Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Community Work in the Department of Social Work at the University of Zululand, 2010. / Culturally determined gender roles restricted women’s freedom, choice and rights and as
such, it is not surprising that women have long been neglected in development. It is only
recently that attention was given to women and particularly rural women who are actively
engaged in productive labor.
At the Beijing plan of action conference in 1995, it was highlighted that though poverty
affects men and women, but because of gender role and responsibility women bear a
greater burden and it was recommended that:
• Polices and programs for women be developed in order to alleviate poverty,
with their full participation and respect for cultural diversity.
• Mobilization to improve the effectiveness of anti-poverty programs directed
at disadvantaged people.
Several programs have been developed by the government in order to empower women.
This study therefore is aimed at assessing the impact of social development programs on
participating women at Amajuba district Municipality in KwaZulu Natal.
These programs are developed by women and required their full participation. They are
funded by the government for sustainability. The researcher’s respondents were selected
from members who are participating. An evaluative research method was utilized as it
assesses the implementation and usefulness of social interventions.
Higson –Smith (1995:47) stated that evaluation research is aimed at testing
interventions, to see how effective they are, and therefore, represents an important means
of linking action and research in a constructive manner. Evaluation research can furnish
evidence of the usefulness of a program.
Findings revealed that women benefited through participation in these programs, as they
were also capacitated on activities they were engaged in. They were not successful to
generate enough income to sustain their families. Implementation of recommendations
made on chapter 6 will develop projects to small businesses so that participants can
maintain their families and, contribute to the economy of the country.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uzulu/oai:uzspace.unizulu.ac.za:10530/632 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Zulu, Patricia Theodora |
| Contributors | Ntombela, N.H. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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