Methods and tools for community based research projects: distributed design and distributed information for volunteer organisations in South Africa: unlocking value in teaching and learning programmes

Abstract

The growing global challenges such as rising global population and youth unemployment have devastating impacts on developing countries. Many not-for profit organisations strive to reduce unemployment by running volunteer programmes for the youths while socially and economically improving communities. The aim of this research is to provide sustainable information and communication technology (ICT) solutions within the Sustainable Product Service System (S.PSS) framework to facilitate social innovation of volunteer organisations in order to scale social impact of developmental programmes in South Africa. The paper adopts the theoretical principles of S.PSS to design the proposed solutions. A qualitative case study approach is followed. Multiple methods of data collection were used to gather rich data from the volunteers and their mentors, allowing to better understand the extent to which an ICT based intervention could sustain developmental programmes for social impact. The findings show that the developmental programmes proposed by volunteer organisation presents challenges at different levels.