Photo: Jessie Knot
7.3.2 ‘Socialising for Progress’: Friends and Social Networks Plate 7-2 shows a
participant from eMpumalanga socialising with others, while she takes a break. Friends and social interaction are an important part of well-being (see subsection 2.1.2, p21).
DinahF21 used the term
"socialising for progress" to describe meeting new people through CLIQ, who had a positive impact on her life.
Quantitative results show 55% of the core sample felt that through engaging in CLIQ, they had made new friends, communicated more often or otherwise increased their social networks. Three aspects of social interaction facilitated through CLIQ were identified as contributing to participants’ social resources, namely socialising with peers, interacting with fieldworkers and social networking via ICTs.
Peer interaction: The CLIQ process involved the same group of people meeting and discussing issues together on a number of occasions over a period of about two years.
Participants who took part in three QLAs and two training phases engaged with each other on about 15 different days, for most of the day. This was in addition to other chance interactions or self-arranged meetings to practise computer skills in-between scheduled sessions.
Over lunch and in between structured time (such as group discussions), participants would socialise with each other, with the fieldworkers and with other local people who were in the vicinity. Some participants provided insight into these casual interactions: KwaziM20 (who wanted to be a musician) spoke about the future with his friends and about ways they could make money. Friends are resourceful, providing advice, support and new ideas: “my friends are supportive to me because they give advice about how I must behave myself, issues related to crime activities and about respect” (SiphoM21, 2008). KhombisileF28
Box 7-2: DuduzileF25 (eNyakatho)
“I was engaged as a young girl and my husband did not let me network with other people – but towards August 2008 I started making it for myself and started networking and getting to know other people. CLIQ came and I met more people that were attending with me and the same year I found a job and met even more people.
In 2010 it feels like I have started living life for the first time because I have left my husband and I am free and can now go wherever I feel like going.” Duduzile found a job in 2009 and her siblings also managed to get work during the two years of fieldwork. “The most exciting thing is that we are building a home for our family”.
“CLIQ had an impact in my
communicating skills because most of the people I met here are still my friends and we groom each other to become great people” (BathaF21).
“I’m happy because I know I’m out of poverty” (MakhoM28).
increased her networks when she got a job and her networks decreased after she lost the job. Just as a new job can lead to new friends; new friends also led to getting a job.
MakhoM28 found a job in a major urban centre from social interaction with fellow participants. He also cited increased connectedness, hope and self-esteem from participating in CLIQ. This illustrates the circularity of
causality when combining different participants’
experiences.
From new friends and more socialising, participants received emotional support, gained ideas for income generation and found solidarity in sharing difficult aspects of their lives (see
BathaF21’s quote). DuduzileF25 was empowered by
engaging with people outside of her home and her story illustrates why friends can be considered as part of social resources which support agency (see Box 7-2).The friends and networks that Duduzile made through CLIQ helped her to break out of the isolation her husband imposed on her. While increased friendship and community networking often had positive impacts on QoL, this was not always the case. A few examples of negative social capital (see Urquhart et al., 2008) are noted in subsection 7.3.5.
Interaction with fieldworkers: In participatory research, fieldworkers (or change agents) are acknowledged as being subjective (see section 4.3, p87). In order to gain quality information, it was important for fieldworkers to show interest and empathy with
participants when discussing issues relating to their lives and to engage with participants as
“CLIQ also came to my area and we spent lots of time with them and they also gave us advice especially on applying to university, jobs and CV. We communicate with them till this day.”
“CLIQ was very helpful to me because they always asked me how far I was with my applications and other things I was doing in life. They sent everyone here bursary forms.”
“What made me continue participating in CLIQ activities was that I will have a bright future with them and after them. I wanted to learn computers and even the time I spent with the team was great, I learnt a lot of things from them.” (NdodaM20)
“…we should not and wait for things to come to use, but we have to try harder to succeed” (BalungileF24).
fellow human beings, and not as objects of research. This style of fieldwork was achieved with the greatest success in eMpumalanga, where participants initially regarded
fieldworkers as role models and later as friends, as illustrated by NdodaM20’s quotes.
Asking participants about progress in their lives was part of the research. However, this topic of conversation extended beyond the fieldwork period and beyond the roles of fieldworker and participant. The friendships and pleasant research environment at
eMpumalanga, was evident from fieldworkers attitudes: they were always more enthusiastic about fieldwork in eMpumalanga, despite the fact that it was very hot; the furthest area from Durban; and our accommodation did not always have electricity or running water.
Fieldworkers shared aspects of their lives with participants and the IIDI’s sometimes resembled
counselling sessions. Fieldworkers spontaneously assisted participants with small things, like giving clothes they no longer needed. Furthermore, fieldworkers would their share general knowledge, like what it was like to live in Durban, study at a tertiary institution, and so on.
While the best rapport was established with eMpumalanga participants, there was plenty of evidence of the supportive and empowering nature of interaction between participants and fieldworkers in the other three areas, as illustrated by
BalungileF24’s recollection of the message she gained from fieldworkers, to illustrate her claim that advice from CLIQ people directly assisted her.
On the whole, fieldworkers embodied the purpose and spirit of CLIQ, improvising and going beyond their fieldwork duties at times. This style of fieldwork was discussed and encouraged during field debriefings sessions, which occurred after each field trip and was an
essential part of the motivating effect that CLIQ had on many participants.83 This illustrates that CLIQ fieldworkers were change agents and that their behaviour and attitude played a support role in local action to change QoL.
Social interaction through ICT use: New ICT use contributed to increased social
interaction for participants. As participants made new friends in person, their cell-phone use increased. “I use my phone differently now that I have lots of people to network with”, but KateF19 regretted that she could not buy a new model: “I own an old fashioned model of a cell-phone so I cannot access email and internet (over the phone)”. Others interacted with fellow participants by accessing the internet through their cell-phones (see Box 7-3), and many were excited to learn to use and commented on their new on-line friends.
MlamuliM28 learnt about a job opportunity in Johannesburg (as a security guard) through email contact with a friend of his, which contributed to his improved QoL.
Continued interaction between some participants was still visible on the social networking website, FaceBook, in mid 2012. I was able to view these interactions because some of the participants and fieldworkers were my FaceBook Friends. Through FaceBook, I have seen a number of examples where participants have used this social networking site to express their views. An example I particularly like is shown in Plate 7-3: this is what
Vengerfeldt (2003) refers to as participation through ICTs (one of three reasons for using ICTs).
83 These debriefing sessions were also the basis for revising the field guide (prior to the next QLA) to build on process learnings and clarify any areas of confusion. It also served to motivate fieldworkers through recognising their experiences and insights, and adjusting the fieldplan where appropriate.
Box 7-3: NoziphoF26 (eMpumalanga)
Nozipho learnt to use Excel prior to CLIQ at a local FET college, but through CLIQ she learnt to email and joined Facebook. “I am able use Facebook on my phone and don’t have to go to the telecentre to access internet, because sometimes I just want to say or comment on something which is not serious and going to the telecentre takes time so I use my phone as the central engine of my communication.
I have friends that I have not seen in person but I know what they look like because I joined Facebook. I send emails and chat on Google chat.”
Now if she runs out of airtime, she uses the computer to communicate with people through email.
Plate 7-4: DinahF21 on FaceBook (eNyakatho, 2012)
Source: https://www.facebook.com/#1/messages