Browsing by Subject "Capability Approach"

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    Aluta continua! digital divide experiences of South African township high school learners during COVID-19 hard lockdown
    (2024) Mxatule, Akhona; De Wet, Jacques
    This research emphasises that the digital divide is a significant human development issue. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the stringent lockdown measures accentuated the challenges faced by many underserved learners in transitioning to remote education due to limited access to digital resources and reliable internet. This study investigated how the COVID-19 hard lockdown period magnified the digital divide experiences of a group of high school learners from Cape Town's Khayelitsha Township. The investigation further revealed the extent to which learners from working-class households could overcome challenges they faced in the context of their education. Understanding the structural problems and the learners' agency from their perspective provides educators and policymakers with valuable insights, which can inform future interventions to address the digital divide. Amartya Sen's Capability Approach facilitated my people-centred examination of the digital divide. Sen's theoretical framework helped reveal that while access to Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) is a crucial step, it alone is insufficient for development. Additionally, this study demonstrates that the capacity to effectively utilise ICTs and transform information into actionable knowledge for comprehensive development is paramount. Therefore, the digital divide extends beyond mere access and literacy, representing a broader developmental challenge that deprives many under-resourced communities of essential capabilities in a world that is increasingly dominated by ICTs. Utilizing a single case study approach, this research interrogates the digital divide as a human development issue. Data collection methods involved documentary analysis, a key informant interview, and a focus group discussion with six high school learners from a Khayelitsha township school. Miles and Huberman's thematic coding approach was used in the data analysis. The findings reveal some contextual nuances in the learners' experiences of unequal access to devices and the Internet, affordability disparities, and varying levels of ICT usage. This study underscores the vulnerabilities of marginalized learners and identifies opportunities that learners create for themselves within the digital divide. This research provides insights into the multifaceted nature of the digital divide within the educational landscape. The study further emphasizes the urgent need for collaborative and coordinated efforts from among stakeholders, including the Department of Basic Education, teachers, learners, parents, the private sector, and civil society, to implement people-centred and tailored intervention strategies informed by a nuanced understanding of the digital divide.
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    Open Access
    Factors affecting how the youth in the townships use internet to seek employment: case of a township in Cape Town
    (2019) Kunene, Khaya; Chigona, Wallace
    Problem Statement: South Africa is currently facing a challenge of youth unemployment. The hardest hit are those from low income communities, as they in addition have limited access to information. The Internet has proven to be one of the ways in which recruitment is done and failure to access reduces the opportunities. The purpose of the research: The main objective of this study was to understand how the youth living in the townships use the Internet to seek for employment. The purpose of this study is to assess how the Internet use affect the youth when searching for employment. Design/methodology/ approach: An interpretivist approach was employed to understand how the youth seek employment. This study used a qualitative approach to collect the data. Interviews were done using semi-structured questions. Alampay (2006) Capability Approach (CA) was used as a guide to conceptualise how the youth from low-income communities use the Internet to find employment. Borrowing from the four main constructs (conversion factors, freedom, capabilities and functionings) employed by Alampay (2006) in his model, this study operationalised the Alampay (2006) CA model by adding the ICT commodities as the fifth construct. The CA was chosen as an appropriate framework for this study because the framework focuses on what humans are able to do and achieve when presented with the available ICT resources. Findings: The findings demonstrate that the lack of resources, income, information and digital skills affected the individual capabilities to effectively use the Internet when seeking employment. The success rate in finding a job using the Internet was low among job seekers. Commodities, individual differences, social and environmental factors affected how the youth (18-34 years) from low-income communities use the Internet to find employment. In addition, crime, poor network coverage, expensive data bundles and limited access to ICT resources were among the key factors that contributed to limited use of the Internet among job seekers. Research Contribution: This study seeks to close the gap in limited knowledge available in developing countries with regards to the use of the Internet among job seekers. Therefore, based on the study findings, this thesis has contributed towards adding value to the body of knowledge within the field of Information Systems. In addition, the findings can contribute towards assisting policy makers in solving challenges faced by the unemployment youth in developing countries when using technology to find employment.