Children's views at Camp Sizanani Life Skills on mitigating environmental risks and poverty for a sustainable future

Abstract

Over the years, poor communities have been confronted with overlapping challenges like environmental risks and poverty (Hayward, 2012:1). Children are mostly affected by these injustices (Vambe, 2018:651) yet they are not given a chance to voice their views and participate in decision making processes (Lombard & Viviers, 2014:83). The goal of the study was to explore and describe children's views at Camp Sizanani Life Skills on mitigating environmental risks and poverty for a sustainable future. The study was qualitative and adopted a case study design. Photo-voice was used as data collection method. The sample included five children who were purposefully selected to participate in the study. The study received ethical clearance by the University of Pretoria. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews using WhatsApp to capture, share and discuss photos of environmental risks and poverty in four different communities in Gauteng Province, namely: Braamfontein, Orange Farm, Poortjie, and Protea Glen. The key findings of the study indicated that children are aware of environmental risks in their communities, and these include air and land pollution; water contamination and wasting. Children’s experiences of poverty varied from hunger to confined access to social services. Children were able to link poverty with environmental risks by showing how poor communities survive even at the expense of both environmental sustainability and health of people. The study concluded that children understand the link between poverty and environmental risks and what the impact thereof is for both the environment and people. They have creative ideas for community projects to mitigate environmental risks and poverty that can be implemented by relevant stakeholders, including themselves. It is recommended that Camp Sizanani Life Skills strengthen children’s agency to participate in community initiatives through their life skill programmes as this can ensure a sustainable environment for a better future.