The National Research Foundation (South Africa), Fondation Botnar (Switzerland), and the Human Sciences Research Council (South Africa) have partnered to implement a research programme on young people and relational wellbeing (RWB) in urban and peri-urban environments, to be implemented during 2023-2027.
The NRF will make single country and multi-country grants available to researchers working in the 12 focal countries to study young people's wellbeing in the Global South using a Relational Wellbeing lens, through empirical work, intervention focused initiatives and conceptual projects.
The u’GOOD programme is structured into four thematic areas that act as entry points for investigations on the wellbeing of Young People: Livelihoods, Climate change, Digitalisation and Mental health
While we will not be prescriptive about the specific relational models, theories or methodologies that need to be followed, all research projects, whether empirical or conceptual, must be embedded within a RWB framework. In the u’GOOD Programme, this means investing in a relational approach that prioritises 3 primary principles namely relational thinking, relational gathering and relational working (click here for additional resources).
In the expressions of interest and full proposals, applicants must showcase how their projects will prioritise these principles and the potential insights their work could generate towards understanding how the RWB approach could help to understand and advance the wellbeing of young people in the Global South.
We have carefully curated the resources below for additional reading on Relational Wellbeing, Young People in the Global South and Collaborative Approaches in Research.
We aim to test and further develop relational approaches to wellbeing (RWB) and generate empirical insights into key contemporary challenges to young people’s wellbeing, and how they are addressing these.
