Paper long abstract:

Theatre for development (TfD) as community engagement methodology straddles between social accommodation and social transformation. In each case, the project is either developed by the community with the help of facilitators or facilitators with the support of the community. It is usually through a partnership between scholars in higher education institutions, governmental agencies and the communities involved. These experiments were an integral approach for development cooperation and community development for most of the newly independent states in Africa in the 1950s, 1960s and the 1970s. The symbiotic relationship between the rural communities and the "elite" from the universities and governmental agencies gave birth to the sub-discipline in theatre studies known as Theatre for Development (TfD). This paper examines three experiments in rural communities in Africa; an example of community engaged learning that created a new paradigm for education and development. It will also delineate on how they have contributed to shaping the curriculum development for the TfD phenomenon in higher education institutions in Africa. The paper will further expatiate on how the exchange of ideas, knowledge and thoughts between the community, indigenous people and the higher education institutions spurs the TfD genre on to redefine, recontextualize and reinterpret the concept of development in the global south.

Paper long abstract:

Globally, higher learning institutions (HILs) are required to play a pivotal role in resolving world and local-based challenges. This is made possible through teaching & learning, research and community engagement. It is imperative however that in community engagement, the higher learning institutions avoid marginalisation of the community's involvement but rather encourage that community members are recognised as co-knowledge producers and co-researchers.

The emergent contextual basis and core-principles of community engagement prompt for a shift from the discipline based boundaries to trans-disciplinary interactions, industry-based partnerships and collaborative approaches to enable deeper meaningful engagement with societal issues as opposed to single-directional interventions or 'hit and run' approaches that are self-serving, intrusive and extractive, compromising the magnitude impact of engagement from the community perspective and often leading to research fatigued communities. Higher learning institutions are thus obligated to be integrated to communities by playing a pivot role in 'working with communities for communities' to resolve complex local and global-based societal challenges as opposed to just 'using communities to find solutions for communities'. It is therefore, crucial for institutions to establish collaborative and inclusive research methodologies to ensure that community engagement does not exploit communities but rather promotes social justice. Such expectation brings forth a need for a transformative action on how higher institutions implement community engagement pedagogic approaches to engage communities.

This paper emanates from an ongoing community engagement project titled Siphila Kanje (This is how we live), led by academics and students from the University of Zululand in partnership with women from Hluhluwe in the Northern KwaZulu Natal Province and the Sweden partners, through a project (South Africa Sweden University Forum - SASUF), which promotes the achievement of Sustainable Developmental Goals 1,2,3,5,10 & 17.

Methodology:

The project approach is interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder with facilitators from diverse academic, socio-cultural and economic trajectories. Inclusive and participatory-action research is used. Participants take lead in dialogue avoiding the 'us' and 'them' binaries. Knowledge sharing is two-way and not a one-way top down approach. The project adopts empowerment principles, through facilitated dialogues. An innovative methodology referred to as Call and Response music is used to prompt and encourage full participation. Local languages and frames of references are also used to encourage full engagement. The underlying principles of using this methodology is to encourage communities to take ownership and pride of their socio-economic development and ideologies.

Paper long abstract:

Abstract

The University for Development Studies in Tamale, Ghana was established by law (PNDC L 279) in 1992 as the first public university in Northern Ghana with the mandate of "blending academic and community work in order to provide constructive interaction between the two for the total development of Northern Ghana, in particular, and the country as a whole. In seeking to actualise this mandate the university adopted a model called the Third Trimester Field Practical Programme (TTFPP) which has been operational since the inception of the university. Through this model students of the university are made to stay and work in rural communities in groups for a period of seven weeks for the first two years of their stay in the university and carry out research activities that end in the development of intervention proposals based on the felt needs of the communities. The proposals are shared with the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and other development agencies to be incorporated into their development plans to ensure effective development of the MMDAs. Over the years this model has undergone some modifications based on the exigencies of the time. This paper is meant to share the experiences of UDS and indicate the mutual benefits that have accrued to the university, students, MMDAs and the communities.

Paper long abstract:

Abstract

This study examines students' perceptions of the Third Trimester Field Practical Programme (TTFPP) of the University for Development Studies (UDS) in terms of skill acquisition, effects on job prospects and constraints inhibiting the TTFPP. The programme was instituted as a key component of the curriculum to address deficits in the tertiary education curriculum, by blending intellectual pursuit with practical concerns of rural community life. Data were collected from a sample of 206 students drawn from the third and final years of two faculties of the Nyankpala campus, using a pre-tested close-ended questionnaire. The data were analysed using frequency distributions, means, standard deviations and t-tests. Results indicated that the programme improved students' skills in critical thinking, presentation, communication, and human relations. Besides enhancing students experience and ability to appreciate rural community challenges, students also felt the programme contributed to their ability to live and work in rural communities. Students also perceived that TTFPP would contribute to their employability on graduation. They, however, felt the smooth running of the programme is inhibited by poor health care, inadequate logistics, poor and inadequate accommodation, and inadequate guidance on the field. The study therefore recommends that students' welfare should be prioritsed in the running of the TTFPP. It further suggests that private and public organisations at the community level should be effectively engaged in the programme to mentor students, further deepen the acquisition of skills and provide guidance to students during the period that they are in the rural communities.

Paper long abstract:

Community service learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates community service with academic study, reflection, and analysis to enrich the learning experience of students, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen local communities. Research focusing on service-learning has increased considerably over the years, across the globe. This study examined community service learning in higher education in Zimbabwe using the Arrupe Jesuit University's service-learning programme as a case study. The study explored the effect of the programme on the students. The experiential learning theory and a qualitative case study research design were used to guide this study. The study participants were twenty-nine including fourteen students, eight alumni, two faculty members, two college administrators, and three service community leaders. Participants were selected by purposive sampling. Data was collected using focus group, in-depth interviews, e-mail correspondences, observation, and a review of documents provided by the participants. Data analysis was based on thematic analysis by transcribing the data and coding the transcripts into categories and major themes through a process of open coding. The findings revealed that the Arrupe Jesuit University's service-learning programme is an important tool that encourages students to participate in the learning process and in society. Students learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organised service activities meeting the needs of communities. The study recommends that higher education institutions in Africa should integrate community service in their curricular and co-curricular programmes as an innovative approach to education for the engagement between pedagogy at tertiary level and societal role of higher education.

Paper Download (432 KB)

Paper long abstract:

This paper assesses team-based, participatory action research and community immersion by university students in Northern Ghana's rural communities. The community stay is a key component of the university's curriculum for undergraduates who stay with family's for a whole school term for the first two years of their studies. Using diary records of students, individual interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs), data is triangulated. The perceptions of the programme and its effects on the students, staff and host communities are compared and the processes of designing integrated community development projects evaluated. The paper highlights process whilst showing areas of agreement and disagreement as well as the successes of the programme (particularly the students' development) and areas for improvement (student preparation and follow-up actions) are set out. A key recommendation captures how the approach could be adopted for different context for sustainability of development interventions.

Paper short abstract:

As a result of the SOHA project on open science and cognitive justice, 10 science shops were born in 2019 in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Niger, Senegal and in Haiti. This paper presents the difficulties, challenges and achievements of the enthusiastic teams of these shops.

Paper long abstract:

The action research SOHA movement (https://projetsoha.org) about open science and cognitive justice in Haiti and Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa has recently (2018) given birth to several science shops in 7 African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Niger and Senegal) and in Haiti.

A science shop is a program through which students, under the guidance of their professor within a course, help local community organizations to achieve their goals thanks to a research or an intervention project. Experiential learning is therefore combined to service to the community. More than 100 science shops exist in the world, mostly in European universities. They constitute a powerful tool of social responsibility but also of student professionalization for these universities.

In Africa and Haiti, this concept, as presented by the author in some papers and lectures, has created a huge interest and the desire to create one among several professors and graduate students in social and human sciences. Enthusiastic teams have been formed in 10 cities (Abidjan, Bobo-Dioulasso, Bambey, Ouagadougou, Conakry, Niamey, Parakou, Port-au-Prince, Ngaoundéré and Cotonou). However, these teams face very specific challenges compared to the ones situated in the North. For instance, their universities have very few financial, human and material resources while facing an ever-growing number of students, which greatly hampers their ability to develop original educational initiatives or even their mission of service to the community. Yet the potential contribution of science shops to sustainable local development in Africa and Haiti has been easily seen and understood. But how to make it a reality?

Beyond the resource difficulties, one hypothesis is that the concept itself of science shop needs to be adapted to local contexts. For instance, one team wishes to include transversal methodological training for students of all disciplines; another wants to be a laboratory for action research. Others proposed to add to their science shop life-long training activities and the preservation of local traditional and scientific knowledge. Two of the teams have become distrustful of their universities and want to anchor their science shop in an association. A recent initiative brought all these emergent science shops in a global action research project about climate change narratives. Will this solidarity between the teams help them conquering their difficulties?

The paper will sum up how far these science shop teams have come and what are their perspectives in the near future.