A holistic interdisciplinary approach towards environmental justice and youth empowerment
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Date
2021
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AOSIS
Abstract
South African youth is described as marginalised and vulnerable because of, amongst others,
high unemployment rates, a lack of access to opportunities and environmental degradation that
threatens their and future generations’ well-being. Both social work and faith-based organisations
place value on the empowerment of marginalised youth, as well as on the importance of
participatory environmental initiatives. Practice guidelines to effectively empower youth in this
regard are, however, lacking. This discussion was aimed at determining how environmental
social work can take place in collaboration with faith-based organisations to contribute to both the
empowerment of youth and environmental justice. A search of literature from 2010 onwards was
conducted, focusing on the terms ‘sustainable development’, ‘marginalised youth’, ‘environmental
and/or green social work’ and ‘faith-based organisations’. Central themes were identified
through a thematic analysis. Four central themes were identified for youth empowerment through
an interdisciplinary approach to contribute to environmental justice, namely environmental
responsibility, attitude, knowledge and concern. It was concluded that the potential of an
interdisciplinary environmental approach may be based on collaboration and an openness to
include a renewed change orientation where disciplines work together across boundaries in
multiple spaces to support environmental change and youth empowerment simultaneously.
Description
Keywords
Environmental social work, Faith-based organisations, Holistic social work, Sustainable development, Youth empowerment, Environmental justice, South Africa
Citation
van der Westhuizen, M. A. (2021). A holistic interdisciplinary approach towards environmental justice and youth empowerment. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 77(2), a6640 . https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v77i2.6640