SASUF Goes Digital: 2020 Edition

When we applied for funding and planned for building and strengthening our South African and Swedish partnership, we never anticipated COVID-19. Our proposal was about engaging in research and policy that addresses issues of food security, natural resource management and social transformation. The collaborative project purpose was to 1) translate science into practice through participatory dialogues with communities deemed to be knowledgeable in edible insects 2) contribute to the operationalization of the sustainable development goals, especially SDG 2 and the role that insects play and can play in meeting quality nutrition. Then came “lockdown”. According to the Collins Dictionary, “lockdown” was named word of the year in 2020. Lockdown meant many things for different people, not least for scientists and academicians. For our partnership, this meant revisiting what we could or could not do together. More importantly, it meant adapting to change.
In this session, we reflect and discuss how we as scientists and academicians in South Africa and Sweden adapted our thinking of community dialogues into virtual discussion platforms, to examine the policy and academic response to COVID-19. We present three specific cases examining how we adapted to change to build and strengthen our partnership. Specifically: 1) Statement and Policy Brief by the Social Justice Think-Tank - Digital Roundtable on Social Justice and Mental Health in the face of the Coronavirus COVID-19; 2) An academic perspective on COVID-19 a double-edged sword – convening teams to apply a feminist economic perspective in writing a joint peer review paper (forthcoming). And 3) convening the Second Annual Social Justice Summit: All hands on deck to leave no one behind in the post COVID-19 recovery agenda. Examing the links of food security, social justice and the role of Data Analytics in Disaster Transforming Relief and Recovery Policies.
Policy responses to COVID -19 show a level of appreciating that preexisting racial, gender, age, social class and geographic disparities predispose any epidemic to a disparate adverse impact on disadvantaged groups. However, it appears that more attention needs to be paid to the use of disaggregated data to predict the likely impact of any intended policy on poverty and inequality and avoid undue harm.

Time, CET
09:00 Session I - Welcome & Facilitator Associate Prof Linley Chiwona-Karltun, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
09:15 Presentation: Digital Round Table on Social Justice & mental health in the face of COVID-19, Prof. Thuli Madonsela, Chair Social Justice, Stellenbosch University
09:45 Discussion & Q&A

10:15 Break

10:30 Session II – Facilitator Marna Lourens, Stellenbosch University
10:35 Presentation: Convening Academic Writing Teams - COVID-19 a double edged sword, Associate Prof Linley Chiwona-Karltun, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Associate Prof Caroline Wamala Larsson, Stockholm University

10:55 Session III – Facilitator Dr Wendy Stone, Stellenbosch University
11:00 Presentation: Annual Social Justice Summit: All hands on deck leave no one behind in the post COVID-19 recovery, food security and social justice the role of Data Analytics in Disaster Transforming Relief and Recovery Policies. Prof. Thuli Madonsela, Chair Social Justice, Stellenbosch University Dr Pali Lehohla.
11:30 Opportunities for Future Collaborations, Open Conversation, Nolwandle Made, (SLU Alumni)
12:00 Closing Remarks Prof. Thuli Madonsela, Chair Social Justice, Stellenbosch University
12:15 Close