inequality independently and more efficiently than the current education policy in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change continues to exacerbate social and economic development challenges in local communities the world over. This paper advances a human development approach to climate resilience innovations, showing how local innovation initiatives can be conduits for increased equity, agency, efficiency and sustainability vis-à-vis effective responses to climate impacts. Based on a scoping review of literature (journal articles, books, theses, occasional papers etc.), and through a discussion of four case studies focused on technological and institutional innovations in selected rural South African communities, a major finding is that local innovation initiatives vis-à-vis livelihoods are laden with opportunities for improved social, economic and ecological well-being. Appreciating and supporting these local innovations will open up viable and transformative pathways towards effectively responding to the impacts of climate change and variability. The paper contributes to an interdisciplinary integration of innovation and climate change research by exploring climate resilience through a transformative human development lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a participatory approach to assess the level of understanding of the Water-Energy-Climate Change (WECC) nexus in South Africa. The aim is to initiate the development of well-coordinated, systematic, and holistic strategies to promote efficient management of the WECC and its implications in the country. The assessment follows the learnings from the Integrated Water Resource Management framework, which promotes a participatory approach in the administration of water resources. The paper reveals that, despite the reasonable level of understanding of WECC, it is still insufficient to promote an integrated approach mainly in policy development and planning for water and energy resources while averting climate impacts. This is exacerbated by limited coordination and consultation among various stakeholders. However, minimal efforts to promote an integrated approach in the management of the WECC sectors is observed. Despite these developments, the paper proposes that the participatory approach is feasible to promote holistic strategies and collaboration among stakeholders mandated to manage WECC sectors. Until approaches such as this are adopted within the institutional framework, this nexus will continue to impede the country's sustainable development endeavours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With mega state housing projects needing large land parcels and that are often located in the periphery, this paper investigates what impact relocating residents to Golden Gardens housing development has had on the quality of life and their financial wellbeing. Using primary data obtained from residents living in the Golden Gardens housing development, the findings show that respondents' access to and quality of physical and social facilities, such as refuse services, water, and electricity, has improved. Respondents were also unanimous that staying in their Golden Gardens homes has significantly improved their security. However, many residents currently living in Golden Gardens used to live closer to work and social activities than they do now, which means that they used to spend less each month on transport than they do now. The high-commuting cost has increased household expenses, meaning that the respondents' financial wellbeing has been negatively impacted. These results imply yet unmet long-term objectives of human settlements as envisaged in various government policies and programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews South Africa’s efforts to realise the right to water from a welfare policy perspective. ‘Free basic water’ (FBW), initially a water sector policy, was later recognised to be part of the country’s wider social protection framework. However, while the principle of providing poor households with free basic services has been sustained, FBW has not provided reliable access for many of its intended beneficiaries. Analysis of the policy, implementation and performance of the programme identifies unresolved policy tensions between welfare objectives and other government priorities, reflected in the choice of targeted rather than universal welfare strategies. It is concluded that these welfare policy tensions have weakened the outcomes of the free basic water policy which are more usually blamed on operational and institutional failures. While the FBW principle is generally accepted, practical performance is often weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is growing interest in the literature and policy circles regarding the performance of cooperatives in South Africa, no study has yet synthesised the body of knowledge on how to assess cooperative performance in the country. This paper aims to fill this gap by examining the literature on the performance of cooperatives in post-apartheid South Africa, based on a scoping review of 20 studies published between 1994 and 2021. Most of the reviewed studies adopted a qualitative approach, lacked a clear definition of cooperative performance and standardised metrics/criteria for assessing cooperative performance. The studies often relied on view of study participants to determine the performance of cooperatives. Moreover, the reviewed studies often framed the performance of cooperatives from an economic viewpoint. Clear definition of cooperatives, the development of robust indicators for assessing their performance and greater emphasis on quantitative studies on the performance of cooperatives in South Africa beyond economic and financial indicators is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper articulates state response to homelessness through multi-agency intervention in South Africa. While it argues strongly on relativity of homelessness, it however agrees with previous authors on common constituents of the concept. Based on secondary sources this paper delves into what constitutes homelessness and why there has been homelessness in the country, due to one or a combination of structural and individual related drivers. It further explores the state's use of a multi-agency housing focused approach that integrates appropriate legislations, social services interventions and public works, where over 3.3 million houses have been delivered in the country. While in-depth review of available data indicated significant increase in housing provision, the strategy is confronted with human, material, and rising need concerns. Importantly, there is no certainty yet on the extent to which the 'street homeless' and marginalised groups of the poor are served equally to other categories of the homeless. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction between family structure and household well-being has received considerable attention in research over the past decades. Very few studies, however, go beyond linking marital component of family structure with household income. This paper uses cross-sectional and panel analytic techniques with data from National Income Dynamic Survey (NIDS) to investigate the effects of family structure on household well-being. Findings from this study show that intact married and cohabiting households have significant positive relationship with household reported well-being, and subjective wellbeing, respectively. Furthermore, extended households, households headed by females and grandparents, have significant negative relationship with household income and consumption. Lastly, bigger household size has significant negative relationship with household reported well-being. Based on the findings, policy towards economic empowerment for poorer households, enhancing income generating, and livelihood projects are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate South Africa's implementation of educational Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which is led by Gauteng and the Western Cape Provinces, for participation in the global knowledge economy. Accordingly, the two provinces are in the forefront of educational ICT implementation aimed at preparing learners for participation in the global knowledge economy and national development. The paper uses Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to examine South Africa in comparison with fourteen developing countries to establish that its approach towards implementation of educational technology is not appropriate, sustainable nor effective for a developing country. Experiences of developing countries such as Vietnam, Zambia and Kenya, which are in the medium and low Human Development Index (HDI) categories, show that national technological cultures of people have not evolved into what is characterised as the 'Net Natives', which is one of the primary driving force for the adoption of blended pedagogies as an approach for implementing educational technology, to enhance participation in the global knowledge economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is substantial evidence in the global literature that women have been disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 crisis and associated lockdowns. In this paper, we use five waves of the National Income Dynamics Study - Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) to track the gendered effects of the pandemic in South Africa during the first year of the crisis. We focus here on the impact in the labour market and on unpaid care work in the home. We find that, relative to men, women were more severely affected in both spheres, yet they benefited less from the government income support provided to unemployed and furloughed workers. The evidence from the NIDS-CRAM survey from the first year of the pandemic therefore suggests that gender inequality in South Africa has risen, undoing some of the gains of the last two decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a longitudinal telephonic survey of adults, this paper provides empirical evidence from South Africa on early childhood care and education (ECCE) attendance trends just before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. About 39% of adult respondents living with children aged 0–6 indicated that at least one child had attended an ECCE programme in February 2020. After a period of ECCE programme closures and lockdowns, estimates fell to as low as 7% in July/August 2020, partially recovered to 28% in November/December 2020, dropped again to 7% in early February 2021 but then recovered significantly to 36% by April/May 2021. A decomposition analysis suggests that a large part of the recovery in ECCE attendance in 2021 was attributed to higher reported perceived ability to be able to afford ECCE programme fees. This could relate to lower fee ECCE programmes resuming operations in anticipation of government relief payments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, children have been put at greater risk of school drop-out, as well as food insecurity and emotional health deterioration. This paper considers these issues as they have occurred in South Africa. We use all waves of the National Income Dynamics Study–Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey to estimate non-return to school, access to school meals, and household well-being. The number of learners not attending school in 2021 is estimated to be close to quadruple pre-pandemic levels. Combined with estimates of learning lost, we can conclude that the pandemic has worn away at two decades of progress made in basic education. Evidence also indicates that school feeding has been slow to recover to pre-pandemic levels. Deepened levels of household hunger combined with a lack of access to free school meals is indicated to contribute to significantly greater levels of caregiver anxiety and psychological distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decrease in public trust and lack of coordination among the traditional financial institutions drives the establishment of a grant incentive scheme for cooperative enterprise in South Africa. The grant incentive scheme provides alternative support for sustainable development of targeted cooperative enterprises with black shareholders owning a majority share. However, there is a lack of evaluation method and empirical studies determining the effectiveness of the scheme based on its mandates and objectives. Therefore, the paper, through a case study approach, investigates the effectiveness of the cooperative incentive scheme (CIS) between 2012 and 2017. A descriptive analysis approach was adopted in the study to describe specific behaviours as they appeared in the environment of the scheme. This is to understand their impacts on administration, regulations, and implementation, as well as social and economic outcomes better while prioritising its mandate in partnership with its beneficiaries to offer good public services and investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Class size reduction is frequently argued to be a cost-effective way to improve learner outcomes. In the South African context, most studies conclude that greater class sizes are associated with poorer educational outcomes on average. However, given the country's bimodal education system, it is plausible to believe that such a relationship may depend on where learners find themselves in the system. This paper merges newly available data from the 2017/18 School Monitoring Survey with external administrative data to investigate whether the relationship between class size and learner outcomes varies by school socioeconomic status. Although extreme class sizes are concentrated in poorer schools, class size is only negatively associated with learner outcomes in wealthier schools. This finding is robust to several robustness tests. This does not imply that class size does not matter. Rather, reductions may only be effective in the South African context once other school quality-related factors are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]