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An analysis of the Department of Social Welfare & Pensions' capacity to respond to needs & social problems of the people in Venda

This study analyses the Department of Welfare & Pension's capacity to respond to the needs and social problems of the people in Venda. The analysis focused on the internal and external factors that have a bearing or impact on the Department's service provision. The internal organizational factor...

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Main Author: Davhana, Tendani Doreen
Other Authors: Taylor, Viviene
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Social Development 2024
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access_status_str Open Access
author Davhana, Tendani Doreen
author2 Taylor, Viviene
author_browse Davhana, Tendani Doreen
Taylor, Viviene
author_facet Taylor, Viviene
Davhana, Tendani Doreen
author_sort Davhana, Tendani Doreen
collection Thesis
description This study analyses the Department of Welfare & Pension's capacity to respond to the needs and social problems of the people in Venda. The analysis focused on the internal and external factors that have a bearing or impact on the Department's service provision. The internal organizational factors covered aspects such as the structure of welfare service provision, some management processes, resource limitations, human resource management, and methods or approaches used to address the needs and social problems, other employment conditions and the welfare approach at state level. The external factors covered the unfavourable political and socio-economic conditions experienced by the Welfare Department and it's clientele. The study also describes and examines the types of social problems and needs of the people, and what the Department is actually able to provide. How the Department responds to problems and needs is examined in relation to the social work profession. An exploratory descriptive approach was used. Data was gathered from primary and secondary sources. Observations and interviewing were used for collecting primary data. Both structured and unstructured interviews were carried out with people belonging to various professions, Government Departments and welfare organizations. The needs and social problems of the clients were quantified in terms of the Department's statistical records and waiting lists. The services rendered by the Department of Social Welfare and Pensions were quantified in terms of clients being served, the number of projects and programmes undertaken, and available welfare institutions. The findings revealed that there are problems surrounding . the analyzed factors. The Department's capacity to respond to needs is limited, and is also negatively affected by many factors. (iv) The analysis demonstrated that the most serious constraints of the Department are the discrepancy between needs/problems and· resources, as well as the over utilization of a single social work method of problem solving. Serious problems exist as regards human resource management, motivation, job satisfaction, and other employment conditions. Such problems have a negative impact on the provision of social . welfare services. The welfare approach at State level, Welfare policy, and Venda's economic dependency on South Africa, also have serious implications for the Department's response to needs and problems. The study's recommendati6ns draw attention to the need for improvement in the areas or factors examined. An alternative organizational design to improve the Welfare Department's capacity, is suggested, and details on how it could work are provided.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:58.612Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2024
publishDateRange 2024
publishDateSort 2024
publisher Department of Social Development
publisherStr Department of Social Development
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/40594 An analysis of the Department of Social Welfare & Pensions' capacity to respond to needs & social problems of the people in Venda Davhana, Tendani Doreen Taylor, Viviene This study analyses the Department of Welfare & Pension's capacity to respond to the needs and social problems of the people in Venda. The analysis focused on the internal and external factors that have a bearing or impact on the Department's service provision. The internal organizational factors covered aspects such as the structure of welfare service provision, some management processes, resource limitations, human resource management, and methods or approaches used to address the needs and social problems, other employment conditions and the welfare approach at state level. The external factors covered the unfavourable political and socio-economic conditions experienced by the Welfare Department and it's clientele. The study also describes and examines the types of social problems and needs of the people, and what the Department is actually able to provide. How the Department responds to problems and needs is examined in relation to the social work profession. An exploratory descriptive approach was used. Data was gathered from primary and secondary sources. Observations and interviewing were used for collecting primary data. Both structured and unstructured interviews were carried out with people belonging to various professions, Government Departments and welfare organizations. The needs and social problems of the clients were quantified in terms of the Department's statistical records and waiting lists. The services rendered by the Department of Social Welfare and Pensions were quantified in terms of clients being served, the number of projects and programmes undertaken, and available welfare institutions. The findings revealed that there are problems surrounding . the analyzed factors. The Department's capacity to respond to needs is limited, and is also negatively affected by many factors. (iv) The analysis demonstrated that the most serious constraints of the Department are the discrepancy between needs/problems and· resources, as well as the over utilization of a single social work method of problem solving. Serious problems exist as regards human resource management, motivation, job satisfaction, and other employment conditions. Such problems have a negative impact on the provision of social . welfare services. The welfare approach at State level, Welfare policy, and Venda's economic dependency on South Africa, also have serious implications for the Department's response to needs and problems. The study's recommendati6ns draw attention to the need for improvement in the areas or factors examined. An alternative organizational design to improve the Welfare Department's capacity, is suggested, and details on how it could work are provided. 2024-10-21T09:26:37Z 2024-10-21T09:26:37Z 1992 2024-07-19T10:30:13Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MSocSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40594 eng application/pdf Department of Social Development Faculty of Humanities
spellingShingle Davhana, Tendani Doreen
An analysis of the Department of Social Welfare & Pensions' capacity to respond to needs & social problems of the people in Venda
thesis_degree_str Master's
title An analysis of the Department of Social Welfare & Pensions' capacity to respond to needs & social problems of the people in Venda
title_full An analysis of the Department of Social Welfare & Pensions' capacity to respond to needs & social problems of the people in Venda
title_fullStr An analysis of the Department of Social Welfare & Pensions' capacity to respond to needs & social problems of the people in Venda
title_full_unstemmed An analysis of the Department of Social Welfare & Pensions' capacity to respond to needs & social problems of the people in Venda
title_short An analysis of the Department of Social Welfare & Pensions' capacity to respond to needs & social problems of the people in Venda
title_sort analysis of the department of social welfare pensions capacity to respond to needs social problems of the people in venda
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/40594
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