Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Over the past two decades the Dutch Reformed Church, a typical mainline church in South Africa, encountered radical challenges, as was the case with many similar churches worldwide. The DR Church had to face global societal shifts such as the emergence of postmodernism, the intensifying of secularisation and the growing impact of globalisation on the religious community. In addition, the members of the DR Church were exposed to radical challenges due to the dismantling of the apartheid system in South Africa. This dismantling was a particularly traumatic experience for the DR Church, seeing that this church did not only support the apartheid regime, but also legitimized it on theological grounds. It is therefore understandable that the publishing of the document Kerk en Samelewing (“Church and Society”) in 1986, which first signalled the rejection of apartheid in the DR Church, evoked a major reaction, not only among the church membership, but also within the ranks of white Afrikaners as social group. With the dawn of the post-apartheid era in South Africa in 1994, the issue of the church's relevance was already on the agenda of the ecumenical church. In recent times suddenly this theme also became critical to the church in South Africa and especially to the DR Church. The present study proposes that a missional diaconal ministry which focuses on the society as a whole will provide a modus to the DR Church by which it can function as a relevant church within the South African society. The rationale of this investigation is a follows: The DR Church is currently (2014) not in a position to impact significantly on the societal needs of South African citizens. The reason is that this church's current ministry of compassion is still based on an ecclesiocentric and specialist approach, which was typical of the Corpus Christianum. As a result, a new, unique praxis is needed for the diaconal ministry of this church. The present study argues that missional theology provides a new paradigm according to which an applicable missional diaconal praxis can be developed for the DR Church. Such a unique diaconal praxis can only develop when it is guided by a spirituality that leads to a diaconal attitude and sensitivity towards the poor and destitute. This diaconal spirituality, in turn, is activated and fed by a missional theology that builds on the triune God as origin, basis and final purpose of the diaconal ministry as such. Furthermore in this study it is shown that the concept of missio Dei implies that the diaconal ministry forms an integral part of God’s mission and is thus not an isolated church ministry besides other ministries. It is further argued in the present study that a multi-dimensional missional-diaconal practice should be developed for congregations and the various structures within the DR Church. To facilitate the conceptualisation and operationalisation of a missional diaconal ministry in this church, the study proposes that a specific research focus, namely “Missional-diaconal Studies” should be developed for the South African environment. For this purpose a research and teaching institution should be established to provide in such needs of the church. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die NG Kerk, ’n tipiese hoofstroomkerk in Suid-Afrika, het die afgelope 20 jaar – soos vele ander kerke wêreldwyd – voor ingrypende uitdagings te staan gekom. Hierdie kerk moes globale samelewingsverskuiwings verwerk, soos die opkoms van postmodernisme, ’n verskerping in sekularisasie en die impak van globalisering op die geloofsgemeenskap. Daarbenewens is die NG Kerklidmate blootgestel aan ingrypende veranderings wat gevolg het op die aftakeling van die apartheidstelsel in Suid-Afrika. Hierdie aftakeling was veral traumaties vir die NG Kerk omdat hierdie kerk nie slegs apartheid ondersteun het nie, maar dit ook op teologiese gronde verdedig het. Dit is gevolglik begryplik dat die verskyning van die dokument Kerk en Samelewing (1986), waarin die eerste tekens van ’n wegbeweeg van die apartheidsideologie in die NG Kerk sigbaar word, hewige reaksie ontlok het – tussen die kerklidmate, maar ook in die blanke Afrikaners as samelewingsgroep. Met die aanbreek van die postapartheid-era in Suid-Afrika in 1994 was die vraag na die relevansie van die kerk reeds wêreldwyd op kerklike agendas. Skielik het hierdie vraag nou ook vir die kerk in Suid-Afrika, en veral die NG Kerk, ’n kernsaak geword. In hierdie studie word voorgestel dat ’n missionaal-diakonale bediening wat op die samelewing in geheel fokus, ’n moontlike modus vir die NG Kerk kan verskaf om vir die Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing relevant te funksioneer. Die rasionaal van die ondersoek behels die volgende: As gevolg van die historiese ontwikkeling van die NG Kerk se diens van barmhartigheid, veral die verbondenheid aan ʼn volksteologie en nasionalisme die afgelope paar dekades, kan hierdie kerk binne die postapartheid-era tans (2014) nie werklik ʼn verskil aan die nood in die samelewing maak nie. Die bestaande barmhartigheidsbediening van hierdie kerk is steeds gebaseer op ʼn model wat nog spruit uit ʼn ekklesiosentriese en spesialisbenadering wat eie is aan die Corpus Christianum. Gevolglik is ʼn nuwe, eiesoortige praxis vir hierdie kerk se diakonaat nodig. In die huidige studie word betoog dat die missionale teologie ʼn nuwe paradigma voorsien waarvolgens ʼn toepaslike missionaal-diakonale praxis vir die NG Kerk ontwikkel kan word. So ʼn eiesoortige diakonale praxis kan egter slegs ontwikkel wanneer dit gerig word deur ’n spiritualiteit wat lei tot ’n diakonale gesindheid en houding teenoor die armes en noodlydendes. Hierdie diakonale spiritualiteit word aangewakker en gevoed deur ’n missionale teologie wat bou op God Drie-enig as oorsprong, basis en einddoel van die diakonaat. Verder word in hierdie studie aangetoon dat die missio Dei juis veronderstel dat die diakonaat ʼn wesenlike deel uitmaak van God se sending en gevolglik nie ʼn losstaande bediening van die kerk benewens ander bedienings is nie. In die studie word verder betoog dat ʼn multidimensionele missionaal-diakonale praktyk vir gemeentes en die onderskeie kerkverbande binne die NG Kerk ontwikkel behoort te word. Om die konseptualisering en operasionalisering van ʼn missionale diakonaat in hierdie kerk te bevorder word in die studie aanbeveel dat ’n navorsingsfokus, naamlik “Missionaaldiakonale Studie”, vir die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks ontwikkel word. Hiervoor behoort ʼn navorsings- en opleidingsinstelling in die lewe geroep te word om aan sodanige kerklike behoeftes te voldoen.

One of CORD's activities is the welfare programme, which started four years ago. It has two features which make it particularly interesting. First, it has introduced a level of welfare into rural areas which has not been there before. Second, it is based on a broad, developmental and holistic approach to welfare — which is what most people agree is needed, but very few actually manage to do. Welfare projects are often well meaning but small in scale, without the ability to help people out of the poverty in which they are trapped. We believe that this welfare programme acts as a catalyst for other development activities — it shows that welfare can be a wedge, a point of entry, for broader community development. It is one model for a more appropriate welfare system for the future. Compared to health, there is very little written material about alternative welfare provision. There have been fewer attempts at model building than there have been in health. And it is possible that some small projects have not been written up for others to learn from. A key aspect of innovative work in the social service and development fields is the training of new kinds of workers. This is almost always based on a recognition that existing professionals (for example, doctors, social workers, irrigation engineers, physiotherapists) •are expensive to train • are difficult to move from city-bases, and • are not necessarily good communicators with the people they are meant to serve. The South African government and the South African Council for Social Work (the body that finally controls professional social welfare) have agreed that there is a need for a new category of welfare worker — an assistant or auxiliary. The rules surrounding their training and supervision are such that, although it is a step in the right direction, it does not go nearly far enough. For example, every two assistants must be supervised by one social worker. In most rural areas there are no social workers, so there can be no assistants. When new categories of workers are trained, they often meet with strong resistance from two sides — existing professionals, and people in communities. In the welfare field, the strongest resistance will probably come from the professionals. We think that this welfare programme shows how the work of the professionals can mesh together with the work of people with less formal training, so that they can help each other to deliver better services to more people. The welfare context The welfare programme needs to be set against the context of existing welfare services in South Africa. The South African welfare system is inappropriate and inadequate — this is recognised by people in government, people working in the private welfare sector, and is certainly recognised at community level. The problems that are very evident are: • welfare spending and social services have been biased in favour of white provision • the system has not been properly planned • there is a heavy bias in favour of urban areas, and a serious neglect of rural welfare • where social work posts do exist in rural areas, they are difficult to fill. • the privatisation of welfare which is being encouraged by government (along with the privatisation of health, education, transport and other social goods) will mean that the well-off people will be able to buy better private services, but poorer people will have less access to even poorer public services. There is an emerging consensus across the country that if the welfare system is to have a contribution to make to the 'new South Africa' it will have to become: • more developmentally oriented • more appropriate to the conditions in which the majority of people live • more concerned with the welfare of the very poor, especially in rural areas • more accessible to people who need the services, and particularly by women and children. These principles are accepted internationally as guidelines for the provision of social services such as heath, welfare and education. In the field of primary health care in South Africa, we have many examples of model schemes which have tried to learn how to provide appropriate, affordable, accessible health services. Many of these have been written about; some indeed are known internationally. All these case studies are vital to the development of better health services in future. In most rural areas, and in the majority of peri-urban informal settlements, we are not talking of a situation where services could be improved by adding more professionals — we have a situation where there is virtually no access to welfare services at all. The interview that follows is presented as a case study of an innovative welfare programme.

This thesis focuses on the Afrikaans Christian Women's Organisation (ACVV), placed within the context of Afrikaner nationalist activity, and traces the variety of ways in which white, Afrikaans, middle-class women sought to construct a racially exclusive 'Afrikaner' people. Stereotypical portrayals of Afrikaner women as passive followers of an ideology constructed by men are challenged. The gendered construction of nationalism is initially examined by tracing the transition from a religious, evangelical, late nineteenth century gender discourse to an increasingly explicit Afrikaner nationalist discourse in the early twentieth century. The ACVV participated in the construction of a popular Afrikaner nationalist culture that portrayed Afrikaans women as mothers of the people or volksmoeders. The first ACVV leaders were acutely aware of the 'New Women' who abandoned conventional notions of femininity - they tried to construct a public, political identity for Afrikaans women that met the challenges of the 'modern' world, yet remained true to Afrikaner 'tradition'. The ACVV sought to fashion Afrikaans whites into 'Afrikaners' through philanthropic activity. At first, this was especially true of rural branches, but from the early 1920s, Cape Town's ACVV also responded to the growing influx of 'poor whites' by focusing specifically on social welfare work. One particular concern was the danger that women working together with blacks posed for the volk. Research on the ACVV's philanthropy is complemented by a study of the lives of landless and impoverished whites in the Cape countryside and Cape Town. Archival material and 'life history' interviews are used to explore the working lives of white, Afrikaans-speaking women who moved from rural areas to Cape Town during the 1920s and 1930s. Complex and contradictory strands made up the private and political lives of female Afrikaner nationalists. During the 1920s, they sought to create a political role for themselves by constructing a 'maternalist', nationalist discourse that articulated the notion of separate spheres for men and women -but extended vrouesake (women's issues). In many ways these were conservative women - yet they adjusted, even challenged, conventional gender roles in Afrikaans communities. In the 1930s, the four provincial Afrikaans women's welfare organisations sought to shape state-subsidised social welfare programmes. The ACVV and its sister organisations had increasingly fraught dealings with Afrikaner nationalist men in the state and church. who did not share the women's vision of female leadership in social welfare policy.

Finansiele bestuur word aile~ as die taak van finansiele bestuurskundiges beskou. By nie-winsgerigte organisasies raak dit egter dikwels die verantwoordelikheid van niefinansiE! Ie personeel of bestuurslede uit 'n ander opleidingsagtergrond. Maatskaplike werkers, een van die vemaamste diensprofessies betrokke by nie·w;nsgerigte welsynsorganisasies, beskik nie noodwendig oor hierdie bestuursvaardighede nie. Hierdie studie kan bydra tot maatskaplike werkers en ander nie-finansiele personeel se verbeterde kennis en insig van sleutelaspekte van finansiele bestuur. Dit kan terselfdertyd ook finansiele bestuurders sensitiseer vir die eiesoortig-gekompliseerde eise van finansiele bestuur op die terrein van nie-winsgerigtheid, waar die fokus op diensfewering eerder as finansiile gewin, val. Dit konseptualiseer algemene bestuursfunksies en finansiele risikofaktore binne die konteks en eiesoortigheid van nie-winsgerigte flnansiAie bestuur. Hierdie kennis kan moontlik die gaping tussen die. bestuursvaardighede van finansiele- en nie-finansiele bestuurders help oorbrug en die sukses en voortbestaan van nie-winsgerigte welsynsorganisasies bevorder deur die kwaliteit van bestuursinsette te verbeter. / Financial management is commonly regarded to be the field of financial managers. In the case of non-profit or voluntary organisations it often becomes the responsibility of non-financial personnel or members of management from other educational backgrounds. Social workers involved in non-profit organisations rendering welfare services do not necessarily have the required financial management skills. This study can provide social workers and other non-financial personnel with information to better their understanding on key issues concerning financial management. It can also sensitise financial managers towards the uniquely complicated demands on financial management in the non-profit environment, where the focus falls on service delivery rather than on financial gain. It conceptualises management principles as well as financial risk factors in the distinct context of non-profitable financial management. This knowledge could probably aid in bridging the gap between the management skills of financial and non-financial managers and thus promote the success and sustainabUity of non-profit organisations by improving the quality of input by management. / Social work / M.Diac. (Maatskaplike werk (Bestruur)

Evaluation determines the impact of social services as well as job performance and assures communities that social workers render effective services. Post audits are done as part of performance management at the Christian Social Councils in the Highveld Synodal Region. The purpose of this research is to look at the experiences of social workers that had a post audit to determine whether adjustments to improve the audit system are needed. A qualitative approach with an exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was followed. Participants were identified according to the purposive sampling method. Data was collected during semi-structured interviews. The data was analysed and verified according to the models of Tesch (in Creswell, 2003) and Guba (in Krefting, 1991), respectively, and processed in the research report. / Social Work / M. A. (Social Science)

Finansiele bestuur word aile~ as die taak van finansiele bestuurskundiges beskou. By nie-winsgerigte organisasies raak dit egter dikwels die verantwoordelikheid van niefinansiE! Ie personeel of bestuurslede uit 'n ander opleidingsagtergrond. Maatskaplike werkers, een van die vemaamste diensprofessies betrokke by nie·w;nsgerigte welsynsorganisasies, beskik nie noodwendig oor hierdie bestuursvaardighede nie. Hierdie studie kan bydra tot maatskaplike werkers en ander nie-finansiele personeel se verbeterde kennis en insig van sleutelaspekte van finansiele bestuur. Dit kan terselfdertyd ook finansiele bestuurders sensitiseer vir die eiesoortig-gekompliseerde eise van finansiele bestuur op die terrein van nie-winsgerigtheid, waar die fokus op diensfewering eerder as finansiile gewin, val. Dit konseptualiseer algemene bestuursfunksies en finansiele risikofaktore binne die konteks en eiesoortigheid van nie-winsgerigte flnansiAie bestuur. Hierdie kennis kan moontlik die gaping tussen die. bestuursvaardighede van finansiele- en nie-finansiele bestuurders help oorbrug en die sukses en voortbestaan van nie-winsgerigte welsynsorganisasies bevorder deur die kwaliteit van bestuursinsette te verbeter. / Financial management is commonly regarded to be the field of financial managers. In the case of non-profit or voluntary organisations it often becomes the responsibility of non-financial personnel or members of management from other educational backgrounds. Social workers involved in non-profit organisations rendering welfare services do not necessarily have the required financial management skills. This study can provide social workers and other non-financial personnel with information to better their understanding on key issues concerning financial management. It can also sensitise financial managers towards the uniquely complicated demands on financial management in the non-profit environment, where the focus falls on service delivery rather than on financial gain. It conceptualises management principles as well as financial risk factors in the distinct context of non-profitable financial management. This knowledge could probably aid in bridging the gap between the management skills of financial and non-financial managers and thus promote the success and sustainabUity of non-profit organisations by improving the quality of input by management. / Social work / M.Diac. (Maatskaplike werk (Bestruur)

Evaluation determines the impact of social services as well as job performance and assures communities that social workers render effective services. Post audits are done as part of performance management at the Christian Social Councils in the Highveld Synodal Region. The purpose of this research is to look at the experiences of social workers that had a post audit to determine whether adjustments to improve the audit system are needed. A qualitative approach with an exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was followed. Participants were identified according to the purposive sampling method. Data was collected during semi-structured interviews. The data was analysed and verified according to the models of Tesch (in Creswell, 2003) and Guba (in Krefting, 1991), respectively, and processed in the research report. / Social Work / M. A. (Social Science)