INTRODUCTION

Professional social work interventions is based on a process of planned change. Change is

indicated when clients present that are unresolved. Planned change is an orderly approach to
addressing client’s needs and is based on assessment, knowledge of the client systems capacity
for change and focused interventions. The problem of social work intervention are essentially
those of problem-solving and inevitably require a combination of both theory and practical
experience. This is given impetus by the need for knowledge about the client in situation, the
realities of human living conditions and most importantly the need to actively involve client in
processes that rings about development.

Being attached to department of community development showed the reality of how social
worker’s role are played in the community that is enhancing problem-solving capacities in
people, linking people with systems that provides them with services, resources and
opportunities, promoting effectively and efficiently of operation of social systems and contribute
to the development and improvement of social policy (Noyoo, 2010). Therefore, this report
describes my work at the agency.

The placement area

The department of community development falls under the ministry of community development
and social services formerly known as the ministry of community development mother and child
health. This ministry is key in providing and facilitating the provision of equitable social
protection services to communities in order to contribute to poverty reduction and improved
quality of life of citizens in order to foster national development (COMDEV, 2014).

History

The ministry of community development operates with funds from the government through the
ministry of finance and national planning and other cooperating development partners. The
approaches and strategies the ministry has taken in its time existence in communities have
culminated into some massive changes in the mental capacity and physical environment of its
beneficiaries.
Community development works in Zambia according to the national policy (2003) evolved
during the late 1990s as part of government’s efforts to rehabilitate the returning service from the
Second World War. The community was used to describe specific efforts in improving housing,
roads, food production, hygiene, basic health, illiteracy levels and poverty reduction. The focus
of the ministry of community development and social services was to impart skills such as
reading and writing through adult literacy programs, community self-help initiative, micro credit
to women, tailoring and some aspects of agriculture and fisheries (COMDEV)

The department is tasked to spearhead development programs at community level and has sub-
centers in various areas. The sub centers are established due to the general social-economic
situation in the area and improve the wellbeing of viable people especially women
developmental programs.

Programs offered

Among the many programs being implemented by the department of community development
under the ministry of community development and social services is the food security pack
program which is a national safety program that promotes farming inputs provision to vulnerable
low capacity households in Zambia. It began in 2000 as a planned answer to the difficult of poor
access to agriculture inputs and agriculture extension services for rural basic households
(COMDEV, 2014)

The overall objective of this program is to contribute to poverty reduction among targeted
beneficiaries through improved crop productivity and household food security and nutrition. This
scheme targets vulnerable but viable individuals and families that seek to engage in agricultural
activities by giving them support in form of inputs in order to improve households and national
food security.

Each beneficiary is given the following quantities of farming inputs a 10 kg bag of maize, 50kg
bag of compound D and a 50kg bag of urea, 10 kg legume seed which could be either
groundnuts, cowpeas or beans and either cassava cuttings or sweet potato vines. After harvesting,
the farmers pay a certain less amount to the community development for later use like buying
farming inputs which will also be given to them in the next farming season. The aim is to
empower low capacity or vulnerable households so that they are sustained and this leads to
poverty reduction.

Due to the high levels of poverty that are estimated about 80% in Zambia, government has
acknowledged that the provision of functional skills, entrepreneurship training and elimination of
illiteracy among the youths and adults is key to community development (CSO, 2011).
Therefore, through the ministry of community development and social services running a
program known as non-formal education and skills training. Non-formal education is any form of
education conducted within or outside school setting. It may or may not cover the school
curriculum. It has two components that is functional literacy and skills training (MDCSS, MOE,
2010 ).

The objective of non-formal education is to provide functional literacy to the community in order
to reduce illiteracy levels and improve livelihoods as well as to enhance skills development for
successful entrepreneurship skills for vulnerable women, youths and girls. Among one of the
components of this program is the functional literacy which involves teaching adults how to
read, write and do simple arithmetic and other competencies which enables the learner to apply
the knowledge gained to better their livelihood.

The women empowerment program is a government funded program whose overall objective is
to empower women’s groups and associations country wide. The ministry provides grants and
entrepreneurship training skills to support income generating activities undertaken by women
groups throughout the country. Under this program is the micro credit to women or the village
baking. Under this intervention, beneficiaries access soft loans between k500.00 and k2000.00
with a repayment period of 25 weeks minimum. This intervention is currently being
implemented in 52 districts of all the ten provinces (MCDSS, 2015)

The target groups are those individual women who can access funding to enable them start
individual or group businesses under the micro credit to women or the village banking at the
district community development office. The criteria for accessing funding is that the women
must be vulnerable but viable women of a given geographical location. They must be like
minded members who should show mutual cooperation to each other, show responsibility for
each other and be of similar economic conditions or background.

Social systems especially communities, strongly influence the way people think and act.
Communities can be nurturing environment that provide basic social, economic and emotional
support to individuals and families. Conversely communities can be hostile places when there are
inequities that contribute significantly to individuals and families malfunctioning. Hence, the
community self-help initiative program is among the key programs being implemented under the
department of community development.

This program is designed to improve the livelihood of the communities through community
initiated projects. Community members are involved in the project identification, planning,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The community is encouraged to provide up front
materials which can locally be mobilized within the community. On the other hand, the
department provides financial resources for procurement of materials that cannot be mobilized
locally by the benefitting community (Noyoo, 2015)

Communities get an application form from the department of community development in any of
the districts. A project proposal application form is not sold but is given free of charge. It is a
requirement for communities to get a certificate from the registrar of societies before applying
for funding. However, in a situation where the communities cannot afford to get a certificate of
registration due to geographical locations, funding will be channeled through the district
community development office using the district food security pack account.

This implies that district office will facilitate the process of project implementation. For any
project to be considered the communities should contribute 10% towards the project in form of
community labor such as bricks, sand, stones, manpower, land and many more resources needed.

Communities are required to open bank accounts were necessary all applications should be
endorsed by the district community development officer in the district where the project is being
implemented. The maximum funding for a community self-help is k50000. Consideration is
made for ongoing projects to access extra funds to enable them complete the already started
projects. Before the funding, all projects are verified by the team comprising of officers from the
department of community headquarters, provincial community development office, sub-center
officers and the community members undertaking the project.

Since the launch of the National Social Protection Policy in 2014, Zambia has embarked on the
ambitious journey of developing an inclusive and efficient social protection systems to protect
and promote descent standards of living for all Zambians throughout their life. The protective
intervention largely comprise schemes under the social assistance programs including several
social transfer types, both in cash and in-kind, and relief response to emergencies. The core
income security program under the social assistance pillar which is meant for the poor and
vulnerable households is the social cash transfer. This program is being implemented under the
ministry of community development and social services.

The social cash transfer program has the main objective of reducing extreme poverty and the
intergenerational transfer of poverty among beneficiary households. The scheme provides cash to
vulnerable families to enable them meet their basic needs. The scheme is currently being
implemented in more than 13 districts and has shown that households spend funds on critical
areas such as education of the children, food nutrition, health, livestock and shelter as well as
increased buying power. The SCT Program has been operating in Zambia since 2003 and is
implemented by the Ministry of Community Development and social services (MCDSS, 2014)

In conclusion, the delivery service of the programs being implemented by the ministry of
community development and social services under the department of community development
are a combination of both the modern and indigenous social work methods to the targeted
groups. Modern social work methods in sense that most of the interventions made by the
department of community development in cooperates the social work values which are core of
the profession. Values such as dignity and strengths of the client and client system and mostly
the emphasis of self-determination and empowerment.