Social Work / Maatskaplike Werk (E-Journal)
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THE EXPERIENCES OF ADOLESCENTS ORPHANED BY HIV/AIDS-RELATED CONDITIONS
Get PDFThe work environment of social workers in South Africa is riddled with new and complex social problems, often draining the available resources (Giese, Meintjes, Croke & Chamberlain, 2003:7). Personnel in rural areas are confronted with huge numbers of orphaned children in need of urgent statutory intervention, mostly because of the economic burden brought about by their “orphan” status. Very little time can be spent on the socio-emotional care of these children, as the emphasis largely falls on the provision of basic needs, such as grants, school uniforms and food
FACTORS HINDERING THE SUCCESSFUL OUTCOME OF RURAL COMMUNITY PROJECTS
Get PDFLimpopo Province occupies 10% of South Africa’s land mass and has 11.9% of the population. It is one of the poorest of the nine provinces in South Africa, second to KwaZulu-Natal. It is predominantly rural in nature. According to the estimates based on the South Africa Survey (South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), 2003-2004), its population is 5.5 million and almost 90% of residents live in rural areas with 60% (3.3 m) of the population living in poverty. The abject poverty that characterises many rural communities in Limpopo, as well as in the rest of South Africa, poses an enormous challenge to the developmental welfare system given its avowed mission to eradicate poverty. The government remains committed to improving the quality of life of South Africans through the initiation of poverty-alleviation projects, especially in rural communities. While rural development remains on the country’s agenda, accessing government funding for community development projects is complex, particularly to rural dwellers as a detailed business plan is required. Brown (1999:148) made a similar observation in Transkei (East Cape Province) and concluded that the “most backward and needy areas are less likely…to make a successful application.
CONSERVATION OF RESOURCES: A PRIMARY INTERVENTION FOR CONTINUOUS TRAUMATIC STRESS IN SOUTH AFRICA: A CASE STUDY
Get PDFMany mainstream conceptual models guiding post-trauma intervention have been developed, and are utilised in accordance with theoretical and professional orientation. In many of these models the response to trauma has come to be postulated as an internal phenomenon. Conceptually, the stress response has been separated from its original source in the external environment, and has been located in the individual (Hobfoll, 1998; Monnier & Hobfoll, 2000). Medical or pathologybasedresponses to trauma often highlight deficiencies in the traumatised individual, who is treated by the “expert” psychiatrist or psychologist, based on the needs the specialist identifies. In South Africa, an exception is the social work profession, where a developmental approach has been applied to South African policy and intervention since 1997 when the White Paper forSocial Welfare was formulated (Ministry for Welfare and Population Development, 1997)
THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL WELFARE POLICIES ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA: AN NGO PERSPECTIVE
Get PDFThe democratic government of South Africa has adopted a developmental framework and is aspiring towards being a developmental state (Department of Social Development, 2006a:2). However, the aspiration to become a developmental state is being seriously questioned in view of the increasing gap between the rich and the poor over the country’s thirteen years of democracy. Although it was expected that it would take a considerable time to eradicate the legacy of the past(RSA, 2006:5) it is a matter of great concern that the levels of poverty and inequality are on the increase in South Africa. Although South Africa’s neo-liberal macro-economic policy contributed to an economic growth rate of 4,9% in 2006 (RSA, 2007a:5), the policy is criticised for not sufficiently achieving economic development. The social welfare sector is one area in which the macro-economic policy impacts on government’s responsibility for, and accountability to, the vulnerable and the marginalised in society
AN EVALUATION OF THE IMPACT OF A LIFE SKILLS PROGRAMME IN THE WORKPLACE
Get PDFTschohl (2004:24) states that too much emphasis is placed on increasing knowledge (which is important), but that companies can get far better returns on training investments by putting more focus on people skills. Tschohl added that competence building through Life Skills education may be the single most effective preventative strategy for dealing with social issues and concerns in most communities
A CRITIQUE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL LIFE-SKILLS AND HIV/AIDS SCHOOL POLICY: LESSONS FOR POLICY ADJUSTMENT
Get PDFSouth Africa has the fastest growing epidemic in the world with an estimated 1600 new infections occurring daily. According to the annual antenatal HIV sero-prevalence survey in 1994 the level of HIV infection amongst pregnant adolescents younger than 20 years was 6.47% rising to 12.7% in 1997 and 21% in 1998, with an increase of 65% in the last year (Department of Health, 2001). To date of the more than 5 million people in the country that are living with HIV, more than half are young people aged 15-24 (Abdool Karim & Abdool Karim, 2005). The social and economic implications of the epidemic on the educational and welfare sector of the country are undoubtedly serious and real
“A SHORT HISTORY OF TIME” CHARTING THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SERVICE DELIVERY TO ENHANCE CHILD JUSTICE 1996-20061
Get PDFThe starting point of this article has been selected as 1996 for several reasons. That year was characterised by three signal events in the history of child justice in South Africa. First, 1996 heralded the adoption of the Correctional Services Amendment Act 14 of 1996, now infamous as having re-paved the way for the incarceration of children aged below 18 in prisons whilst awaiting trial. This was a step taken to address the (by then) well-known difficulties caused at a practical level by the previous amending legislation of a year earlier (Skelton, 2005:396-403), which sought to prohibit altogether the detention of children in prison after an initial 48-hour period prior to appearance in court
THE PREVALENCE OF UNWANTED SEXUAL EXPERIENCES AMONG BELGIAN AND SOUTH AFRICAN STUDENTS
Get PDFChild sexual abuse (CSA) is a global problem and South Africa has been identified as a high-CSA incidence country (Jewkes, 2002; Meier, 2002; New York Times, 2002 cited in Women’s International Network, 2002). Belgium is a low-CSA incidence country (Finkelhor, 1994) and the comparison of two similar populations from these countries would elucidate differences inunwanted sexual experiences of these two settings, reflecting social and cultural variables that may affect the problem. Back, Jackson, Fitzgerald, Shaffer, Salstrom and Osman (2003), contend that very few studies have compared individuals of different nationalities and also those residing in their own countries, which limits the understanding of potential culturaldifferences regarding CSA. In their study of 65 North American and 88 Singaporean women college students they found 15,4% of North American respondents had been exposed to CSA compared to 4,5% of Singaporean respondents, the majority of whom did not consider themselves as being abused. Miller, Johnson and Johnson (1991) contend that self-reportbiases and definitional problems permeate CSA research and they developed an Early Sexual Experience Checklist (ESEC) which seeks to avoid such problems. They argued that, because the ESEC assesses an explicit variety of non-coital responses and provides a non-restrictive response format, a high incidence of unwanted sexual experiences may be reported as is thecase in their study
AFRO-CENTRISM: THE CHALLENGE OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Get PDFAfrican nations seek to escape from poverty, disease, ignorance, inequality and lack of opportunity. Despite massive investments in socio-economic development, the masses in many African countries still remain ill-fed, ill-housed, under-educated and vulnerable to preventable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and malaria. The continent is characterised by increasingeconomic deprivation, generalised misery, a high incidence of poverty, environmental destruction and diminishing food security. This is underscored by the fact that the number of people living in extreme poverty (on U$1 or less a day) rose from 217 million in 1990 to 290 million in 2000 (Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), 2005). Governments and other stakeholders are constantly searching for better and more effective ways to tackle these problems in order to improve the welfare of their people
SOCIAL CAPITAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Get PDFTo address the conditions of poverty and underdevelopment in the country, the South African government has accepted the social development approach as policy for delivery of social services. Social welfare organisations and other similar social service providers, such as faith-based organisations (FBOs), have attempted to implement this policy with varying degrees of enthusiasm and success. It has been stated that the transformation of service delivery requires a “…comprehensive reshaping of social work practice” (Green, 1999:29) to bring about the changes that people and communities need to escape the degrading conditions of poverty. In this regard social development encompasses the broad multi-dimensional concepts of planned change towards social and economic well-being, and the improvement of the quality of life for individuals, groups and communities (Billups, 1994; Pandey, 1981; Midgley, 1994)