The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
SACSIS is the brainchild of Fazila Farouk. She qualified with a M.Sc. in development planning from the University of Natal in 1996 and has worked in civil society ever since. Fazila has also completed a Ph.D-level course in social theory at Wits University's School of Public and Development Management, which she passed with distinction.
Fazila's experience includes research, policy advocacy and new media. She has written extensively about civil society and development in South Africa.
Fazila Farouk -
Pick up the promotional brochure of any government, NGO or corporate social investment programme and you will read that poor women are an important beneficiary group – if not the most important target of social relief and investment programmes.
Many millions of Rand are raised and spent in the name of alleviating the plight of poor black women, particularly those living in rural South Africa.
For all the time, money and effort put into such programmes, one has to wonder why the...
Fazila Farouk -
Nouveau environmentalists and the super rich are queuing up to fill their hybrid cars with ethanol blends. Agribusiness is selling its corn to the highest bidder while many millions around the world are being deprived of the right to eat.
It doesn’t seem to matter much that the production of corn-based ethanol releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than is actually gained by burning it as a fuel. In today’s world, the market dictates whether you eat grain or not --- and...
Fazila Farouk -
It’s just been a few weeks since Nelson Mandela was taken off the United States terrorism watch list. No doubt so that they too could join in the celebrations of this living icon, without the embarrassment of hoisting up a revolutionary.
I gather that a revolutionary in America is someone, not quite viewed through the same rose-tinted lens worn by us Southerners.
Mandela made the cover of Time Magazine again this week. It’s his fourth time on the cover. I...
Fazila Farouk -
People who work in the digital divide world, routinely over emphasize the value of information communication technology (ICT) for the poor, often forgetting that technology is nothing more than a means to an end and one that’s only of value if it increases conveniences and the quality of people's lives.
The common argument one hears for lowering the cost of broadband is that it will bridge the digital divide and increase socio-economic benefits for the poor. There’s certainly...
Fazila Farouk -
The current global crisis is being described to as the triple ‘F’ crisis of food, fuel and finance.
Nowhere is the crisis being felt more than among Africa’s poor. The rising price of food, in particular, is a topic that’s on everybody’s lips.
Even the BBC’s head of world news, Nick Gowing, chaired a session examining the food crisis at the recently held African leg of the World Economic Forum (WEF), where the usual suspects were rounded...
Fazila Farouk -
The anniversary of South Africa’s decade of democracy signalled a turning point in the way many South Africans view this country.
Since then we’ve been treated to a gaggle of critiques measuring the gains of our democracy.
The overall conclusion has been that it was a decade of poor gains. A decade of missed opportunities. A decade marked by a paucity of ideas about how to achieve real transformation, and most alarming of all, a decade of denial.
Extreme denial...
