The number of older people in South Africa is increasing. This demands an increase in services by, inter alia, social workers and services by and within religious settings because of the special needs and challenges related to this particular life phase. Group work with older people can assist in creating an awareness of potential and areas for growth as well as assisting with the challenges of growing older. The article discusses a research study with the goal to explore and describe the experiences of group members of a group for institutionalised older persons. A qualitative research study with a collective case study design was utilised to gain insight into the experiences of the individuals within the group and the experiences of the group as a whole. Semi-structured one-on-one interviews were employed as the primary data collection method. Although on a small scale, this research study provides guidelines for group intervention with older people, which allows them to view their lives as meaningful, share personal experiences and problems and realise that they are not alone in their difficulties.
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This publication is the first of a series of shadow reports that the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the National Shelter Movement of South Africa have produced in their ‘Enhancing State Responsiveness to Gender Based Violence: Paying the True Costs’ project. The project, which is funded by the European Union, aims to support state accountability for adequate and effective provision of domestic violence survivor support programmes, specifically those associated with the provision of shelters for abused women. This report sets out existing policy and practice in relation to the provision and funding of shelter services in the KwaZulu-Natal province and considers whether shelters have sufficient resources to meet the legitimate needs of women and children accessing their services.
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Social Work With Groups
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Violence against women is a significant societal problem but despite its pervasiveness in South Africa and its recognized status as a severe form of discrimination, it does not appear to feature significantly on the political agenda. In their ‘Enhancing State Response to Gender Based Violence’ project, the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, seek to promote more just outcomes for survivors of rape and domestic violence through enhancing the capacity of civil society to hold the state accountable for delivering services to women at the forefront of rights abuses. This report is the second of a series of shadow reports that the two organisations produced during the course of the project. A similar report on the policy, practice and funding of shelter services in Gauteng Province was produced in late 2012. The Minimum Standards on Shelters for Abused Women recognizes that “shelters represent an absolutely critical point of crisis intervention” and places a duty on the Department of Social Development to ensure that shelter interventions are able to meet basic needs and provide support, counseling and skills development to women. In order to deliver quality services however, shelters must have adequate resources. This publication assesses the provision and funding of shelters in the Western Cape by the state while considering whether shelters have sufficient resources to meet the legitimate needs of women and children.
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Violence against women is a significant problem in South Africa. The country has the highest rate of femicide in the world with estimates that suggest that a woman dies at the hands of an intimate partner every eight hours. Research also indicates that following HIV, intimate partner violence (IPV) is the second highest cause of disease and injuries in South Africa. A comprehensive response to IPV that is both preventative and responsive to the impact of violence on survivors is essential. Such services should include a broad range of legal, medical, and psychosocial support services as well as access to alternative accommodation. In South Africa, shelters are part of a government response to providing alternative accommodation as well as care and support for survivors of violence. However, there is currently no national government directive or funding model on the distribution of funds to shelters. This has resulted in the haphazard and inadequate resourcing of shelters throughout the country. This report sets out existing policy and practice in relation to the provision and funding of shelter services in the Mpumalanga province and considers whether shelters have sufficient resources to meet the legitimate needs of women and children accessing their services.
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The wide spread of self-help groups (SHGs) in both urban and rural communities in Nigeria and the low empowerment of the members economically, socially, politically and psychologically raises a lot of questions about what exactly is happening, since the primary objective of forming the SHGs is to empower the members holistically. The overall aim of the paper is to identify and discuss the factors influencing SHG member empowerment in Nigerian communities. The paper briefly discusses leadership, cohesiveness, participation, volunteerism, communication, goals/objectives as (Group factors), while age of SHG member, gender, location and marital status as (Personal factors). The paper concludes that understanding why community members remain in their various SHGs or otherwise is very important in empowerment studies and holistic community development. There is every need to keep encouraging community members to form both homogeneous and heterogeneous SHGs to enable elimination of barriers towards participation and allow all community members participate in empowerment process. The paper contributed to the debates on the most influential factors leading to overall empowerment of members in a group setting, it also added to the existing literature on empowerment as an outcome rather than a process only. The paper also recommends that regulatory agencies should be more active in their supervisory and monitoring role in order to identify fake SHGs and those operating below standard and also reward those adhering to ethics and code of conduct; more studies need to be conducted with a view of exploring more factors influencing SHG members empowerment in Nigeria and compare with what is obtained globally to strengthen the system for better performance and management.
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