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Abstract
This paper highlights the important role of action research in triggering and promoting social innovation processes in communities. By conceptualising social innovation as a process involving the development and delivery of new ideas for improving human capabilities and social relations, we argue that well-designed and well-executed action research can provide participants with opportunities to reflect on and develop shared understandings of individual and societal challenges and their possible solutions. Well-designed and well-executed action research also can provide participants with opportunities to critique and test proposed novel ideas, strategies, services and products, thereby determining their effectiveness or ineffectiveness in facilitating the realisation of envisioned social, economic and political goals. Drawing on evidence from empirical research undertaken in the fisheries sector of Ukerewe District in Tanzania, where small-scale fishers cogently argued for and positioned themselves as “constrained wealth creators” instead of poor actors, we illustrate how the provision of adequate spaces for dialogue enables the unveiling of innovative ideas and solutions to individual, sectoral and societal challenges.
Acknowledgement
I wish to thank the editors of this special issue and the two anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions for improving the paper.
About the Author
Dr Almas F. Mazigo was born and brought up in Tanzania. He holds the degrees of Bachelor of Philosophy (Magna Cum Laude) from the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Master of Arts in Development Studies from the University of Dar es Salaam, and Ph.D. in Applied Ethics from Stellenbosch University. He lectures Development Studies courses at the Dar es Salaam University College of Education and Applied Ethics courses in the Department of Philosophy of the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
Notes
† This empirical study was part of my doctoral project in the Department of Philosophy at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and resulted in a doctoral dissertation entitled “Towards an alternative development ethic for the fishing sector of Ukerewe District, Tanzania”.
1. In this paper, we distinguish between the fisheries sector and the fisheries sections. By the fisheries sector we mean all fisheries-related activities in Ukerewe District, which include the catching, processing, transporting and trading of fish and fish products; the making and repairing of fishing inputs and the management of fisheries resources. By fisheries sections we refer specifically to the particular sections of fish catching, processing, transporting and trading of the Nile perch, dagaa, tilapia and other mixed fishery, which, when taken together, make up the fisheries sector.
2. The district is located at latitude 1°43ʹ16ʺ S and longitude 33°06ʹ52ʺ E, and constitutes 38 small islands in Lake Victoria. It covers an area of 6400 km2, of which 640 km2 is land mass and 5760 km2 is covered by water.
3. Morgan (Citation1996) argues that, with the standardised questions and procedures as applied in each of the FGDs involved in this study, it is possible to achieve a high level of comparability and quantification of responses.
4. Standardised in the sense that the same set of themes and/or questions was applied to the same participants in specific categories of actors and stakeholder groups.
5. This is the fish-processing activity that involves women in collecting, sun drying and packing of dagaa. In return for their service, they receive dagaa that they can sell to earn an income.
6. These minimum wages were approved and enforced through the Wage Order No. 172 of 2010, published by the Minister for Labour and Employment on 30 April 2010. This Wage Order was in force from 1 May 2010 to 30 June 2013, when it was repealed by the New Wage Order No. 196 of 2013.
7. SACCOS refers to savings and credit co-operative societies, the financial organisations established and managed communally through which registered members save and borrow money to meet their different socio-economic needs.
8. For a long time, reports have shown that the fishing communities along Lake Victoria are the most affected by HIV/AIDS. In 2008, the HIV prevalence rates within those fishing communities were estimated at between 10% and 40%, which was much higher than the average HIV prevalence of between 6% and 7% in the region (Fraser, Gorgens-Albino, and Nkongolo Citation2008). In 2010, the estimated HIV prevalence in the fishing communities of Ukerewe District was 5.2%, and therefore slightly higher than the national HIV prevalence rate, which was estimated at 5.1% in the same period. The high HIV prevalence in these fishing communities may have resulted from the low awareness they have of HIV/AIDS and/or limited services for people with HIV/AIDS.
9. Since 2013, several steps have been undertaken in the district and throughout the country to support small-scale fishers. The district fishers' association was formed in 2014 and BMUs were strengthened throughout the district. In its 2013/2014 budget, the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development set aside TZS 1.9 billion as a revolving fund to support small-scale fishers to acquire modern fishing vessels, outboard engines, dagaa seines and long-lines. With this arrangement under way since the beginning of 2014, the government covers 60% of the total costs of eligible and approved proposals by registered associations of small-scale fishers, while the other 40% is borne by members of the qualifying association (http://habarimifugouvuvi.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html, accessed on 14.08.2015). In 2014, The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) introduced the WAVUVI Scheme to cover and protect fishermen and fisherwomen from social calamities. The monthly membership fee for the UVUVI scheme is TZS 20,000. The voluntary registered small-scale fishers enjoy free medical treatment services, cover for injury and disability and soft loans for fishing inputs (www.nssf.or.tz/index.php/publications/93-nssf-50th-years-anniversary-publication/file, accessed on 16.08.2015).
10. Since then, both the key stakeholders and small-scale fishers have devised solutions to address pressing socio-economic and environment challenges in the fisheries sector (see note 9). Our next research project in the district will examine some of the emerging innovative solutions to curb unsustainable fishing practices and to promote effective fisheries governance.