HUMAN WELL-BEING
Well-being is commonly used to describe
what is ultimately good for a person. Well-being is a multi-faceted
concept that refers to human needs, interests and wants. The
most popular use of the term "well-being" usually relates
to health.
Measuring well-being aims to be able to make a definitive
statement about the level of quality of life, and how that
level can vary markedly, depending on which domain is examined.
Well-being assessment recognized that it is possible for members
of a population to have objectively low levels of a given
commodity, while still being relatively "well off" if other
aspects of their lives act to compensate in some way (Kominski
& Short, 1996). The measurement of human well-being itself
is difficult and raises many methodological issues. There
are two methodological standpoints when measuring well-being
i.e. objective and subjective measurement. Objective measures
focus on material provision and rely heavily on objectively
verifiable aspects of life such as the state of economic and
social conditions. On the other hand, subjective measures
are more difficult to ascertain as they comprise measures
of feelings about life and how people perceive their own well-being
through their assessment of satisfaction and happiness.
Most human welfare and poverty indicators can be grouped
into three major aspects of well-being i.e. economic, social
and enabling environment (http://www.poverty.net).
There are three approaches to produce poverty indicators under
the economic aspect of
well-being: current consumption expenditures, income, and
wealth. The preferred measure to calculate poverty indicators
is current household consumption expenditures, that is the
aggregate expenditure on all goods and services consumed,
valued at appropriate prices. The limitation of using monetary
measures to capture household well-being includes difficulties
in capturing non-marketed and non-priced goods (i.e. subsistence
consumption and free social services) or other important aspects
of human well-being (i.e. community resources, social relations
and natural resources). To cover these non-monetary aspects,
economic measures are usually supplemented with other indicators
such as literacy, infant mortality and access to public services.
Poverty indicators under the social
aspect of well-being include measures of nutrition,
energy, water & sanitation, health & family planning
and education. The strength of social indicators is that they
provide a number of capability measures (http://www.poverty.net).
The greatest limitation of social indicators is the difficulties
in aggregating them into a composite index.
Poverty indicators are being broadened to include indicators
that seek to capture empowerment, governance, participation
and transparency of legal systems. These indicators fall within
the well-being aspect of enabling
environment. Difficulties with these indicators
include the vague definitions relating to some of the concepts,
difficulty in quantifying the indicators and overlapping with
indictors from the social and economic dimensions.
DESCRIPTION OF ISSUES
Two key issues were considered relating to Human Well-Being
in South Africa. These issues included:
- Human Settlements; and
- Vulnerability.
Human Settlements
Human settlements encompass all places where people live,
including remote communities, rural centres, and cities (Newman,
et al, 1996). The United Nations Economic and Social
Commission's 1976 definition of a human settlement is the
totality of the human community - whether city, town, or village
- with all the social, material, organizational, spiritual
and cultural elements that sustain it (UNESCAP, undated).
The fabric of human settlements consists of physical elements
and services to which these provide the material support.
The physical elements of a human settlement include shelter,
infrastructure, and services.
This definition of human settlements has since been broadened
to become a framework for overall national socio-economic
development in the context of formulating global shelter strategies.
It is now agreed that human settlements are the spatial
dimension as well as the physical expression of economic and
social activity (UNESCAP, undated) These areas have become
important locations of consumption and production.
South Africa has a long history of segregation and migrant
labour. This has led to a situation where settlements are
dispersed throughout the country, often in locations that
defy economic reason (Napier, 2000). The 1950s and 60s were
characterized by growth of formal townships on the urban fringes,
followed in the 1970s and 80s by the growth of displaced urban
areas in the former homelands and the phenomenal growth of
informal settlements around large urban centres. As a result,
human settlements in South Africa are characterized by the
poorest part of the population being located furthest from
economic opportunities and the more affluent residents enjoy
preferential access to transport networks and urban amenities
(Napier, 2000).
Human settlements, however, are the places were approximately
54 % of the South African population live (Statistics SA,
2001) and the activities carried out in these areas provide
the residents with goods, services and quality of life. The
concentration of population in human settlements has both
positive and negative aspects. Locating large population groups
in urban centres limits the extent of environmental damage
and makes mitigation programmes such as the provision of infrastructure
cost-effective but at the same time has a particular damaging
effect on the environment once critical pollution thresholds
are exceeded (Newton et al, 1998). However, well managed
and serviced, dense settlements with adequate forms of housing
could be seen positively as it is possible to manage such
built environments effectively. The broader issue of spatial
planning of the ideal location of these settlements (i.e.
on sensitive land) is a separate issue that needs to be considered
when recommending densification of settlements.
Vulnerability
Vulnerability is a multi-dimensional concept that is difficult
to define, quantify and operationalize (Hossain, 2001). Vulnerability
is defined as the degree to which a system is sensitive
to and unable to cope with adverse impacts of global change
stimuli (EVA, 2002). Vulnerability is therefore, a function
of a system's exposure to global change stimuli and its adaptive
capacity, i.e. its ability to cope with these stimuli (EVA,
2002).
Global change, including anthropogenic climate change, impacts
on almost all natural and societal systems (Corell et al,
undated). These impacts are however, varied heterogeneously
in both space and time and inequitably between cultures and
social strata. Some of the greatest challenges stemming from
the interaction between humans and the environment, is how
to determine these complex system responses to multiple and
interacting stresses originating in both of the environmental
and social realms.
Vulnerability can be grouped into five categories by major
risk factors, namely:
- Environmental risk (drought, flood and pests);
- Market risk (price fluctuations, wage variability and
unemployment);
- Political risk (change in subsidies or prices, income
transfers and civil strife);
- Social risk (reduction in community support and entitlements);
and
- Health risk (exposure to disease that prevents work) (http://www.poverty.net).
The concepts of vulnerability and poverty overlap but are
not always indistinguishable i.e. a rural household which
has a subsistence life-style and is isolated from market forces
may be classed as poor based on household income but may not
be vulnerable to changes in prices. Vulnerability is the manifestation
of social, economic and political structure (Hossain, 2001).
Assessment of vulnerability is a way to measure those people
who are vulnerable, where they are vulnerable and what might
be the strategy to combat this vulnerability. It can help
decisions-makers to target their activities to the most vulnerable
people in the country.
In South Africa, social exclusion and vulnerability follow
gender and racial lines. (Department of Social Development,
2000). Certain groups of the population such as rural people,
women and the youth are more vulnerable to social exclusion
than others.
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