An assessment of the challenges of police child protection unit in providing services to vulnerable children in Alice, Eastern Cape Province
- Authors: Mutyambizi, Clair
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Children -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Child welfare -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSoc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/7764 , vital:30756
- Description: The study set out to assess the challenges that are faced by the South African Police child protection unit in providing services to vulnerable children in Alice, Eastern Cape Province. The study used the qualitative design. Data was collected using in-depth interviews in which twenty individual participants took part. The results indicate that the challenges of SAP child protection unit in providing services to vulnerable children in Alice, Eastern Cape Province are mainly financial based, emotionally stressful, labour related, and can be caused by parental oversight, legal constraints that begets lack of trust and also policing illegal child immigrants. These factors make the police child protection unit’s work challenging thereby hampering its effectiveness. It has therefore been recommended that the police child protection unit should be given the support due to them so as to make service delivery to vulnerable children in Alice effective. Also it has been recommended that children be educated that the police are there to enforce the law, assist and not to harm them.
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An assessment of urban agriculture as a strategy for youth employment in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) : the case of Kisenso/Kinshasa
- Authors: Mubiala, Wivin Luwakunu
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Urban agriculture -- Congo (Democratic Republic) Youth -- Employment -- Congo (Democratic Republic)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSoc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/14000 , vital:39759
- Description: In this study, urban agriculture was investigated as a strategy for youth employment and poverty alleviation in Kisenso / Kinshasa- DRC. The aim of the study was to identify the effect of urban agriculture on employment and job creation in the DRC. The specific objectives are to assess the sustainability of urban agriculture as an employment alternative for the youth in Kinshasa, to examine the extent of government support for the sector and evaluate the role urban agriculture plays in poverty reduction in the identified households. This study adopted a qualitative approach because of its strengths which facilitated a better understanding of the different data the study gathered. Indeed, by use of words such as why, when, how, and what, the study was able to explain many aspects that are not known on urban agriculture in Kinshasa. The quantitative approach has been used to present some results in the form of figures and graphs It was noted that income from urban agriculture is mainly used for needs such as: school fees (25percent), food (53percent), clothing (15percent), and health (7percent). Despite the fact that it does not satisfy all the needs of the workers, results from the study indicate that urban agriculture is making a contribution in the socio-economic development of Kisenso. It clearly appears that if the urban agriculture is funded and professionalised, it can significantly contribute towards creating jobs in Kinshasa. This study was focused only in Kisenso, meaning that more research should be conducted on the entire city of Kinshasa so that conclusions can be generalised on employment and poverty reduction. It will be interesting for the government to fund urban agriculture activity and make it profitable to the workers and the entire population of Kinshasa.
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An exploration of offenders' experiences and social workers' perceptions of standardised anger management programme:|ba case study at St Albans Correctional Centre
- Authors: Van Rooyen, Yolande
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Social work with criminals Criminals -- Rehabilitation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSoc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/6391 , vital:29602
- Description: The purpose of this research is to explore offenders’ experiences and social workers’ perceptions of the Standardised Anger Management Programme as facilitated by social workers at the Department of Correctional Services. The offender population in South Africa is diverse in terms of culture, language, religion, education and socio economic status. The Department of Correctional Services is committed to providing needs-based programmes for offenders to address their offending behaviour in ways that are appropriate for each. The research design was based on a case study. Thirteen offenders from St Albans Correctional Centre who had completed the Standardised Anger Management Programme, together with three social workers at the centre, participated in the evaluation of the effectiveness of the programme. Evaluations were conducted by means of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with the thirteen offenders, and a focus group discussion with the three social workers facilitating the programme. Together, these three methods yielded useful and insightful ideas on the areas where the programme’s challenges lie, and led to the formulation of several general and specific recommendations, which are presented in chapter five of this thesis. The thesis bases its critique of the programme on insights gained from the literature; expanding on all aspects of the ecological approach to the individual. A detailed presentation of the ecological approach is given in chapter three. The various individual, micro-, exo- and macrosystems that make up the totality of influences on a person’s life are reviewed, and are referred to again in chapter four, which presents the finding of the study. The findings and discussion thereof are, of course, presented in the context of the Department of Correctional Service’s legislative and legal framework, which takes its direction from the 2005 White Paper on Corrections. This White Paper firmly set the Department of Correctional Services on a path towards rehabilitative, rather than purely punitive, treatment of offenders. Its publication was followed soon after by the introduction of the Standardised Anger Management Programme which, as the name suggests, was an attempt to standardise all the hitherto piecemeal rehabilitative efforts of various centres around the country. The study found that facilitators and the participants of the Standardised Anger Management Programme had areas of commonality regarding their views on the programme. The findings suggest that while participants in the programme gained anger management skills, much needs to be done to revise and improve the programme, so that it better addresses the needs of the unique offender population of South Africa. Among many recommendations made in chapter five, the researcher recommends that social workers are adequately trained and equipped to present the programme. In addition, the issues of course content and cultural assumptions, offender motivation and centre officials’ attitudes also need to be addressed.
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Community development and rural poverty in Zimbabwe : a policy perspective
- Authors: Chatindo, Annah
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Community development -- Zimbabwe Rural development -- Government policy -- Zimbabwe Poverty -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSoc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/6092 , vital:29490
- Description: There is persistence of rural poverty in African countries despite efforts by governments to implement community development projects to curb poverty in impoverished rural communities. Zimbabwe adopted the Poverty Alleviation Action Plan (PAAP) under which community development programme was initiated. Community development projects by NGOs and government did not manage to meet the needs of the impoverished communities in Mvuma rural communities. More so, the incremental approach to policy making adopted by the government of Zimbabwe failed to embrace the principles of community development, for example, participation of community projects beneficiaries on everything that impact to their way of living. Despite all the efforts to alleviate rural poverty in Mvuma rural district there is still persistence of rural poverty, characterized by poor roads and struggling of most families to meeting basic needs. Mvuma rural communities are rich in mineral resources and water sources that can be utilized instead of relying on external resources through NGOs. This therefore, calls on the government and NGOs to collaborate towards capacitating Mvuma rural dwellers in order to help alleviate poverty. This study employed qualitative approach to research as it was aimed at describing and understanding rather than explaining human behaviour. Purposive or judgmental sampling was applied. This technique was used as the researcher wanted to get hold of the people who are directly or indirectly linked to implementation of community development projects. However, quantitative method was used to gather demographic information. The PAAP policy relevance to poverty reduction in Mvuma rural district and in Zimbabwe in general was the heart of this study.
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Exploring the use and relevance of narrative approaches to psycho-social interventions in the south African context : a mixed methods content analysis
- Authors: Smit, Christelle
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Narrative therapy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSoc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/6432 , vital:29684
- Description: This study aims to explore the use and relevance of Narrative approaches to psycho-social interventions in the South African context. The profession of psychology in South Africa has been in a state of discontentment since the country’s turn to democracy in 1994 which has been voiced from both those within the profession and those it aims to assist. The loudest call is for a psychology that is relevant to the South African context – culturally, socially, and politically. Narrative approaches to psychotherapy and psycho-social intervention are grounded in post-modern and social-constructionist thought and offer an alternative to mainstream psychological theory. Narrative practice aims to promote social justice and views therapy as a political act. It is also an approach that values local knowledges and sees all therapeutic engagements as cross-cultural encounters which are approached with curiosity and a not-knowing stance, rather than an interpretive, analytical lens. This study has investigated what the existing literature has produced regarding the use and relevance of Narrative approaches in South Africa context. The research process was implemented using a mixed methods research methodology whereby a sample of 58 journal articles (n=58) were analysed using both quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The common themes that emerged from the articles were ‘viewing people in context’, ‘listening to the telling of stories’, ‘theoretical constructs of a narrative approach’, and ‘social phenomena’.
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Leisure time and holiday aspirations of black upper middle class in East London
- Authors: Ngozwana, Baselwa
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Social classes -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Lifestyles -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSoc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/6380 , vital:29600
- Description: This study examined the holiday and leisure aspirations of the new upper black middle class in East London using qualitative approach. The study investigated aspirations of the black middle class on international travels through the lens of Veblen’s (2002) conspicuous consumption theory which entails that black middle class citizens spend in order to assert their status and belongingness to the middle class. The aim of the study was to understand their holiday and leisure aspirations, what the idea is behind or what motivates their international travels, their travel experiences and class affirmations. This exploration included the challenges and frustrations such as Ebola scare, racism, issues with foreign exchange and variations from these international visits. Data was collected through interviews with upper black middle class who are based in the Buffalo City Metro Municipality in East London, Eastern Cape. Findings from this study revealed that consumption patterns of the emerging black middle class to diverge substantially from the other groups, in terms of greater signalling of social status via visible consumption and preoccupation with reducing an historical asset deficit. Various themes emerged as meanings attached to international travelling and leisure by those black middle class international travellers. These are sense of wealth, status, religion, self-esteem, sense of reward, bonding with friends and conspicuous/visible consumption.
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Normative indicators for grade 3 and grade 7 isiXhosa-speaking children on the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test (Second Edition)
- Authors: Palmer, Hanli
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Bender-Gestalt Test Psychological tests for children
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSoc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/6346 , vital:29583
- Description: Selecting appropriate normative data for the purpose of evaluating psychometric test scores forms an integral part of the interpretative psychological assessment process. This highlights the well-known problem of utilising measures developed in the United Kingdom (UK), or the United States (US) and accepting their norms unreservedly for the practice on local populations, which questions the tests’ validity and reliability. The current study, which aimed to collect normative indicators on the Bender Gestalt Test (Second Edition), forms part of the continuing effort to develop norms for psychological tests in South Africa, and to focus on the valid and reliable use of measures within the context of South Africa’s multicultural and multilingual population groups. The participants of the research were Black isiXhosa-speaking Grade 3 and Grade 7 learners aged 8 to 9 years (N = 38 ), and 12 to 13 years (N = 23), obtaining their school education in the disadvantaged educational setting of the former Department of Education and Training (ex-DET) schools. The tests were scored according to the Bender Gestalt Test (Second Edition) manual, using the Global Scoring System. Thereafter, the raw scores were converted to Standard Scores, T-scores and Percentile Ranks using the US normative tables, according to chronological age categories. When the two groups were compared to the US norms, the results equated favourably for the present study sample. There were no significant findings in relation to the classroom size or any difference in performance between the schools who participated. The only significant difference revealed between male and female participants was with the Grade 7 sample group, where the males scored significantly lower than females on the Recall phase. These results support the prospect of the continuous revision of norms, and it is suggesting that the cognitive processes measured by this test are likely to derive from robust neurological substrates that are relatively stable across cultural groups.
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The intersection between socio-economic status and scholastic attainment in selected schools in Fort Beaufort education district, province of the Eastern Cape
- Authors: Sokani, Andile
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Students -- Economic conditions Students -- Social conditions Educational tests and measurements
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSoc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/13150 , vital:39469
- Description: The aim of this study was to examine and highlight the effects of socio-economic status on scholastic attainment in selected high schools in the Fort Beaufort Educational District. Participants were children in Grades 10 to 12 and included children from both high and low Socio-Economic Status (SES) families, and with varying qualities of education owing to biographies of distinctive insertion into the part apartheid educational structure. Utilizing Pierre Bourdeu’s concept of cultural capital as a theoretical framework, the study ardued that children from high SES in the Fort Beaufort Education District perform better at high schools owing to acces to relevant educational materials and the general academic culture in their home environment. The opposite is however the case for children from low SES who lack access to such material, culture and language, thus making it difficult to perform optimally in their high school studies. The study used both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The purpose of using triangulation was to decrease or counter-balance the deficiency of a single strategy, thereby increasing the ability to interpret the findings. The adoption of the mixed method approach in this study was also directed at increasing the reliability, validity and the generalizability of the results of the study. The most expressive measure of SES was the average income for the area in which the child lives or is educated. The quality of education was estimated based on whether the school was previously disadvantaged or previously advantaged. The child’s academic achievement was measured using the two most recent school reports. As predicted, the research results showed that children from high SES families and with a high quality of education scored better on their examinations than did children from low SES families and with a low quality of education. The data also revealed an interesting interaction between SES and quality of education. Participants from low SES families but with a high quality of education scored significantly better on examination assessment performance than did participants from low SES families and with a low quality of education. These findings suggest that children from low SES families in the Fort Beaufort Education District might be at a grave disadvantage in terms of their ability to succeed academically but that the quality of education might be a more important factor than SES in determining levels of general intellectual functioning.
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The role of South Africa as a hegemonic' power in the maintenance of peace and stability in the SADC region
- Authors: Sibanda, Nkosiyaphi
- Date: 2016
- Subjects: Southern African Development Community Peace-building -- South Africa Conflict management -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSoc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/6491 , vital:29824
- Description: This study investigates South Africa’s role as a hegemonic power in maintaining peace and stability in the SADC region. Using qualitative and secondary data supplemented with primary data, the study examines not only South Africa’s hegemonic role in the SADC region but also the challenges and critiques of South Africa’s hegemonic role in the region. The study implores the hegemonic stability theory and explores the features that qualify South Africa to be a regional hegemonic power. These include South Africa’s economic power, military power and strategic location. This study reveals that South Africa’s role in maintaining peace and stability in the region is informed by its foreign policy and its pursuit of national interest and protection of its borders. The study also found out that the motive behind South Africa being active in peacekeeping missions is that it avoids being surrounded by failed states which might have spillover effects into its territorial boundaries. The study notes that there are numerous shortcomings which taint South Africa’s hegemonic status. They include violent protests, xenophobia, racism, crime and corruption. The study recommends that South Africa needs to be proactive in solving the challenges within its domestic terrain as these shortcomings taint its hegemonic status.
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