Abstract
Can leaders emerge amidst chronic poverty? This mixed-methodological study examines the influence of demographic, attitudinal, and behavioral traits on self-defined leadership status for 281 female members of the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia, a network of neighborhood-based savings groups that attempts to provide affordable housing and related infrastructure services to impoverished black women. We consider the following research questions: Do Federation women consider themselves leaders? Are certain women more likely to consider themselves leaders than others? Results based on statistical and content analyses, and informed by leadership theory, suggest the importance of ethnicity, education, Pentecostal and mainline religious affiliations, sweat equity, and leadership interest in explaining whether women consider themselves leaders. Representative themes also illustrate some of the nuanced ways leadership is understood and experienced.
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Notes
NHAG offers services such as how to create group savings accounts as well as daily savings, training in community mapping, and membership training.
Refer to Cowser (2013) for historical information on South African colonization of Namibia.
Community exchanges are an organizing tool through which women learn, share, and exchange information, experiences, and skills. Women also collect data (called enumerations) on the living conditions of shack dwellers that are used for community development and in negotiating with public officials. Exchanges can also foster personal efficacy as women mobilize for change.
Since 2007, the federation has completed profiles of 235 settlements in 30 Namibian areas about economic/housing conditions that are used to negotiate with public officials for resources.
There are currently over 200 savings groups representing 6230 households. Federasi have acquired communal land and affordable utility services via negotiations with local authorities. After lands are procured, women clear the land and build their own houses.
Funds from the Namibian government, Federasi repayments, and international foundations enable Federasi to borrow money to start small businesses (1556 loans to date), get house loans (2883 loans), and other services (1406 loans). Most houses have two rooms measuring 34 m2 and cost about $24,000 per house. Homeowners build and install their own water and sewer services incrementally based on the household’s ability to pay for materials and services.
Language is used to determine ethnicity. Damara-Nama includes women who speak Damara, Nama, Damara-Nama, and Nama-Damara languages. Although several other ethnic groups could have been chosen, we chose this group because they have one of the longest histories of federation involvement and of building homes than their peers as well as their sub-sample size. Also, a relatively higher percentage of Damara-Nama joined the federation to build a brick home (89.0%) as compared to their peers.
Refer to Cowser (2013) for a list of religious groupings noted by respondents.
Data were collected by the second author during a Fulbright internship. Twenty federation meetings at local and regional levels, as well as five meetings between federation members and municipal authorities, were also observed. To audit the data, in July 2010, a meeting was held with the second author and about 30 federation leaders at their Windhoek headquarters to present findings and solicit comments. These leaders vetted the data and results (Cowser 2013).
Surveys were usually completed after federation meetings. Shorter completion times were usually the result of women with limited time after meetings. In these rare instances, responses are not as detailed as they could have been had more time been available. However, we believe that resulting responses represent issues of most importance to Federasi members because they were provided despite time constraints. Taped interviews were transcribed 5–21 days after collection, depending on field conditions. The questionnaire data were recorded in Excel spreadsheets upon return to the USA; the time between collection and entry of these data was 5–6 months. The second author collected and, in collaboration with local translators, transcribed all data. The first author audited the data. Handwritten field notes were transcribed within 2–3 days of the date they were recorded. A participant observation data sheet was also used to gather data.
In more remote villages and towns, translators were used because most respondents neither spoke nor were able to read English. In these cases, a questionnaire and pen/pencil were provided to each translator, who sat with each respondent and completed questionnaires face to face.
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Appendix Survey Questions and Variable Operationalizations (15 Variables Total)
Appendix Survey Questions and Variable Operationalizations (15 Variables Total)
Controls (eight variables)
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1.
Age (continuous variable, 0–70 or more): Q: How old are you?
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2.
Number of dependents (continuous variable, 0–25 or more): Q: How many people are dependent upon you?
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3.
Education (0–1 dummy variable, post-Bantu is the reference category): Q: What is your highest grade? [Missionary/Pre-Bantu (basic skills, equivalent to grades 1–7 or below in the USA) and Post-Bantu (through standard 10 or grades 8–12).]
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4.
Ethnicity (one 0–1 dummy variable): Q: What language do you speak (used to identify ethnicity)?
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5.
Employment type (two 0–1 dummy variables, unemployed/pensioner is the reference category): Q: What do you do to make a living—your job?
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6.
Religious affiliation (two 0–1 dummy variables, Catholic and non-affiliated is the reference category): Q: What is the name of your church (coded into religious affiliation)?
Daily activities (two variables)
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7.
Daily activities (two 0–1 dummy variables): Q: What are your daily chores (please check all that apply)? Wash dishes, care for children, collect firewood, laundry, care for other adults, care for livestock, build my house, clean the house, buy groceries, build another house, prepare meals, work fields/yard, collect water, other (fill in the blank).
Reasons for joining the federation (five variables)
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8.
Reasons for joining the federation (five 0–1 dummy variables):
Why did you join the federation (please check all that apply)? Leadership development, reconciliation work, land tenure, build a federation house, save money, reparations, business development, build community, or employment.
Narrative questions
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9.
Are you saving for your brick house, waiting for the land, building your brick house, or living in your brick house? (please circle answer)
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10.
Do you think that you are a community leader? If yes why? If no why not?
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11.
What are the good qualities of your leadership?
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12.
Describe one time when you were asked to solve a problem in the community.
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13.
Describe one time when your community came together to get something done (who, what, when, where, why, how).
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14.
What does the federation mean to you?
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15.
How do your children feel about your federation work? How is it helping them grow and develop?
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16.
How do you feel about women’s rights—women’s leadership?
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17.
What problems do you think the federation faces? What needs to happen to achieve these changes? Can you help with that?
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18.
What needs do you see in the community besides housing?
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19.
What is your hope for the future?
Federation 2010 data.
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Barnes, S.L., Cowser, A. & Gutierrez, T.A. Leadership Amidst Poverty: a Mixed-Methodological Analysis of the Shack Dweller Federation of Namibia. J Afr Am St 21, 216–235 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-017-9356-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-017-9356-6