Four UKZN College of Humanities academics - Professor Pearl Sithole, Dr Mvuselelo Ngcoya, Ms Nompumelelo Nzimande and Mr Sandile Mbokazi together with Dr Leon Swartz from the National Population Unit of the Department of Social Development recently presented their Government-led Mikondzo Project research at the PASA conference.

Project Mikondzo (which means “footprint” in Xitonga) was launched by Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini to expand social services to 1 300 of the country’s poorest wards and called on community members to lend their support to the department and its agencies.

The academics, who are involved in the project, each addressed their roles and qualitative and quantitative research outcomes at the conference under the banner “Doing Social Development.”

PASA President and UKZN Lecturer Ms Nompumelelo Nzimande looked at Handling the social through datasets in which she discussed the importance of evidence based information during planning and monitoring and evaluation, the type of data acceptable for use during planning and the role of Statistics SA.

‘Research and knowledge management is a key priority area in population and development and the Department of Social development (DSD) focal areas are well articulated with most indicators being easily tracked through national datasets,’ said Nzimande.

Dr Mvuselelo Ngcoya discussed “Methodological issues on doing Social Development” that incorporated key informant interviews, focus group discussions and surveys within the prescribed wards, that ultimately addressed the accessibility of social services, challenges and opportunities experienced in the area and prioritization of services.

Since the research is within the first phase, Ngcoya pointed out that much of the data received was still being analysed and would be available soon.

Mr Sandile Mbokazi, however, took the PASA session further by investigating if data really does influence programmes and how does prioritization happen. He examined data that was extracted from three provinces: KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and the Western Cape. One of the provincial emerging trends that he noticed was co-ordination between different sectors.

Mbokazi noted that there is still room for improvement in social development. ‘Development processes are shaped by the people, more realistic efforts must be made to democratize all developmental processes to ensure that they benefit people.’

While Professor Pearl Sithole looked at “Conceptualising Social Development: A case of South Africa” that focused on three cases i.e. The Eastern Cape- a case of dry alignment; Idutywa- a case of sustainable attention and Teenage pregnancy- a case of resultant social ill.

Looking at each case respectively, Sithole concluded that there is a need to take into account history, politics, and remoteness and a need to decentralise oversight on planning.

Dr Leon Swartz concluded with his study that gave an overview of the working conditions and remunerations of seasonal farm workers and the role that government can play to assist their plight.