Exploring Impediments to Human Flourishing Across the Lifespan in Six African Countries

Abstract

Human flourishing (HF) is fundamental in fostering development in every sector of human communities throughout the world. Understanding the concept of human flourishing is essential in identifying and limiting practices that may impede human’s tendency to flourish. Most research on HF have been focused on the minority world and devoted to factors that foster it with minimal regard for the impediments and perspectives from the majority world. Based on this, the study aims to explore the impediments to human flourishing across the lifespan in Africa. Specifically, it examines factors that impede human flourishing in three age groups (children, adolescents, and adults). Empirical data were collected qualitatively through focus group discussion sessions and expert interviews with children, adolescents, and adults from communities in 6 African countries (Marachi, Eteso and Turkana of Kenya, the Sukuma of Tanzania, the Bantu and Nilo Hamites of Uganda, the Amhara of Ethopia, the Nso and Nweh of Cameroon and the Akan of Ghana). After the thematic analysis, the findings revealed that; inevitable factors like death and other issues that can be improved on like poverty, conflict, selfishness, immoral behavior and ill health impede human flourishing across the life span. However, other impediments identified were age specific. Marriage challenges impeded flourishing among adult folks while lack of sufficient play time impeded children’s flourishing. An intervention on coping strategies to deal with inevitable impeding factors to human flourishing like death and strategies to improve on all the other manageable impediments is vital for the enhancement of flourishing in Africa.