Reflections on the social justice Jam: Spaces for change

Authors: Vasiliki Kioupi, University of Leeds

The Social Justice Jam: Spaces for Change took place from the 10th to the 12th of June 2024 and it was the culmination of collaborative efforts that started in early 2024 between the University of Leeds, the University of Pretoria, Mothing African Heritage and ls14trust. The aim of the Social Justice Jam was to engage diverse participants in cross-cultural, cross-boundary and cross-disciplinary online learning and problem solving that can benefit communities. Implementing the Jam has been quite a journey and a steep learning experience for all of us as co-hosts. It involved coordinating input of stakeholders from the University of Leeds. the University of Pretoria, as well as from the communities of Mamelodi in South Africa and Seacroft in Leeds, in endeavour to model a fresh, alternative creative and inclusive way of co-learning. Given the wicked and interconnected social economic and political challenges plaguing the world today, our key message is to encourage the development of cross-cutting educational programmes that allow for co-learning and collaborative problem solving. Social Jam justice jam had its challenges, but it demonstrated that it is possible to co-facilitate an educational programme across levels, boundaries and roles. We have started evaluating the Jam, and want to share our views, reflections and lessons learnt.

The Jam brought together diverse participants over an intensive three-day programme to hear form local communities on the work they are doing to tackle challenges related with community space access, use and management and various co-hosts, facilitators, session leaders, professional staff and community representatives were involved as well. During Day 1 welcome Marta Garcia-Haro from SDSN (Sustainable Development Solutions Network) Global reminded us of why events such as the Jam are important as they enable cross-University collaborations on issues that align the UN SDGs agenda and of their social mission that speaks to the responsibility towards the communities, they serve, explaining eloquently the very aim of the Jam. Dr Mabena’s talk was deeply moving and insightful discussing about his and his community’s journey through challenging historical contexts and the importance of indigenous knowledge in the reinvigoration of the human-nature relationship. Naomi and Tony from Seacroft reminded us that we need to focus on what is strong in communities and placed the importance both on looking inwards to identify capacities and outwards to forge international collaborations to further enhance the work community organisations are doing. The workshops of Day 2 reminded us of the need to empathise with people whether they are in our local or global community and the power of telling personal stories. Power was also examined from the perspective of imbalance and a reflection on the different forms of power we are subject to, or we exert and finally we worked on divergent and convergent thinking which allowed us to explore different perspectives on the challenges we were tackling.

The final day enabled rich discussions on solutions for the communities and the view that we are all experts in our own knowledge and that local communities have a power with lies within their traditional knowledge, their ways of working and their ways of producing new knowledge. Hosts, partners, facilitators, and learners agreed that they would like to continue exploring the outcomes from the Jam and even forge new collaborations.

Agnetta Nyabundi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Pretoria and co-host. "The Social Justice Jam provided a creative, innovative, interactive and diverse environment for real-life learning and problem-solving."

Annalisa Mack student sustainability architect, University of Leeds, and co-host mentioned "The Jam was a fantastic and unique opportunity for people to come up with solutions to real-world issues and have a meaningful impact on communities. It was also really great to see such a diverse range of people collaborating to work towards a common goal!"

 Rishabh Bezbaruah sustainability architect, University of Leeds, and co-host mentioned “The Jam’s inclusive nature, bringing together staff, students, and community members highlighted the strength that emerges when varied viewpoints converge on common challenges. Observing the varied and creative approaches proposed by different working groups to tackle the challenges in Seacroft and Mamelodi demonstrated how cross-cultural collaboration can lead to innovative solutions for complex social issues.”