African Journals Online
Journal of Social Development in Africa
Abstracts (Vol 15 No 1 2000)
Community Project Funding in
Malawi under the Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF)
Demand-Driven Approach: Potential for Perpetuating
Imbalances in Development
Paul Kishindo
This paper gives an overview of the kind of community
development projects that the Malawi Social Action Fund
(MASAF) has supported since its inception in July 1996.
The MASAF has tended to subscribe to a demand-driven
approach in its evaluation of projects, thereby
introducing an element of competition in community
development. This has led to imbalances in socio-economic
infrastructure, between those districts whose communities
have been unable to initiate their own projects, and
those where there is more sophisticated
“development-conscious” leadership. Ways in
which more equitable and effective grassroots development
can be implemented are presented in this paper, where the
author believes that nongovernmental development
agencies in particular, have a positive role to play.
Overcoming Destitution
through Literacy: A Case of the Disabled Persons'
Literacy Programme in Kano State, Nigeria
Sabo A Indabawa
This paper describes an experimental literacy
programme for the disabled, set up in Kano (1), Nigeria
between 1989 and 1990. The programme's objective was to
help the destitutes to overcome some of their
socio-economic drawbacks. The programme took off
with the enrolment of 450 people. At the end of the
programme, 380 participants or 84.4% sat for and passed
the qualifying examination. As expected, 70 people from
among the neo-literates found jobs in the Civil Service
bureaucracy, while 250 or 55.5% were able to continue
their education in the postliteracy programmes
organised by the State Agency for Mass Education.
However, the lack of funds, inadequate professional
preparation of the instructors, and discontinuity of the
programme limited its potentially wider impact. It is
therefore advocated that multi-lateral and international
donor bodies such as the British Council, UNICEF and UNDP
should provide fiscal assistance to such programmes, in
order to create a basis for promoting greater global
equity.
Imbali Guidance Project:
Facilitating Development among Guidance Educators in Kwa
Zulu Natal, South Africa
SONJA GOEDEKE*
A project to assist guidance educators in developing
their skills, resources and confidence in providing a
mental health service to the learners in their schools,
was set up as part of a wider school-based reform
initiative. The project was structured according to the
principles of community psychology: community
collaboration and participation, empowerment, a
needs-based approach, cultural sensitivity, a
preventative/health promotion emphasis, and an awareness
of the context in which individuals live and the macro
system issues that may influence their everyday lives.
Teachers reported feeling empowered both personally and
professionally by the project, and that the service
delivery to learners had improved. The experiences in
this project affirmed the role of psychology in serving
under-resourced and disadvantaged communities, and the
value of a community psychology orientation in South
Africa. Although the project enjoyed success in the
short-term and adhered to many of the practices espoused
by community psychology, the failure of the project to
more fully address the socio-economic and political
context creates uncertainty whether the positive benefit
of the project can be sustained. Long-term follow-up will
be needed to adequately assess this.
African Social Security Systems: An
Ordinal Evaluation
JOHN DIXON
The purpose of this paper is to rank the social
security systems in 45 African countries using a
comparative evaluation methodology that enables an
assessment to be ma(le of a country's statutory
social security intention. The conclusion drawn is that
the spread of African social security system design
standards are comparable to those of Latin American
countries, although the poorest designed African systems
are somewhat superior to their Latin American
counterparts. The very best designed African social
security systems are in North Africa: Tunisia (with its
world-class family support program), Algeria and Libya,
although Mauritius also stands out.
Ethnic Conflict and
Democracy in Nigeria: The Marginalisation Question
EDLYNE E ANUGWOM
This paper examines the issue of ethnic conflicts and
their implications for democracy in Nigeria. Ethnic
conflict and distrust is identified as the bane of former
democratic experiments in Nigeria. Moreover, since the
late 1980s, ethnicity in Nigeria has assumed disturbing
new dimensions. The most crucial of these are the issues
of marginalization and agitations by ethnic minorities.
Marginalization breeds suspicion, distrust, heightens
ethnic tensions and may eventually lead to conflict over
the sharing and allocation of power and national
resources. Democratic tradition, which is imperative for
development, cannot blossom in the context of ethnic
conflict. Thus, marginalization, whether apparent or
real, has the potential for disrupting the drive towards
democracy. With cries for marginalization so rife among
ethnic groups, a need arises to address the issue
squarely. This is particularly important given that
Nigeria is presently engaged in another attempt at
democracy. Ethnic conflicts in whatever form need to be
resolved in order to allow for democracy to thrive. This
paper examines ways in which ethnic problems in Nigeria
may be resolved through the creation of a realistic and
workable federalism modelled largely on the American
model.
Government Investment,
Growth and Employment in South Africa
NOAH KARLEY
This paper focuses on the impact of government
investment on growth and employment in South Africa. As a
prelude to the analysis, the paper refers to theory and
practical evidence which indicates the way investment can
influence growth and employment. Also, a review of
investment patterns in South Africa in the past two
decades is followed by a discussion of the impact of
government investment. In the conclusion, suggestions arc
made, based on the content of the paper for improving
government investment strategy, in order to bring about
growth and employment.
The Persistence of the
Family Farm and the Economy of Affection: The Cameroonian
Case
JILLY M. NGWAINMBJ
This case study attempts to account for the
persistence of the economy of affection in Cameroon in
light of the persistence of the family farm debate. The
study demonstrates, like previous studies, that the
economy of affection persists because of subjective
values such as the farmers' desire to be independent; the
farmers' view of agriculture as a way of life; and
farmers' purpose and satisfaction in life derived from
bonds and relations formed in the production process. In
addition, the study clearly documents the importance of:
1) a sacred component to agriculture; 2) agricultural
rituals which provide for social bonding and
cooperation; and 3) a process of self-definition,
self-determination, and self-actualization
associated with food production.
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