Building a future without gender violence: rural teachers and youth in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, leading community dialogue

Abstract

This article advances the idea that rural youth and teachers are the key in leading community dialogue towards addressing gender-based violence (GBV) in their community through their film making. The youth voices on the realities of GBV in their school and community, in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, captured through the process of participatory video, are used to engage a group of their teachers in thinking about addressing GBV in the school and community. The teachers' engagement with the five participatory videos on GBV – through participatory analysis and participatory archiving – provided an opportunity to deepen their understanding of GBV by also interrogating their own stance and led them to direct the production of a composite video suitable for use in leading community dialogue on a future without violence.

Keywords:

• gender-based violence (GBV)
• participatory analysis
• participatory archiving
• participatory video
• community dialogue
• rural
• teachers
• youth

Notes

1. UNGEI & Education International Consultation and Design Workshop, November 12–13, ‘Safe spaces for learning: Teachers as champions for girls’ protection in schools’. New York City.

2. ‘Not leaving data in the dark’: Participatory archiving and visual data to address HIV and AIDS, focuses on working with teachers, community health workers, and youth in schools to explore how data in a digital archive could be used to address issues of HIV and AIDS in school (NRF, 2012–2014).

3. The Learning Together Project addressed HIV and AIDS and gender issues with teachers, community health care workers, parents, and learners in rural KwaZulu-Natal (NRF, 2004–2006).

4. All names are pseudonyms.

5. See http://www.dublincore.org/

6. The use of the terms ‘unqualified’ and ‘under-qualified’ are somewhat contentious within South African education. Hawker (2013) observes that there are approximately 10,000 unqualified and under-qualified teachers on the Department of Basic Education payroll. This number includes 7076 unqualified teachers who have only a grade 12 qualification, along with 2642 under-qualified teachers in the country, who have completed matric and who only have one or two years of tertiary studies. Of all the provinces, KwaZulu-Natal was the worst affected when it came to unqualified teachers. The province is largely rural and often has difficulty recruiting qualified teachers in rural areas. http://www.enca.com/south-africa/thousands-unqualified-teachers-sa-schools