Notes from South Africa - Lauren

Notes from South Africa - Lauren

 

"Last summer I found myself in Cape Town, South Africa conducting research on women's entrepreneurship and the role of micro-finance within the townships/informal settlements of Cape Town. Thanks to the Graduate School-Newark, The Community Chest of the Western Cape, and USAID, I am here in Cape Town again conducting research that will ultimately contribute towards my dissertation. However, the nature of my research is a bit different this time around. I am exploring the existing laws, policies, and programs at national, provincial, and grassroots levels regarding women's access to, use of, and control over land. In the long run, I also seek to understand how state level policies diverge and/or converge with customary law throughout the provinces of South Africa with regard to land rights, from a gender focal point."

 

- Lauren Kaplan
 

(pictured: Lauren Kaplan and Titania Fernandez - Community Chest)