A report on a research study presented to
The Department of Social Work
School of Human and Community Development
Faculty of Humanities
University of the Witwatersrand
In partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree Master of Arts in Social Work
March, 2016 / The annual Conference of Parties (COP) held on the 7th-8th of December 2015 made it obvious;
the environment is changing and urgent action is needed globally. Globally for the reason that
damage done to the environment in one region, may have impacts in other regions. In regards to
Africa and in specific South Africa, water as a finite resource is no more available as it was
decades ago. This fact needs to be addressed with urgency, as human survival heavily depends
on water – especially in Africa (UN Water, 2006). A part of the literature review will be
dedicated to challenges related to water and its consequences for the African continent. The core
of this study will be to highlight the importance of water for human beings and what can be done
to raise awareness. Further, a quantitative study in Kliptown (a suburb area in Soweto suffering
from water scarcity); by means of a survey was undertaken to understand more about children’s
behavior in regards to water. The purpose of the research was to raise the knowledge of 10-13
year old learners and members of the Kliptown Youth Program (KYP) on the value of water and
to assess their awareness on environmental friendliness as well as their daily water management.
The intervention took place at Kliptown, with members of the KYP; a nongovernmental
organization supporting in lifting children out of poverty. A pre and a post questionnaire was
conducted as well as short video clips shown to KYP members, explaining water scarcity and
climate change; supported by some recommendations on how to save water in their current
environment. Random sampling has been applied to 24 members out of the population of 119
grade 5-7 members, ranging between 10-13 years of age. Respondents were of mixed genders.
Data collection of the survey was cross-sectional and has been performed by means of pen-andpaper.
The whole intervention with the filling out of the questionnaires, including the video clips
and short presentation took about 90 minutes. Data has been interpreted by using descriptive
statistics. The outcome provided information on the environmental friendliness of KYP members
aged 10-13, their knowledge on the importance of water as well as their pro activeness in regards
to the environment and water. Further the study tried to find out whether there is a difference of
responses in regards to gender. The outcome of the study will be shared with the Director of
KYP to be informed and probably implement recommendations of the study. The outcome of the
study revealed that children do not know much about water, however, are interested in knowing
and doing more to get acquainted to the topic. / MT2017
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/21825 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Von Maravic, Marie Caroline |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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