Isaac Kabelenga

The overall objective of this paper is to explore the link between  Social Protection and development of rural areas with focus on rural areas of Zambia, and  possibility of going beyond Zambia and situate the role that Members of Parliament (MPs)  can play in Social Protection. However,  focus will be on Social protection of the  vulnerable people outside formal employment in rural areas.

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” is a popular motto in all human rights organizations and documents (United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNUDHR), 1948 Article.1). However, this is just a buzz motto to most of the minority people in many societies especially in developing countries. Notable of these minority groups are the older people, children and the disabled (Nhongo, 2006). This is due to the failure by these minority people to be free and equal in dignity and rights in their own societies/countries as they are always discriminated against. In this paper, I present the discrimination against older people in Zambia and the current fight for the human rights of the older people which is going on as well as  why these human rights  are important to social work.

In this paper I present the state of formal social protection in Zambia with bias towards non- contributory social protection.  in the beginning of the paper, I will talk very briefly about contributory social protection. Then I will focus throughout the whole paper on non-contributory social protection. To provide comprehensive and detailed information about this type of social protection, I will bring out different government non-contributory social protection programmes by showing the social risks they address, the extent of their coverage, their performance and challenges faced. After this, I will provide the lessons of experience to be learnt from the state of social protection in Zambia. This will form the summary and conclusion of the paper.

“There is need to recognize diversity of rural women when thinking about engendering social protection. For example, we have widows; landless; older women, disabled, blind, landless; single mothers; women with no property [...]. Different Social Protection measures should be introduced if the needs of all these categories of rural women are to be helped come out of poverty. The eligibility criteria should also be very clear. Certain criteria can exclude the extreme poor and help the moderate poor – e.g attaching benefits to issues like delivering at health centres; under five clinic cards; regular attendance. Kaputa scheme findings in rural Zambia revealed exclusion of the poorest: because of their level of incapacitation, they cannot deliver from health centres. The ques¬tion to ask for example is: what type of mothers usually deliver from health centres – is it the poor¬est or moderately poor? It is usually the moderate poor” (Kabelenga 2012).

This paper explores the problems that the parents in LICAs in Zambia have continued to face in sending their children to public schools despite the government of Zambia introducing FPE in all public primary schools. It also solicites the solutions to the explored problems from the perspectives of the parents in LICAs. This has been done by focusing on N’gombe compound, one of the LICAs in Zambia. The paper argues that despite having FPE in Zambia, the poor have continued to be disadvantaged  in benefiting from the policy in many areas. This is because of the barriers  still existing both at school level and in the whole Zambian Society. Thus for the policy to work well especially to the advantage of the poor, it requires concerted effort from different actors to remove the barriers that are still existing in the Zambian Society. Finally, policy implications on how to remove the barriers and implications for future research are also identified.

In this paper I discuss the statement that ‘the changing ideas about rural development since 1945 contains many important lessons for today’s policy makers.’ For the sake of a thorough discussion I will present it in the following order: First I will define the key concepts which are rural development and policy makers. Second I will go into showing the different ideas that have emerged on how to develop rural areas from 1945 to 2000s. Third lessons which are important for today’s policy makers will be drawn. This part will be divided into two namely those ideas which policy makers should continue with and a word of caution, that is, issues which policy makers should always take into account when coming up with rural development policies and programmes. Finally a conclusion will be drawn.

“There is need to recognize diversity of rural women when thinking about engendering social protection. For example, we have widows; landless; older women, disabled, blind, landless; single mothers; women with no property [...]. Different Social Protection measures should be introduced if the needs of all these categories of rural women are to be helped come out of poverty. The eligibility criteria should also be very clear. Certain criteria can exclude the extreme poor and help the moderate poor – e.g attaching benefits to issues like delivering at health centres; under five clinic cards; regular attendance. Kaputa scheme findings in rural Zambia revealed exclusion of the poorest: because of their level of incapacitation, they cannot deliver from health centres. The ques¬tion to ask for example is: what type of mothers usually deliver from health centres – is it the poor¬est or moderately poor? It is usually the moderate poor” (Kabelenga 2012). READ DETAILS OF MY WORK ON PAGE.25 AND POWER POINT PRESENTATION

Economic growth is one of the major concerns of all the countries worldwide. However, it does not just happen on its own. Rather there are certain policy measures which should be put in place by the countries concerned if it is to be achieved. This is very true to China which has recorded astounding economic growth rates. For example, in 2005, economic growth was at 9.1 per cent (World Bank, 2005: 5). This did not just happen on its own but was due to the policy measures that the government put in place. This article, therefore, attempts to give an account of the policy measures behind economic growth in China and subsequently draws policy lessons on what Zambia should do if she is to achieve and/or enhance her economic growth.

The main aim of this study was to describe and understand elder abuse using the views of the community leaders involved in addressing elder abuse in rural and urban Zambia.  By using social constructionism as the philosophical underpinning of the study, and qualitative research with 31 informants, the results indicate that elder abuse in both rural and urban Zambia is a multifaceted social problem. This is because it does not only negatively affect the abused elder people but also  affects  the perpetrators of elder abuse, the local communities where abuse takes place and the whole Zambia. It is socially constructed in seven main forms namely spiritual abuse, political abuse, verbal abuse, physical abuse, material abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. Interestingly is that all these types of abuse are inseperable.This is because they usually take place simultaneously. Thus, from this study, it is clear that most of the abused elder people in the two communities of Zambia simultaneously suffer more than one type of abuse. The study has also constructed new knowledges on various aspects of elder abuse which include characteristics of abused elder people, characteristics of perpetrators of elder abuse, consequences of elder abuse and measures which are effective and ineffective in the fight against elder abuse. With regard to the characteristics of the abused elder people and perpetrators of abuse, the current study has shown that there is no single category of elder people or perpetrators that can be single out to be the victims or to be behind elder abuse. Rather, a mixture of elder people suffers abuse. In the same vein, there is a mixture of perpetrators of elder abuse. This is because what determine elder abuse are the types of relationships that exist between the particular elder person and other members of society. If the relationship is poor, any elder person regardless of the socio-economic status can be abused. Equally, if the relationship is poor, any person regardless of the socio-economic status can participate in elder abuse. In terms of the consequences, the study has established that elder abuse has intended and unintended consequences which transcend the abused elder person and the abuser. This is because the effects of elder abuse are also felt by the Zambian government and other actors involved in the social development of Zambia. Coming to the measures, the study has shown that both formal and informal measures can be used to address elder abuse. Depending on how they are used, both types can be effective and/or ineffective in the fight against elder abuse. Based on the present results, the study concludes that despite the differences in ways of living in rural and urban Zambia, elder abuse has manifested itself in similar ways. However, how the informants socially constructed various dynamics of elder abuse is different in a number ways from what is documented in many scientific literatures on elder abuse. Thus, the study concludes also that elder abuse can be understood well using the knowledge of the local people who understand their local environments better. On the basis of the findings, the context-specific model for elder abuse has been generated. The study argues also that since social workers are among the main frontline workers in addressing elder abuse, the findings established in this study have implications for social work education, practice and research in both global north and global south. This is because the findings made suggest new ways of thinking about elder abuse.

Keywords: Elder abuse; Rural and Urban Zambia; Social Constructionism; Qualitative Research; Social Work