Monday April 24th
May 02, 2006 by francesca | permalink
Last week I spent a week in South Africa with the intent of digging deeper into demographic changes in South Africa. It was an amazing and eclectic visit to say the least. It involved a mix of former ANC activists, stunning mountain tops, and some delicious food I perhaps should not have eaten. Chris Luebkeman the director of our Foresight & Innovation group at Arup London led the Drivers of Change workshop with the Department of Transport and Public Works in Cape Town. Chris seemed curious but doubtful that our DHL shipment of all the Drivers of Change card sets would arrive in time for the workshop.
Later on that afternoon, after the no-show of our cards, Yasir, the chief director of the Transport Dept., introduced Chris, and then Chris launched into the Drivers of Change presentation. It was interesting to see what key issues came up during the course of the afternoon. I joined the STEEP group working on “social” drivers of change. Social exclusion and poverty/unemployment took up the top two spots as key drivers of change in South Africa.
That evening Yasir, the chief director at the Dept. of Transport took us out for dinner at a local Italian eatery on the waterfront. Chris and I were beat but held it together for the enjoyable dinner.
