African Journals Online
Journal of Social Development in Africa
Vol 16 No 1 2001
ABSTRACTS
Morbidity and mortality in Zimbabwe's urban areas: policy implications for social protection
Gladys Bindura-Mutangadura
Abstract
In times of tightening national budgets as a result of structural adjustment requirements, the need to make choices in a country's publicly-funded social protection programme is heightened. A greater understanding of the patterns and causes of morbidity and mortality in Zimbabwe's urban areas forms an important basis for designing an effective social protection policy and programmes that may have a positive impact on the welfare of the urban poor. This study assesses the prevalence of morbidity and mortality in some low-income suburbs of Zimbabwe. Results indicate that the reported leading causes of long illness and death were predominantly AIDS related. This calls for social policies and programmes to integrate HIV/AIDS prevention and improve access to treatment for the poor. The study revealed that households are heavily dependent on informal forms of support to help them cope with adult morbidity and mortality. Policies aimed at strengthening these informal sources of support can help foster the well-being of poor families. Lower-income households are less likely to make use of nation-wide public support programmes. The resultant policy implication is that public social support schemes such as health and education support and employment guarantee schemes should be intensified and expanded to generate substantial positive welfare effects by complementing informal resources.
High fertility and development in Cameroon
Stella Nana-Fabu
Abstract
Many scholars of development, in sub Saharan Africa especially, have come to perceive increases in the African population as a threat to what is an already precarious balance between people and scarce natural resources, as well as being a handicap to general development in the region. Since the population increase trails behind food production and economic growth, there is severe population pressure on the environment as people try to scratch a living from the soil. This is also accompanied by the decline of per capita income and quality of life.
Thus, the population hawk position (Teitelbaum 1975) maintains that the unrestrained population growth in Africa is the principal cause of poverty, malnutrition, environmental disruption and other social problems. This paper explores how family planning can be implemented in ways that would produce more positive results and enhance development in Cameroon.
Audience responses to a film in rural Zimbabwe
Kimani Gecau
Abstract
Though development communication has been theorized about and practised in African countries since the late 1950s and more so after independence, there has not been a consistent effort to continuously review it in the light of advances in general research on media and communication. One aspect of the communication process which has received attention - and also raised debate and controversy - is the issue of what audiences do with the media products (or texts) which they are exposed to and how far their social and cultural context affects their engagement with media products. For development communicators this aspect is of particular importance since they expect that their messages will influence the audience in some way. In the introductory section this paper argues that there are links between the theories of development, development communication and audience studies. The main body of the paper discusses a study done in 1997 on the reactions of audiences to a "development" film in rural Zimbabwe. Such a once-off study, as the paper argues, cannot yield conclusive results. However the virtue of such a study is to point at possibilities of other such studies in the future which should also help in theory building based on our own empirical experiences.
Keeping a foot in the village: Masvingo urban women
Victor Ngonidzashe Muzvidziwa
Abstract
A complex give-and-take relationship characterizes the way female heads of household in Masvingo balanced their relationships in town and countryside. My respondents employed a double-rooted strategy that entailed the use of urban kin to gain a foothold in town and at the same time the use of rural kin to help maintain the family, children and the elderly in the village. The women's strategy was also characterized by less instrumental considerations such as supporting rural kin and maintaining ties of affect and culture. However, because survival in town is difficult, the women expected to return to the village when their working lives were over and they therefore made strategic moves that ensured easy entry into the village when the time finally arrived. In view of the choices made by the women heads of households in this study, it is imperative for policy makers to arrive at policies that take into account double-rooted strategies.
The impact of socio-economic factors on the performance of community projects in western Kenya
Philip K. Rono and Abdillahi A. Aboud
Abstract
This paper examines the impact of selected socio-economic factors including the work ethic and the level of participation in rural development performance via community development projects among the Nandi people of western Kenya. Data was sourced from a social survey of 27 randomly selected community development projects and a sample of 329 respondents - the intended beneficiaries of the projects. The findings support the prediction that the prevailing work ethic, socio-economic factors and the participation in such projects have a paramount influence on community development performance. It is recommended that development planners, policymakers and implementers should look for new strategies of improving the community's socio-economic status as well as promoting the work ethic and participation level because these are the factors responsible for the poor performance of community development projects.
Globalization and democracy with reference to eastern and southern Africa
Francis K. Makoa
Abstract
Globalization has caused anxiety and uncertainty among the less developed countries; the reason being that it is still unclear as what this new political economy portends for these countries. Also at the heart of this unease is what seems to be globalization's profound political and social consequences for the Third World countries, especially those in poverty-stricken Africa. Would they be able to cushion themselves against globalization's painful effects? One of the key demands of this new political economy is that there should be no political interference in economic activity and investment decisions. Thus globalization presents the less developed countries with what seems to be an intractable conundrum. While touting democracy as a condition for economic success, the neo-liberal ideology which underpins globalization removes the economy from the political agenda through its advocacy of laissez-faire economic policies that preclude government involvement in investment decisions, hence shielding private capital and the bourgeoisie from social and political scrutiny. With reference to eastern and southern Africa, this paper examines the broad political implications of globalization and reflects on the possible strategies that might cushion the regional states against its vicissitudes.
Secondary school teachers and the emotional abuse of children: a study of three secondary schools in Gaborone, Botswana
Kwaku Osei-Hwedie and Alice K. Hobona
Abstract
Teachers and other human service professionals have crucial roles to play in the provision of social programmes to support and protect children from violence and abuse. The objective of this study, therefore, was to find out the extent of the knowledge and understanding of emotional abuse held by teachers; their ability to identify children showing symptoms of such abuse, their personal feelings about, and experience with, emotional abuse and their awareness of support and other available services in the community. Thirty five teachers from three government community junior secondary schools participated. Overall, it was found that most teachers knew of emotional abuse and its aspects. However, about a third of them had no knowledge of emotional abuse or how to identify signs of abuse in children. It was also found that teachers do not consider their jobs entail providing support for abused children. From the data, it is evident that teacher training and in-service programmes must equip teachers with the skills to enable them contribute effectively to the prevention and management of emotional abuse of children.
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