Browsing by Author "Battersby-Lennard, Jane"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Economic shocks, poverty and household food insecurity in urban Zambia: an ethnographic account of Chingola
    (2014) Chileshe, Mutale; Battersby-Lennard, Jane; Frayne, Bruce
    Research on poverty and food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa has tended to focus on rural households and urban areas known to have concentrations of low-income households. However, consequences and effects of the recent global economic crisis such as retrenchment coupled with increasing food and fuel prices have played a major role in generating many newly poor households. The economic crisis came at a time when most developing countries were still struggling with impoverishment mainly caused by Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP). SAPs laid bare the acute vulnerability of the urban dwellers to the slightest addition al shock such as economic shocks or high food prices. In view of these effects, this study was conducted in Chingola in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia to examine the impact of economic shocks on the food security of middle class households in urban areas. Focusing on one aspect of the economic shock (retrenchments), the thesis shows how once middle class households in Chingola perceived, experienced and grappled with retrenchment in the context of increasing urban poverty and high food prices. The central thesis is that due to the rising pattern of urban risk, it is not only the rural or structural urban poor that are vulnerable to food insecurity but middle class urban households too. The study employed a mixed-method approach, which took place in two main sequential data collection phases - the quantitative component served as a basis for the sampling of cases for the qualitative component. The findings revealed that food security of the retrenched households was compromised by the economic crisis with approximately 7.4 % food secure, 4.2% mildly food insecure, 19 .1 % moderately food insecure and 69 .3 % severely food insecure. A compounding factor was that there were insufficient social protection services by government and NGOs to assist households to increase resilience to food insecurity. To survive, households employed close to thirty different strategies and tactics such as letting their houses, limiting their consumption and engaging in lucrative but unlawful activities - illegal mining, prostitution and theft. In light of these findings, the study makes a contribution to urban development and specifically to the emerging field of urban food security as it departs from the more traditional focus on the ‘old poor’ by giving specific attention to previously middle income households’ food security in the context of widespread economic shocks within the formal economy. Furthermore, it contributes to the debate on retrenchment literature by providing new information, for example, on how urban dwellers deal with shocks and the mechanisms used to help them survive in a globalised environment. Lastly, the study contributes to literature on the livelihoods of Copperbelt residents as very few scholars have explored the lives of the residents since the implementation of SAPs and the subsequent economic decline in the area.
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    Systems in transition : from waste to resource : a study of supermarket food waste in Cape Town.
    (2012) Marshak, Maya; Battersby-Lennard, Jane
    This thesis explores the management of supermarket food waste in Cape Town. In doing so it highlights both its underutilisation and its potential transition from waste to resource. Through an extended micro study of a single case study store it traces the management of food waste from the supermarket into the wider systems of waste management in the city. It then explores the barriers and potentials for managing food waste further as a resource. While recycling has increased in the city over the past decade, this thesis demonstrates that at present there does not exist a comprehensive system for the recycling of supermarket food waste, particularly non-edible and animal protein wastes. As a result most of this waste is sent to landfill where it causes environmental damage and endangers human health.
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    Towards an understanding of a changing food system in Mauritius: A case study of rural and urban Mauritius
    (2014) Appavoo Moodelly, Sandra; Battersby-Lennard, Jane
    Nutrition transition is a phenomenon occurring throughout most of the developing world whereby traditional diets are increasingly being replaced by Western diets. In the literature, globalization is described as the main factor promoting such a transition. In adopting Western lifestyles, people abandon their traditional foods and adopt a Western diet which largely consists of energy-dense, nutritionally poor and highly processed foods. The nutrition transition, the underlying causes and its subsequent impacts on public health are well documented in the literature. However, there is a gap in the literature explaining the different ways in which the nutrition transition unfolds in the lives of people. Therefore this research project tries to document the lived experience of a changing food system in the Mauritian context. Mauritius has been selected as the study site because it is a microcosm of the casual factors driving the nutrition transition and also because the food system is rapidly changing. In 2008, the status of the country changed from being a net food exporter to a net food importer. A rural and urban site namely, Bambous Virieux and Tranquebar, Port-Louis have been selected to understand the different food geographies and to investigate the ways people in different locations experience a changing food system. By means of in-depth interviews, narratives and observation, the difference aspects of a changing food system is investigated. This study approaches the phenomenon of nutrition transition from the research participants’ lens.
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    Urban agriculture and the youth: The youth's responses to urban agriculture projects in both the Du Noon and Joe Slovo Park townships (Milnerton)
    (2013) Szewczyk, Joanna; Battersby-Lennard, Jane
    Urban agriculture has been advocated by NGOs and development agencies as being a food security strategy, and an effective poverty alleviation measure. This view is reflected within the City of Cape Town, as the City's 2007 Urban Agriculture Policy illustrates. Since the initiation of the Policy, many urban agriculture projects have been established by the local government in the low income areas of Cape Town. The urban agriculture projects set up in the townships of Du Noon and Joe Slovo Park are two of the projects established by the city. While these projects have provided primary livelihoods for some participants, the City has expressed concern regarding the age demographic of this practice, as a lack of youth involvement is noticed. Academic literature within this discourse highlights a gap in knowledge concerning the urban youth, and this increases the importance of understanding why the younger generation is hesitant to partake in this activity. The main aim of the study is to explore two City established urban agriculture projects, one in which youth involvement is visible, whilst in the other it is not. The study interrogates whether there are any barriers which could prevent the youth from participating within this activity. The City of Cape Town's Urban Agriculture Policy and projects were examined in order to explore how they engage with urban agriculture, and in turn how they understand the youth and their lived experience. In addition, the existing urban farmers' perceptions of the youth were examined in order to explore what role these perceptions play in youth involvement. Lastly, the study narrowed its focus onto the youth themselves in an attempt to understand their own opinions of urban agriculture, and explore what underlies these perceptions.
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    Urban food access: a study of the lived experience of food access within a low-income community in Cape Town
    (2012) Cooke, Kayleen; Battersby-Lennard, Jane
    Within the pool of urban food access literatures a split has emerged. One body of literature has tended to look towards the structural elements of the food economy to indicate communities which have limited access to nutritious and affordable food. A second body of literature have focussed more on the household- level to investigate which household characteristics and entitlements act as constraints to food access. This thesis integrates both of these bodies of thought to explore the limitations to food access present in a low-income urban community in Cape Town. This is achieved through an investigation of both the local food retail environment and the household-specific characteristics which inform food access. The food purchasing patterns have been chosen as an important indicator of food access as they reveal how the household navigates its food environment.
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    Urban growth in Southern Africa : comparing 30 years of decadal imagery to census data
    (2011) Lewis, Lauren Lyn; Eckardt, Frank; Battersby-Lennard, Jane
    The total urban area of each study site was calculated for each time slice and the results were represented as maps depicting urban expansion. Graphs were also created depicting the total urban area vs. total population for each time slice (1970s, 1990s and 2000s).