Doctoral Degrees (Social Work)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Social Work) by Subject "Child support -- Government policy -- Zambia"

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    Social protection for vulnerable children in Zambia
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015--04) Moonga, Fred; Green, Sulina; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Social Work.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focused on the social protection of vulnerable children in Zambia. The aim was to find out how social protection had evolved and how it was conceptualised – its functions and types, policies and programmes, the benefits and services, and the risks and vulnerabilities that it addresses. A descriptive study design was used with qualitative methods of collecting and analysing data. The sample of 24 participants from government and nongovernmental organisations involved in social protection delivery as well as carers of children was drawn from the Central, Lusaka and Southern provinces of Zambia respectively. A semi-structured interview schedule was used, and all the recorded interviews were transcribed by the researcher and sent back to the participants for proofreading or corrections, where necessary, before analysis. The basic needs, the empowerment, the risk management, the rights-based, and the capability approaches have been used to further the conceptualization, design features and implementation modalities of social protection. Additionally, given that a theoretical basis for social protection is still lacking, the study drew on representational, explanatory, normative, human capital, social construction, social contractual, and structural social work theories in order to complement, extend and verify the findings. Ethical clearance (number Desc_Moonga2012) was obtained from Stellenbosch University’s Research Ethics Committee. The ethical clearance certificate was used to apply for and obtain permission from the Zambian Ministry of Community Development Mother and Child Health and nongovernmental organisations involved in the study. Empirically, the study found that social protection was an old activity under a new name and was being scaled up rapidly but biased towards cash transfers. By and large, social protection in Zambia is provided as unconditional transfers, mainly as social assistance. No existing legislative or policy framework specifically focused on social protection was found, although the latter had been drafted at the time of the study. The Zambian government and a number of partners such as CARE, Child Fund, World Vision and the World Food Programme, to mention only a few, were found to be involved, but their efforts were fragmented and interventions for children were limited, fragmented and less responsive to the current risks and vulnerabilities of children. The study also established that if 2–3% of the country’s gross domestic product as recommended by the International Labour Organization were used, Zambia could afford to provide extensive social protection coverage (beyond its current offering) by using local resources. However, this would require putting in place appropriate and sustainable resource mobilisation measures and decentralization of the processes and interventions. Based on these and other concluding findings, it is recommended that in order for social protection for vulnerable children in Zambia to be effective, among other requirements, political will is needed in the provision of social protection for vulnerable groups, especially children, through legislative and policy frameworks. Additionally, there is a need for sustainable resource mobilisation, especially through progressive taxation such as taxation of undeserved income and taxation of big businesses, especially mining companies. However, due to limitations in qualitative methods and descriptive designs and the small sample of the data used, the conclusions and recommendations of the study are but conjectural.