Measuring the Size, Scope, and Location of Civil Society Organizations in Johannesburg's Food System

Abstract

Food security civil society organizations (FSCSOs) are key institutional players in the Global South, yet researchers have not adequately examined their size, scope, or location within urban areas. To fill this gap, this article analyzes Johannesburg's FSCSOs using quantitative survey data and spatial analysis. Data findings suggest that FSCSOs’ resources are unevenly distributed across Johannesburg, with larger, privately resourced FSCSOs located in white suburbs and smaller, unstable, turnover-prone FSCSOs located in black townships and informal settlements. Overall, these data suggest that the city's network of FSCSOs is spatially polarized and weakest in areas where food insecurity is the greatest.

粮食安全公民社会组织 (FSCSOs) 是全球南方重要的制度参与者, 但研究者尚未充分检视它们在城市区域中的大小、范围或地点。为了补充此一阙如, 本文运用量化调查资料与空间分析, 解析约翰尼斯堡的 FSCSOs。资料发现指出, FSCSs 的资源在约翰尼斯堡中呈现不均分佈, 其中较大型且由私人资助的 FSCSOs 座落于白人郊区, 而较小型、不稳定、高流动率的 FSCSOs 则位于黑人城镇与非正式的聚落。总体而言, 这些资料显示, 城市的 FSCSOs 网络在空间上呈现两极分化, 且最差的组织位于粮食缺乏最为严重的区域。

Las organizaciones de la sociedad civil sobre seguridad alimentaria (FSCSOs) son actores institucionales claves en el Sur Global, aunque los investigadores no han examinado adecuadamente su tamaño, ámbito o localización en áreas urbanas. Para llenar este vacío, el artículo analiza las FSCSOs que operan en Johannesburgo utilizando datos cuantitativos de campo y análisis espacial. Los datos hallados sugieren que los recursos de las FSCSOs están distribuidos desigualmente en aquella ciudad, con las más grandes y recursivas FSCSOs ubicadas en los suburbios blancos y las más pequeñas, inestables y propensas a la inacción, localizadas en poblados negros y asentamientos informales. En general, estos datos sugieren que la red de FSCSOs de la ciudad se halla polarizada espacialmente y es más débil en las áreas de máxima inseguridad alimentaria.

Key Words::

• civil society
• food security
• hunger
• South Africa
• urban.

关键词:

• 公民社会
• 粮食安全
• 飢饿
• 南非
• 城市。

Palabras clave:

• sociedad civil
• seguridad alimentaria
• hambre
• Sudáfrica
• urbano

Notes

The author would like to thank Jennifer Wolch for her intellectual guidance and the University of Southern California for funding this research. In addition, I wish to thank staff at Johannesburg's local food organizations for agreeing to speak with me. All errors are the responsibility of the author.

1. Includes the City of Johannesburg metropolitan municipality, Ekurhuleni metropolitan municipality, and West Rand district municipality.

2. Survey team coordination was operated through Wits Enterprise at the University of Witwatersrand. Surveyors were trained to ensure interrater reliability and validity as compared to a gold standard survey by me, the primary investigator. Those surveyed were initially called via telephone to set up the interview, but surveys were conducted in person at each FSCSO to the extent possible during business hours, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

3. See note 2.

4. R19,200 was $2,370. R76,800 was $9,481. R307,200 was $37,926. Exchange rate of 1R to $8.1 in June 2001 when the 2001 South African census data was collected.

5. Although forty-nine organizations were surveyed, only forty-five organizations actually reported data on the number of persons served and budget size.

6. Low income was household income under R19,200 or $2,370 per year. See note 4 for exchange rate.

7. See note 4 for exchange rate.

8. See note 4 for exchange rate.

9. See note 5.

10. Exchange rate of 1R to $8.0 in June 2009 when my fieldwork was collected for this study.

11. Exchange rate of 1R to $8.0 in June 2009.

12. See note 5.

13. A commonly accepted rule is that chi-square cross-tabular categories need an N of at least 5; however, due to small sample size, an N of less than 5 was used in this study if it was 3 or 4 and in only one of the four chi-square cross-tabular categories.

14. Because more than fifty regression tests were completed to explore whether any significant relationships existed, these results are reported elsewhere (Warshawsky 2011c).

15. In-depth interviews indicated that FSCSOs also received food donations from manufacturers and retailers (Warshawsky 2011a).

16. Although lower than expected possibly due to small sample size, foundation funding is only a fraction of corporate social investment (Friedman, Hudson, and Mackay 2008).

17. See note 6.

18. Private funding, foundation funding, government funding, and other funding had an N that was below 30 due to incomplete survey questions. Therefore, they did not meet the minimum chi-square requirements. See note 13.

19. Because the sample size was small and these suburban NGOs were not outliers due to data error or statistical mistakes, they were kept as part of this study.