Transformative Social Policy Research Articles

Decades of Land and Agrarian Reform in Zimbabwe: a Review of Transformative Social Policy Lessons for Other African Countries

Abstract Land is an enabler and guarantor of people’s socioeconomic wellbeing. As Africa grapples with enduring multiple human development challenges, though not the sole pathway nor a panacea, reforming land tenure, agrarian structures, and agrarian relations has immense capacity to address the structural causes of poverty, inequality and marginalisation. Yet, the corpus of scholarly literature that consciously centres the transformative social policy lessons of land and agrarian reform is paltry. The article uses Zimbabwe and Transformative Social Policy as the evaluative case study and lens respectively, to navigate the lessons of transformative social policy that are pertinent to other African countries. If appropriately designed and supported, land and agrarian reforms are core social policy instruments with multiple transformative functions – redistributive, productive, protective, reproductive and social compact. Nevertheless, these reforms are not the sole approach for transforming and guaranteeing people’s socioeconomic wellbeing in Africa.

The right to be rural: Farm community development and social services in Zimbabwe’s resettlement areas

ABSTRACT At a time when practitioners and scholars are crystallized around reconnoitering the outcomes of Zimbabwe’s fast track land reform, focus on farm community development and social services in the resettlements is paltry. These communities were envisaged to be enablers and guarantors of rural and national development. Applying a Transformative Social Policy approach and qualitative methodology, the article draws on nuanced insights from the resettlement areas with the principal aim of advancing pathways for improving farm community development. The study shows that fast track communities are characterized by multiple and enduring lacunae in social services particularly schools, clinics, potable water, shopping centers, accessible roads, and reliable transport. However, the farmers are responding in agentive and innovative ways to reduce the challenges. This study enriches community development theory, and informs policy-makers on pertinent aspects that should inform policy and practice in relation to social services and development in resettlement areas.

Accessibility, security, and associated policy issues for people with disabilities in Zimbabwe’s urban areas

ABSTRACT Accessibility and security issues pertaining to people with disabilities in Zimbabwe’s urban areas have so far received limited priority in scholarship and social policy. This is a major deviation from the prerequisites for disability inclusion, rights-based governance and development, and transformative social policy. Using qualitative research methodology, the paper addresses this compelling lacuna by exploring selected germane issues affecting people with disabilities, and advances policy options that Zimbabwe and other countries can implement to transform the well-being of this often excluded and trivialized group. The article acknowledges current effort for improving accessibility and security in and of urban areas but more importantly shows that people with disabilities are experiencing multiple problems due to glaring deficiencies in urban policy, amenities, and services. Transformative disability policy buttressed by a multi-stakeholder approach is indispensable in improving the situation of people with disabilities in relation to accessibility and security in urban areas.

Out of school children in the context of new policy trajectories and interlocking crises in Zimbabwe: a transformative social policy perspective

In the past two decades, Zimbabwe has been confronted with a concerning increase in the number of out-of-school children and youth (OOSC). Emerging evidence suggests that nearly a million children fall into this category, representing approximately half of the country’s adolescent population. This phenomenon has significantly impacted on Zimbabwe’s educational landscape and socio-economic fabric. Despite its gravity, research on OOSC remains limited. To address this gap, our study triangulates data from various sources to explore OOSC prevalence, examining geographical disparities and underlying causes. In addition, we investigate the nexus between OOSC and the prevailing socio-economic crises in the country. Our analysis reveals that, despite Zimbabwe’s robust education policies and legislative framework, OOSC prevalence rates remain high. Implementation gaps persist, hindering effective solutions. The challenge of OOSC is seen being intertwined with the multifaceted crises and socio-economic dynamics affecting the nation. Geographical, wealth-based, social, religious, cultural, and economic disparities all contribute to the persistence of OOSC. To combat this challenge, we propose several recommendations rooted in the political economy-oriented concept of transformative social policy. These are crystallised around the need to develop a social contract prioritising the fulfilment of rights, social justice, human capacity, and agency. Emphasis is on the importance of a holistic approach, aligning economic policies with social goals to foster an environment conducive to education. By transforming social institutions and structures, we argue that the scourge of OOSC can be addressed and pave way for a more equitable and inclusive education system.

THE SETAs AND S-SYSTEM SKILLS DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA AND BRAZIL: A TRANSFORMATIVE SOCIAL POLICY PERSPECTIVE

Relevance. The African Union declared 2024 the Year of Education, Educating an African Fit for the 21st Century and the Agenda 2063 aspiration seeks to catalyse an education and skills revolution for Africa’s industrialisation. This places Technical and Vocational Education and Training at the centre in skills development on the continent. As part of their endogenous initiatives at improving skills, knowledge and abilities desired for work and enhance industrial competitiveness South Africa and Brazil instituted the SETAs system and the S-System, respectively aimed at skills formation and human capital development. Aim. The two BRICS countries of South Africa and Brazil, through Acts of Parliament, institutionalised skills development programs which had seen them emerge as leading economies on their respective continents. What key lessons can be drawn for other African countries in their quest for industrialisation in the AU Year of the Year of Education to foster the relevant and competitive skills needed for the 21st century. Methods. The case studies of the S-system of Brazil and the SETAs system of South Africa are presented using a case study approach. Examining the SETAs and S-systems using a Transformative Social Policy framework, the paper adopts a case study approach seeks to answer the following questions: (1) what kind of institutional linkages and coordination between industry/business and skills/education training institutions need to be in place for adequate and appropriate human capital formation in Africa? (2) what are the appropriate funding mechanisms for human capital development suitable for African countries to adopt? (3) What coordination and facilitating role should be adopted by states in African countries to facilitate industry/training institutional linkages? Results and conclusions. Key finding indicates that while the SETAs in South Africa are widely recognised by employers and give holders a big advantage in securing employment, TVET-market coordination, regional coordination for area-specific industrialisation and appropriate skills funding mechanism are key for competitive skills development and provide practical and policy lessons for African governments.

Public health: Policy priorities and regulatory strategy

The subject of this article is the Institute of Public Health. The authors have identified trends affecting the change of approaches to public health and its regulatory mechanisms, and presented a theoretical and legal justification for the definition of public health. Using the example of Russia, the authors determined the scope of constitutional and legal regulation of public health, and formulated conclusions about the fragmentation and complexity of law-making in this area. It is proved that the implementation of social policy in the field of public health is carried out at three public legal levels: international, state and local self-government, however, their subjects of competence and powers are not balanced and systematically distributed. It is concluded that the transformation of social policy should be carried out taking into account the legal experience of the states interacting within the framework of the CIS and the EAEU.

A transformative social policy approach to implementing IWRM in Zimbabwe and South Africa

A transformative social policy approach to implementing IWRM in Zimbabwe and South Africa

Revisiting Enduring Labour Questions and Social Reproduction Dynamics in Rural Zimbabwe’s Post Land Reform Context: Implications on Citizen Welfare and Wellbeing

Enduring agrarian labour questions and social reproduction dynamics in former settler colonies like Zimbabwe have always been a subject of much scholarly interest. Two decades after Zimbabwe’s controversial fast track land reform programme (FTLRP), the agrarian labour questions and social reproduction dynamics are receiving renewed attention. This is partly attributable to an uneasy political transition, neo-liberal economic trajectories, and the perceived reversals of the policies of the Robert Mugabe administration. With these changes occurring, questions are arising on how this is implicating on agrarian labour and social reproduction in the resettlement areas created by the FTLRP. In a context of trying to understand the outcomes of land and agrarian reform framed within the transformative social policy conceptual framework, this article explores emergent agrarian labour and social reproduction dynamics in the two rural districts of Goromonzi and Zvimba in rural Zimbabwe. Using an interpretive research paradigm and a mixed methods research approach, the study elicited responses from 200 small to medium scale farmers who are beneficiaries of the FTLRP. Arguing from the position that land and agrarian reforms are an overlooked vector of social policy, the article investigated the extent to which the FTLRP has facilitated the creation of employment opportunities, enhanced the productive and reproductive capacities of land reform beneficiaries, enabled wealth distribution and improved rural livelihoods. The article shows that despite the emergent capitalist trajectories and the continued super exploitation of labour reminiscent of the settler colonial era, empirical field-based evidence suggests that redistributive land reform has contributed to socio-economic transformation and enhanced citizens welfare and wellbeing. This is shown as having been evident in the realm of agrarian labour and social reproduction.

Implications of land restitution as a Transformative Social Policy for Water-Energy-Food (WEF) insecurity in Magareng Local Municipality, South Africa

The objective of the study was to assess the impact of land restitution policy on water, energy, and food insecurity in South Africa. The study utilised a cross-sectional survey of 1 184 households from Matatiele, Greater Taung and Magareng Local Municipalities. The Household Water Insecurity Experience, Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index and Household Food In-access Scale were used to analyse water, energy, and food insecurity, respectively, while Propensity Score Matching was used to assess the impact of benefiting from land restitution on insecurities in these resources. The results of the study indicate that beneficiaries of land restitution were relatively more water secure but were however somehow food secure and energy insecure. Furthermore, educational levels, tenure, employment status, household size, gender and main source of income were significant determinants of becoming a beneficiary of land restitution as well as the water, energy, and food insecurities. In addition, benefiting from land restitution increased water and energy insecurities by 15.0% and 24.2%, respectively, while reducing food insecurity by 10.1%. The study concludes that land restitution has improved the food security status of the beneficiaries while it has reduced their water and energy securities. The study recommends augmenting the indigent policy supplementing poor households with free water and energy to improve securities, especially for land restitution beneficiaries. Promotion of renewable energy such as solar, which can provide a nexus in energy for water supply can aid in improving localised water and energy securities for land restitution beneficiaries.

Comparative Analysis of Social Policy Studies

While social policy refers to measures taken by society to improve and provide services to meet health and welfare needs, social policy studies are concerned with aspects of public policy, market transactions, personal consumption and interpersonal relationships that contribute to the well-being or wealth of individuals and/or groups. There has been an increase in the number of studies in the field of social policy. The main purpose of this study is to show how the research papers published in this field have undergone an evolutionary change in terms of emphasis. With 4,697 articles from seven different journals over 50 years, the most influential authors in the field, the impact of journals, the most collaborating countries, the evolutionary process of social policy studies in three different periods and the differences in transformations in this process are revealed. The number of studies making a general evaluation in the field of social policy is limited. The originality of the study shows how the studies in the journals, which are seen as a period of approximately 50 years, have transformed in this process. This study is expected to be a road map for researchers on what areas they will focus on according to the social policy transformation.

Changing welfare solidarity: social policy and solidarity ventures during COVID-19 outbreak in Indonesia

ABSTRACT This study aims to draw the solidarity patterns of welfare providers, i.e. state and non-state responders to COVID-19, and how their acts of solidarity reacted to the crisis and its impacts. These data are based upon secondary literature and semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders associated with each particular case. We suggest that interactional patterns of solidarity between institutionalized type and informal solidarity have changed twice during the crisis. First, a shortage of public resources in the early phases of the crisis encouraged informal solidarity to play a significant role, even conditioned, in providing social services to citizens. The relentless spread of COVID-19 has also resulted in the interactional patterns of both solidarities shifting in a more contingent manner, resulting in a collaborative partnership between state and non-state actors. The evolving phenomenon of changing welfare solidarity practices has been largely disregarded in the midst of a rapidly expanding literature that scrutinizes the transformation of social policy in the Global South during the crisis, while also highlighting the emergence of fragmented solidarity within the country.

‘We should not have to choose between hunger and death’: exploring the experiences of primary caregivers of recipients of a South African child cash transfer programme during COVID-19 lockdown in Cape Town, South Africa

Background:The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa and across the globe posed special challenges and implications for low-income families with children. In this study we explored the experiences of primary caregivers of children receiving a South African social assistance programme, the Child Support Grant (CSG), during lockdown in Cape Town, South Africa, and sought to understand whether and to what extent the underlying logic of cash transfers such as the CSG speaks to the pitfalls of the social protection paradigm and the potential for moving closer to a transformative social policy approach. Methods:We conducted 26 telephonic qualitative interviews with primary caregivers of recipients of South Africa’s CSG that were part of a longitudinal cohort study assessing the impact of the CSG on child nutritional status and food security. Results:Even though primary caregivers of the CSG and their children and households were already living in precarity before the pandemic, COVID-19, and particularly the hard lockdown, worsened their social, economic and living conditions, especially as regards hunger and food insecurity. Conclusion:Low-income women bore the brunt of the pandemic in their roles as mothers, providers and homemakers. The pandemic has highlighted the inadequacies of the social protection paradigm that underlies the design of cash transfers such as the CSG, which has a narrowed focus on chronic poverty and vulnerability. It has also highlighted opportunities to shift to a transformative social policy framework that incorporates production, redistribution, social cohesion, adequacy and protection.

Review of social policy in the African context

Rescuing social policy in Africa is what this book sets out to do. The book is positioned against two trends seen to have subjugated social development on the continent: The neoliberal agenda that swept across Africa from the 1970s onwards with social policy only playing a residual role. And the current trend of focusing on social cash transfers despite this merely being one aspect of social policy. To emancipate social policy, Prof. Adesina and his colleagues suggest studying social development in Africa through the lens of ‘transformative social policy’ (TSP). The concept of TSP was developed by the late, eminent scholar Prof. Mkandawire. In the first three chapters, his previous colleagues at Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa and United Nations Research Institute for Social Development discuss the concept of TSP and its potential. Adesina highlights how TSP aims at the advancement of human well-being through the integration of social and economic policies and by focusing on social policies’ multiple tasks; the ‘objectives of social policy measures are transformative of the economy, social relations, social institutions and deepening democracy’ (p. 3). Aina discusses how TSP can be related to promoting inclusive development and suggests looking at the founders of modern African nations who regarded social policy as essential in their aspirations for development. Hujo too provides ideas on how to rethink social policy in the African context. All three authors tend to position TSP against neoliberalism and the dominant cash transfer paradigm, rather than pinning down the exact nature of TSP. Mostly, TSP is about what it should achieve: a better world and human flourishing; social policy is transformative when tackling structural inequalities and inequities. Nevertheless, the broad conceptualization of social policy allows for an open and potentially more holistic and integrated view of social policies’ potential for development. This is well illustrated by the remaining chapters in the volume.

Neoliberal Penal Policy and Prison Privatization

The paper analyzes the relationship between neoliberal penalty transformation and prison privatization as part of neoliberal market reform. The neoliberal political and economic project characterized by deregulation, individualization, privatization, and commodification has introduced competition, entrepreneurship, and economic efficiency in areas that previously belonged exclusively to the public sector. The alleged need for greater efficiency has led to an increase in private prisons, and the results of this transformation have shown that it is more about achieving economic efficiency at the expense of quality, competencies, and outcomes of services provided in this sector. In this paper, the starting assumption is that the increase in the number of private prisons does not imply the withdrawal of the state concerning the market. In contrast, it raises the question of the regulatory role of the neoliberal state that enables the market of new fields for profit. As a consequence of the tightening of penal policy, mass incarceration is a mechanism for resolving social conflicts caused by the transformation of social policy. Therefore, private prisons are aimed at making a profit by reflecting the spread of neoliberal rationality throughout society. Withdrawal of assistance and support from the social sector and transfer of exclusive responsibility from the social to the individual responsibility of prisoners as rational neoliberal subjects lead to a reduction of rehabilitation goals. In the context of prison privatization, this transformation leads to turning prisoners into a means of earning or cheap labor.

Neoliberalism, social policy, and the state: searching for the transformative potential of Zambia’s Social Cash Transfer

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the effects of the Zambian Social Cash Transfer (SCT) on the state. It aims to contribute to our deepening understanding of neoliberal social policy in Africa by teasing out how donor-driven, evidence-based policymaking and neoliberalism reinforce each other, but also by highlighting how even a poverty-focused and targeted scheme like the SCT can rehabilitate the state along two key dimensions: by forging new epistemic connections with citizens and by opening up space for intra-state learning. While inevitably fraught with ambiguities under mature neoliberalism, both are important for developing a more encompassing vision and strategy for transformative social policy.

Features of social policy in the aspect of socio-economic security of the state

The aim of the work is to study the features of social policy in the aspect of the socio-economic security of the state. The author considered the main approaches to the definition of social policy, depending on the scale of its analysis. At the same time, social policy is considered both at the state level and at the level of enterprises due to the relationship between objects and the importance of each of them. The author singled out the goals and objectives of social policy in general terms to highlight specific elements that reflect the direction of this policy. In the course of the study, it was found that for the economic and production potential, a properly developed social policy in the activities of the enterprise is necessary, since it is it that is an important element in this process. The paper studied the existing aspects of the implementation of social policy in Russia. The author considered the transformation of social policy depending on the impact of external conditions and current problems, as well as an analysis of the levels of regulation of social policy, taking into account their relationship. In the work, an analysis of the consolidated budget of Russia was carried out, during which it was revealed that social policy occupies a major place in the structure of expenditures. At the same time, the emergence of problems in social policy directly affects both the efficiency of state activity, and, consequently, social and economic security, and the activities of enterprises, especially if the latter do not pursue such an internal policy. Thus, in conclusion, the author found that in order to identify possible threats to economic security and develop measures to prevent them, it is necessary to carry out regular activities in the social sphere of the state, develop programs and regulations that will regulate this process.

Land, Water, and Gender Questions in South Africa: A Transformative Social Policy Perspective

The heated debate around Section 25 of the South African Constitution and the principle of “expropriation of land without compensation” is conspicuously missing the inextricable link between land, water, and gender questions. Within former settler colonies, the “land question” is a “water question” and, by extension, also a “gender question.” The racially inequitable land distribution, codified in the Native Land Act of 1913, mirrored the unequal distribution of rights and access to water as codified in the Water Act of 1956. This was compounded by the gender question, in which lack of access to land for women mutated into lack of access to other productive resources. While secondary data analysis reveals that blacks control only 5.8% of agricultural water uses, Black women control less than 1%. Such intersectionality of race, class, and gender ought to remain a relentless focus of transformative social policy in South Africa.

Социальная политика и экосистемы государственного управления

The article examines the transformation of social policy in countries that prioritize the use of digital technologies in public administration. State integrated platforms – ecosystems –that emerge in these countries serve as a basis for social interaction, using data on organizations and citizens of one or more countries interactively, which leads to changes in social policy. The main changes of this kind include convergence of state and corporate structures for managing social processes and individualization of the state’s interaction with people. The article identifies the social imbalances that have limited the creation of a global ecosystem of social management and become the driver for the emergence of several types of such ecosystems. The analysis demonstrates that implementation of business models of digital transformation of public administration in some countries retains the historical continuity of the principles that underpinned their social policy earlier. The author concludes that the partnership role of the corporate sector in setting goals for social development leads to formation of cross-border horizontally oriented ecosystems in countries with social-democratic and liberal traditions. In countries with etatist and paternalistic value orientations the striving to achieve digital sovereignty leads to the introduction of an hierarchical principle of ecosystem formation. Meanwhile, countries with similar historical continuity and value orientations develop various digital forms of realization of public goods – monetary or in the form of socially valued services. As a result, the study proposes a typology of public administration ecosystems built on two bases. The first is the institutional basis of digital transformation, which implies the consolidation of the leading role of the state or public-private partnership, and the second is the one concentrating on social policy supported by digital technologies.

Comparative Perspectives on Zimbabwe and South Africa’s Social Policy Response to covid-19

Abstract Zimbabwe and South Africa have been burdened by the challenges of poverty and inequality, a consequence of their historical legacy and post-colonial developmental challenges. To counter these, the development and adoption of progressive social policies has been witnessed. In 2020, the social policy architecture of both countries was put to the test by the covid-19 pandemic. What has been the social policy response to covid-19 by the two countries and how effective has it been? This is the major question which this article addresses, utilising the transformative social policy framework as a conceptual and heuristic tool to undertake a comparative analysis of social policy responses to covid-19. It shows that responses crystallised around cash transfers, food mitigation and health interventions. Although timely, these interventions proved inadequate in addressing the welfare needs of citizens. The article highlights the limitations of the current social policy paradigm in mitigating covid-19-induced shocks and reducing vulnerability.

The Food Security, Employment and Migration Nexus in Zimbabwe Post-land Reform: A Gender Perspective

Serious inequalities in asset distribution in many developing countries consistently remain a key driver of household food insecurity, high unemployment, poverty and, ultimately, rural outmigration. Yet, the employment-retaining capacity of agriculture and its counter to rural-urban, including international, migration has been proven in many contexts. The 2000 land reform programme in Zimbabwe saw between 12 and18 per cent of women gaining access to land in their own right. Using a transformative social policy approach, the article explores the extent to which land reform as a social policy instrument enhanced household food security and rural incomes and opened new employment opportunities for beneficiaries relative to non-land reform beneficiary households. Highlighting the migration-social-policy nexus, I argue for land reform as a restraint to not only rural-urban but also international migration. Data gathered through a mixed methods ethnographic approach, combining in-depth interviews and surveys, and analysed using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, indicates that access to agricultural land and water can not only reduce but reverse rural to urban, including economically driven, international, migration. This suggests that continuous agrarianisation, in the Zimbabwean context, remains one plausible pathway to tackle the triple challenges of household food insecurity, unemployment and rural outmigration.