The people involved in the development of the project were two small groups of individuals. The majority of South Africans had high expectations of the new democracy. Both parts of this chapter seek to record the chronological sequence of events in the voice of the participants.
The group is motivated by the knowledge of the power they have to effect change. Even at this early stage, differences in the operational interpretation of the ideal varied widely. South Africans have the right to vote, which allows them to participate in the country's politics.
Indeed, some say that South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies in the world. During the development of the project and during the time the two groups worked together, participation will be proven. I recorded all the interviews and focus groups and transcribed them at the end of the sessions.
Design techniques were chosen due to the diversity of the groups and the educational level of the participants.
CONCLUSION
Research informing practice
Learning democracy is difficult, but this research has given me the opportunity to better understand how people learn democracy. I spent a lot of this research trying to write myself out of the story because I was too passionately involved in it to write about it objectively. It was so much easier to see the tangible results of our work and accept the outpouring of praise and thanks for a job well done than it was to accept responsibility for our failure to recognize the need to create a better, more democratic way sooner of building cooperation.
After thinking about it, I realized and accepted that if I really wanted to know and understand what was going on in order to be part of a meaningful change, I needed to continue and finish the process I started. This was possible by adopting the rigor and discipline of the academic process to structure and conduct the research, by taking myself out of the story and allowing the participants to speak for themselves. The biggest learning experience was my own and it started with the realization that building a democracy is a slow process and has little to do with the electoral process of voting every four years.
We learn democracy through our acute awareness of it and by putting it into practice in our everyday interactions with others. For democracy to happen in our communities, we must learn how to communicate well by first listening, even to the silences. We must commit to seeing the process through, even when there are many difficult obstacles to overcome.
Unequal partnerships are unlikely to promote democracy unless there is a clear understanding of the roles, rights and responsibilities of those involved. Democracy is made easier when those involved agree in consensus about what will be shared and what will be excluded. We can learn democracy by having an ongoing debate about what is right in what we do.
Even highly skilled and experienced professionals will need to learn how to adapt their practice. Doing this research has enabled me to understand and accept that democratic interaction between two groups of people cannot be built on weak foundations of wrong assumptions and unrealistic expectations. Create space and opportunity for critical reflection and make learning together part of the agenda.
A shifting policy environment will hinder democracy
NGOs did not have the structures to create 'ways in' and depended on community leaders to help them connect with the wider community. NGO staff did not have the necessary expertise and experience to begin working in communities they had little or no understanding of. They were further limited by a lack of research data and literature to better understand the work that needed to be done and how to implement the required new methods.
This is partly due to the inability of the NGO sector to respond adequately to the new policies. The new policy initiatives required a slow and targeted development process, while the expectation of delivery required quick results, especially of basic needs such as housing and food supply. People who need food and housing want these basic needs met before they are interested in building a democratic process.
Changing politics and a lack of supportive economic initiatives lead to distrust of the government's intentions and a lack of hope for the future. The Aged Persons Act 1967 and the Aged Persons Act 1998 have been repealed and the Bill, which when passed will become the Older Persons Act 2003, has not been gazetted. The latest draft copy (11/03) has been amended as determined appropriate and necessary by the working groups appointed to assist with the draft legislation.
Many older people have little or no experience of democratic processes; many are unaware of their rights and have few opportunities to access support structures. In many ways, they have an obligation to trust strong community leaders to speak and act for them. Future research will show that younger older people are beginning to speak up for themselves as new government initiatives are promoted and there are action groups such as the South African Human Rights Commission that deal with issues such as elder abuse, including situations of abuse that it still exists. in pension places.
There must be participation of the various role players in the design of policy and implementation strategies, and the content must be agreed upon by consensus and not changed after consultation and agreement. Fiscal policy must fully support social policy and where this is not possible, clear reasons for the lack of support must be fully explained and a time frame for future implementation must be established. People must be prepared for democracy, encouraged to ask questions, be able to insist on deliberation on issues that concern them, and play a meaningful part in process evaluation systems.
Projects can provide important learning sites
We learn after conflict
We learn democracy even when the process of learning is incidental
We learn democracy when we begin to negotiate power and possibility -187
It also showed that the role and responsibilities of each participant and the lines of authority in a project must be clearly defined before the introduction of resources. Professionals working on projects must be sensitive to the role and authority of others. The right of ownership and authority over the use and allocation of the resources must be clearly established.
Ownership rights to resources should be clearly discussed in advance and constantly reviewed during project development. Learning must be at the center of every agenda and recognized as an important outcome of every interaction. It's unfortunate that someone didn't break the focus on project construction - learning by doing, a task-driven cycle - earlier to allow 'conscious learning' to play an important role in helping both groups learn to work together in a better way.
Democratic action based on Larsson's Aspects of Democracy provided a good package of basic democracy tools when used by participants working on the project and it is important that for democracy to occur these continue to be used in everyday interaction between people . Using a respected communicator increases the level of understanding and acceptance of the communication as participants are more likely to listen carefully to the information communicated and are more likely to respond appropriately. The knowledge that people need while working together on a project in order to make informed decisions can vary, but this research has shown that it should always include full and open disclosure about ownership issues and roles and the responsibilities of the key people involved.
The process of learning about each other and reshaping identities as relationships change in the context of the project along specific, demonstrable dimensions is a process of learning to work together. Value systems can act as barriers to democracy; however, they need not necessarily be abandoned if people working on projects are willing to reconsider the values and norms they hold dear and measure them against the reality of the situation. The research strongly indicated that enforced stereotyping needs to be focused on and talked about so that participants know how to deal with concerns that may arise as a result of incorrect assumptions.
As the research strongly indicated, the attitude of the key support persons is crucial to the development of democracy. Within the project, the two groups developed a deeper understanding of what Larsson calls 'the concept of equal value' (Larsson, because they were aware of the 'multiplicity of identities' and more accepting of the many differences that still have the opportunity to exclude and marginalize The ability of groups to 'accept difference and combat social exclusion based on difference' (Larsson continues to be the challenge for democracy in the future.
