ZIMBABWE EZEKIEL GUTI UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF Education, Humanities and Social Sciences

Department of Social Work

ASSIGNMENT COVER PAGE

NAME(S): Thabani Mbengo REG NO- R180040s

NAME(S): Simbarashe Muchemwa REG NO-R180542s

NAME(S): Denzel Magobeya REG NO- RI80316s

NAME(S): Faith Philemon REG NO-R180322s

NAME(S): Priscilla Maphuya REG NO- R180030s

NAME(S): Panashe Muzavazi REG NO-R180436s

NAME(S): Ashly Pangeti REG NO-R180492s

GROUP ASSIGNMENTS

QUESTION TITLE: Discuss the extent to which developmental Social Work has been
achieved in Zimbabwe.

LECTURER: MR MAPARA

DUE DATE: 26- 10-19

Developmental social work is a type of social work that affirms the social work profession's
commitment to the eradication of poverty; recognises the link between welfare and economic
development; and construes welfare as an investment in human capital rather than a drain on
limited resources (Gray, 1992). Another definition of developmental social work is provided
by Midgley (1995) who perceives it 'as a process of planned social change designed to
promote the well-being of the population as a whole in conjunction with a dynamic process
of economic development. Thus Midgley sees developmental social work and economic
development as interdependent. In other words, social and economic factors of development
reinforce each other and no meaningful development can occur without due regard being
given to both factors. In order to appreciate the case of developmental social work in
Zimbabwe, it is necessary to understand this within the context of the country's colonial
history. Kaseke (1991) argues that “remember social work was adopted in the colonial times
to deal with social problems of the time such as destitution and prostitution”. These problems
still exist in contemporary Zimbabwe and with the deteriorating economic climate, a lot of
socio-economic problems have sprouted over the years which need the attention and
intervention of the social worker. Some of the problems include unemployment, poverty, and
homelessness, domestic violence, HIV and AIDS and bereavement. This then calls for a
change in style and fashion from remedial social work to developmental social work because
there is need to address the root causes of all social problems rather than simply address the
symptoms of those root causes as remedial social work does. The main thrust of this essay is
to discuss the extent to which developmental social work has been achieved in Zimbabwe.

Developmental social work is a dynamic way of organising resources and human interactions
to create opportunities through which the potential of all peoples, individually and
collectively, can be developed to the full (Dominelli, 1997). With this definition, Dominelli
sees developmental social work as a type of social work that can be used to address the
problem of poverty and underdevelopment. According to Midgley (1995) in practice,
developmental social work is concerned mainly with non-material resources, such as people's
participation, community support and naturally occurring networks. Social workers attempt to
combine these strengths into organised, small-scale community programmes around central
issues of concern. It is the latter which brings social work into contact with other
development initiatives, for example, as when the central concern pertains to water or
sanitation. Social workers may then act as facilitators or brokers bringing community groups
into contact with resource-providers in this way helping them to gain access to resources and
empowering them to negotiate on their own behalf. Through community development, social
workers unleash people's collective potential, build their capacity and help them to organise
themselves around common concerns. However, Gray (1989) argues that social work needs
to move beyond this non-materialist approach to community development and to recognise
the important role played by economic factors in development initiatives. Viable projects
have to be assessed in terms of their economic viability and their marketability in the broader
community. There is increasing recognition that training or skills development and income
generation are crucial to economic empowerment. Gray (1989) maintains that unless people
develop their economic potential they will remain poor. Political and social organisation
increases people's potential to access resources but real empowerment comes from the
achievement of economic independence and autonomy.

Indeed, social work programs are essential part of group work success in Africa. In
Zimbabwe, developmental social work has been essential in group work success because the
poor and marginalised groups have been specifically targeted with a view to enhancing their
productive capacity. According to Kaseke (1991) with respect to the rural poor, it has been
accepted that the root causes of their poverty include landlessness or inadequate land, lack of
access to credit facilities and extension services. Social workers have joined hands with
churches, human rights organisations and the rural poor themselves to lobby government to
address the land issue. Dominelli (1997) argues that although the land issue was the principal
cause of the war of liberation, this problem has not been seriously addressed nineteen years
after independence. At independence, the government announced that 62 000 families were to
be resettled but only 45 000 families had been resettled by early 1989. The government has
attributed the slow pace of land reform to the problem of resources, but many are convinced
that the government lacks political will to address the land issue. This is, however, set to
change as the government has designated several farms for resettlement, indicating a new
level of political commitment although it is doubtful whether the government has the capacity
to pay for the farms (Government of Zimbabwe, 1991). Ankara (1986) indicated that it is
disconcerting to note that the ruling elite is benefiting from land originally earmarked for
landless peasants. Thus lobbying efforts should also be directed against this growing
phenomenon if social justice and egalitarian ideals are to be realised. It is therefore, important
to provide lobbying and advocacy skills to social workers in land issues to make it possible
for the poor and marginalised groups to enhance their productive capacity so that poverty can
be reduced in the country.
Developmental social work have also be achieved in Zimbabwe through social workers
efforts in mobilising rural communities to form mutual aid societies. Kaseke (1991)
maintains that “whilst social workers have not directly lobbied national institutions that
provide credit to smallholder farmers, they have none the less mobilised rural communities to
form mutual aid societies in the form of rotating savings and credit schemes”. These promote
savings which are shared by members on a rotational basis. They also provide credit facilities
for the members. Kaseke (1991) further indicated that the savings and loans are being used
by rural communities as capital for their agricultural activities and are also used to meet the
health and education needs of families. This has enabled rural communities to enhance their
productive capacity and thus provide an escape route out of poverty. Ankara (1986) claimed
that the impact of this strategy has however, been minimal as only a few have joined these
schemes. The challenge for social workers is to mobilise more people to join these schemes
and to link the marginalised communities to appropriate resource systems that can provide
seed money and technical support.

Indeed, social work programs are essential part of group work success in Africa. In
Zimbabwe, developmental social work has been essential in group work success as evidenced
by community workers who assist by linking individuals, groups and communities to
appropriate resource systems which provide skills training and start-up capital for the projects
(Kaseke, 1991). Furthermore, community workers mobilise the rural communities to improve
infrastructure such as roads, bridges, clinics and schools. Ankara (1986) states that emphasis
is not only on programmes or projects that directly improve the material welfare of rural
communities but also on those programmes and projects that indirectly contribute to an
improvement in the material welfare of the poor. However, Kaseke (1991) argues that the
impact of these measures to improve the material welfare of rural communities has been quite
minimal because of poor funding of the activities by the Ministry of National Affairs,
Employment Creation and Co-operatives. The poor funding preclude community workers
from traversing the breadth and width of the country and from providing reasonable start-up
capital for projects. Although non-governmental organisations have been more successful
than the government, their impact has been compromised by the fact that they tend to confine
their activities in more or less the same districts leaving some remote parts of the country
virtually untouched. This is partly responsible for the uneven development in the country.

Developmental social work has also been achieved in Zimbabwe through social development
funds system implemented by the Department of Social Welfare. According to Kaseke
(1998) the decision by the government to implement the economic structural adjustment
programme brought with it new challenges for social workers even though they were not part
of the initial decision-making process. The Government of Zimbabwe anticipated that
structural adjustment would have a negative impact on the welfare of the people through
unemployment, steep price increases and cut backs on social services (Government of
Zimbabwe 1991). Kaseke (1998) further indicated that consequently, social workers in the
Department of Social Welfare were asked to put in place measures to cushion vulnerable
groups against the social costs of structural adjustment. The Department of Social Welfare set
up the Social Development Fund whose objective was to provide food, money and assistance
with the payment of education and health fees. The food money was targeted at low-income
urban households with incomes of Z$200 and below per month whilst assistance with
payment of education and health fees was targeted at retrenched workers, unemployed
persons and households with monthly incomes not exceeding Z$400 (Kaseke 1993). Chisvo
and Munro (1994) maintains that the Social Development Fund also has an employment and
training programme targeted specifically at retrenched workers. These are workers who are
declared redundant. The aim is to assist retrenched workers to create their own employment
by embarking on small to medium-scale enterprises. The programme offers loans to
retrenched workers to start their own business but the retrenches have to make a contribution
of 10% of the capital needed. However, before they embark on their business ventures, they
have to undergo training so as to enable them to acquire the relevant skills. All these are done
to improve the social-economic development of the people in Zimbabwe which show a
developmental model orientation in social work practice.

However, whilst the Social Development Fund was intended to improve the well-being of
vulnerable groups, the realisation of this objective was compromised by the poor design of
the programme. The targeting system renders the Fund unable to capture the most needy
members of society since the costs of accessing the Fund are high and as a result the poor are
unable to access the benefits (Kaseke, 1993). Chisvo and Munro (1994) claims that the Social
Development Fund 'is a passive mechanism that waits for potential beneficiaries to come
forward and apply for benefits. This approach in itself effectively (though inadvertently)
excludes many of the poorest and most vulnerable members of the target population. Kaseke,
1993) asserts that because of poor funding, the Social Development Fund is unable to honour
its commitments timeously. Consequently, it is always in arrears and thereby forcing schools
and hospitals to demand payment from people who are not supposed to pay. As a result,
children from poor households end up dropping out from school. As the harsh economic
conditions continue to bite, the government is increasingly finding itself unable to protect the
poor. The impact of the employment and training programme in improving the material
welfare of retrenched workers has been minimal owing to the fact that most of them fail to
raise the 10% contribution. The programme was also narrowly conceived as it confines itself
to the new poor, that is, those who have become poor because of retrenchment (Kaseke,
1993).

Even though it is true that social work programs are essential part of group work success in
Africa, some scholars argued that it is also difficult for Social workers in Zimbabwe to
embrace developmental social work due to the fact that there is a lack of resources in
Zimbabwe which can however be a scapegoat or an excuse for promoting group work
success. Most of the efforts by social worker in promoting social-economic development of
the country have been constrained due to lack of funding. For example, the Social
Development Fund which was introduced by the Social Welfare Department of Zimbabwe in
efforts to improve the socio-economic development of the marginalized and the poor failed to
achieve its goal due to poor funding. According to Kaseke (1991) poor funding of projects
and programmes implemented by social worker in trying to promote the developmental
aspect or success of group work in the Zimbabwean communities has sadly resulted in social
workers becoming reluctant to use their advocacy and lobbying skills to pressure government
to spend money on programmes and projects that can improve human well-being. For
instance, social workers have also failed to cause government to revamp the Social
Development Fund so that it becomes more responsive to the needs of the poor. Advocacy
and lobbying should result in the creation of an enabling environment, that is, an environment
that makes it possible for individuals, groups and communities to realise their potential.
Zimbabwe it is apparent that social workers in Zimbabwe have not fully implemented the
social development model in practice. According to Kaseke (1991) Social work education has
also not sufficiently prepared social workers for social development roles. There has been too
much emphasis in the past on preparing students for remedial social work. There is also no
clear appreciation of what social development really involves and how to start to effectively
promote this standpoint. Hampson and Wilmore (1986) affirmed that “the question now
facing social work education is how social workers can be trained as social development
workers who can recognize the problems of mass poverty and underdevelopment, and
contribute to the solutions of these problems in Zimbabwe”. Mupedziswa (2001) then
suggested a model which identified some curricular-correlated and extracurricular activities
as yardstick on the way to a developmental stance in social work schools of Zimbabwe.

It has also been difficult for Social workers in Zimbabwe to embrace developmental social
work due to the fact that there is a lack of resources in Zimbabwe which can however be a
scapegoat or an excuse for promoting the developmental perspective (Hochfeld et al, 2009).
Most of the efforts by social worker in promoting social-economic development of the
country have been constrained due to lack of funding from the government and other external
forces. For example, the Social Development Fund which was introduced by the Social
Welfare Department of Zimbabwe in efforts to improve the socio-economic development of
the marginalized and the poor failed to achieve its goal due to poor funding. According to
Kaseke (1991) poor funding of projects and programmes implemented by social worker in
trying to promote the developmental aspect of the Zimbabwean communities has sadly
resulted in social workers becoming reluctant to use their advocacy and lobbying skills to
pressure government to spend money on programmes and projects that can improve human
well-being. For instance, social workers have also failed to cause government to revamp the
Social Development Fund so that it becomes more responsive to the needs of the poor.
Advocacy and lobbying should result in the creation of an enabling environment, that is, an
environment that makes it possible for individuals, groups and communities to realise their
potential. This is the biggest challenge for social workers in Zimbabwe.

In conclusion, the discussion has shown that while Zimbabwe has made a start in the
implementation of developmental social work, it has a long way to go before the objectives of
developmental social work can be fully achieved. Successes in the implementation of a social
development model have been more on the micro than macro level. There is therefore need
for social workers to influence social policies with a view to ensuring that policies are
responsive to human needs. Zimbabwe's problem of underdevelopment requires both micro
and micro level intervention. The macro level policies such as those associated with structural
adjustment are impacting negatively on human well-being and social workers need to assist
local communities in articulating their concerns and problems and drive home the message
that structural adjustment undermines human welfare.

REFERENCES

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Dominelli, L. (1997). Social Work and Social Development: A Partnership in Social Change,
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Government of Zimbabwe (1991). Social Dimensions of Adjustment. Harare: Government

Printer.

Gray, M. (1989). Community development: Has social work met the challenge? Social
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Gray, M. (1992). The ethical implications of a primary model of care. Social

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Hochfeld, T., Selipsky, L., Mupedziswa, R., and Chitereka, C. (2009). Research Report:
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Midgley, J. (1995). Social Development: The Developmental Perspective in Social Welfare.

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