Social action through the Ubuntu levels

Posted on By Babe Kazi No Comments on Social action through the Ubuntu levels

Social action is collective, organised effort to change the conditions that harm people. In Ubuntu, it starts with those closest to you and widens outward through the five levels of the Ubuntu matrix: family, community, society, environment and spirituality. Each level gives the next its mandate, and action at wider levels is judged by what it changes for families. This post sets out what social action involves at each level, then presents two case studies on using United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) mechanisms.

The levels of social action

Family

Social action begins with advocating for your own family, including the extended family (ukama). This means securing health care, education, income, housing and justice for family members, and protecting those with the least power, such as children, elders, people with disabilities and the sick. Social workers support families to speak for themselves rather than speaking for them.

Community

Families then act together through the village, neighbourhood, clan or congregation, using burial societies, savings groups, women’s and youth groups and community meetings. Methods include petitions, negotiation with service providers, mutual aid and community monitoring of services. Entry into a community follows its recognised leadership and structures, in line with the San Code instruction to come through the door, not the window.

Society

Society has five layers, and action moves through them in order:

  • Local: ward councillors, district offices and local courts, on budgets, service delivery and bylaws.
  • National: laws, policies and budgets, through coalitions, parliamentary submissions, professional associations, litigation, media and peaceful protest.
  • Regional: regional economic communities such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), on issues that cross borders.
  • Continental: the AU and its organs, where African priorities and knowledge are asserted in continental policy.
  • Global: the UN and international professional bodies, approached as a place for negotiation between equals rather than a source of instructions.

Environment

Land, water, forests, animals and climate are part of the web of relationships in Ubuntu, and people have obligations towards them. Environmental action includes defending land rights, resisting pollution and harmful extraction, protecting water sources and sacred landscapes, and planning for future generations.

Spirituality

Spirituality connects the living with the ancestors and those not yet born, and carries the moral order that guides behaviour. Social action at this level seeks recognition of spiritual practices in public services, protection of sacred sites and graves, the inclusion of spiritual leaders and healers in decisions, and healing and reconciliation after harm.

Principles across the levels

  • Order: action begins at home and widens outward.
  • Legitimacy from below: each wider level draws its authority from the families and communities it represents.
  • Accountability back down: wider action is measured by what it changes for families and communities.
  • Collective action: change is pursued together, not through individual effort.
  • Interconnection: harm or progress at one level affects all the others.

The case study example

Both case studies use the same illustrative example. A mining company has moved a rural community off its land. Families received little or no compensation, children have dropped out of school as households lost their income, and some children have been sent to live with distant relatives. The river the community uses is polluted, ancestral graves were moved without consultation, and community members who spoke out have been threatened. A community based social development organisation is working with the affected families.

In both case studies, the organisation starts at the family and community levels. It meets families, elders and local leaders to explain the mechanisms, the risks and what will happen to the information, and removes identifying details unless people consent to be named.

Case study 1: United Nations mechanisms

The mechanisms

  • Special procedures of the Human Rights Council: special rapporteurs, independent experts and working groups who receive communications, issue calls for input and make country visits.
  • Special representatives and envoys of the Secretary General: including those on children and armed conflict, violence against children, and specific regions.
  • Treaty bodies: committees such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which review state reports and accept alternative reports from civil society.
  • Universal Periodic Review: a peer review of every state’s human rights record, open to stakeholder submissions.
  • Social development forums: the Commission for Social Development and the High Level Political Forum on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
  • Indigenous mechanisms: the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
  • Professional channels: the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) and the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), which hold UN consultative status.

Applying them

The organisation directs each issue to the mechanism best placed to act on it:

  • Displacement and inadequate compensation: the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing and the Working Group on business and human rights.
  • Water pollution: the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, and the Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment.
  • Children out of school and separated from parents: an alternative report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
  • Graves moved without consultation: the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples where the community identifies as Indigenous.
  • Threats against community members: the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

With partners, it makes a joint Universal Periodic Review submission and, through IFSW, contributes to a statement at the Commission for Social Development on social protection for displaced families. Outcomes are translated into local languages, shared with the community and used in national advocacy.

Case study 2: African Union mechanisms

The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights recognises the family as the basis of society, sets out duties to family and community, and protects collective rights to development and a satisfactory environment. This makes AU mechanisms a closer fit for advocacy grounded in Ubuntu.

The mechanisms

  • African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights: receives communications, reviews state reports, grants observer status to organisations, holds a forum for non governmental organisations (NGOs) before each session, and has special rapporteurs and working groups on themes including women, human rights defenders, Indigenous communities, and extractive industries and the environment.
  • African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights: issues binding judgments, with direct access for organisations only against states that have made a special declaration.
  • African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child: reviews state reports and complementary reports, receives communications and conducts investigative missions.
  • Peace and Security Council: open to civil society briefings under the Livingstone Formula.
  • Economic, Social and Cultural Council and Pan African Parliament: channels for civil society and parliamentary advocacy.
  • Key instruments: the Maputo Protocol on the rights of women and the Kampala Convention on internally displaced persons.

Two cases show what these mechanisms can achieve. In the Endorois case, decided by the Commission in 2010, and the Ogiek case, decided by the Court in 2017, communities removed from their land in Kenya secured recognition of their collective rights to land, culture and development.

Applying them

The organisation directs each issue to the relevant AU mechanism:

  • Displacement, pollution and loss of livelihood: a communication to the Commission citing the rights to property, development and a satisfactory environment, supported by the Working Group on extractive industries, environment and human rights violations.
  • Children out of school and separated from parents: a complementary report to the Committee of Experts.
  • Graves moved without consultation: raised with the Commission under the rights to culture and religion, and with the Working Group on Indigenous populations where relevant.
  • The burden on women: the Special Rapporteur on the rights of women, under the Maputo Protocol.
  • Threats against community members: the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders.

Through a coalition partner with observer status, it proposes a resolution at the NGO forum on the rights of communities affected by mining, and briefs members of the Pan African Parliament and the relevant regional economic community.

Using both sets of mechanisms

The same evidence can go to AU and UN mechanisms, and findings from one strengthen the other. Under the Ubuntu matrix, the continental level comes before the global, so African institutions shape the response first.

Both systems have limits. Findings are often not binding, compliance is low and processes are slow. Language, cost and the risk of reprisals exclude many communities. Their value depends on outcomes being brought back to families and communities, and on building the capacity of communities to use these mechanisms themselves.

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