Resilience and gender-based violence : an interdisciplinary reflection on shaping stories of resilience from an institutional perspective

During the national lockdown in 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa voiced concern about the ongoing problem of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa, calling it a pandemic alongside the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 intensified the occurrence of gender-based violence within South African communities which consequently highlighted the need for awareness regarding this phenomenon. South Africa is a predominantly Christian culture, yet the actions of community members seem to be defined by patriarchal cultures. There is therefore a need to rethink how we address social issues, especially GBV. This article aims at providing an interdisciplinary reflection on shaping stories of resilience relating to gender-based violence from the perspectives of both theology and social work at Hugenote Kollege.https://ojs.reformedjournals.co.za/stjnf2024New Testament StudiesSDG-05:Gender equalit

FACILITATING CHILDREN’S PARTICIPATION WITHIN MULTIDISCIPLINARY MEETINGS: GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR CHILD AND YOUTH CARE CENTRES

Legislation on both an international and national level advocates that all children have a right to participate in all matters affecting them.  This article reflects an interest in children’s participation in the broad field of child protection, and specifically within the context of South African child and youth care centres. Against this contextual background, the article aims to introduce guiding principles that may stimulate ongoing conversation on the facilitation of children’s participation in a specific space of decision-making within child and youth care centres, namely multidisciplinary meetings. Guiding principles were derived from a comprehensive qualitative study in which individual semi-structured interviews and focus group groups were conducted to collect data from residential social workers, child and youth care workers, and children from child and youth care centres in the greater metropolitan area of Cape Town in South Afric

Exploring participation as a children's right in a child and youth care centre

MSW (Child Protection), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014In the last two decades, increasingly more research has been conducted on the process of participation as a children’s right both nationally and internationally. This includes research on children’s participation within the family environment as well as with children who are placed into alternative care. Children’s participation within the field of child protection continues to demonstrate challenges for both children and those adults working with children in this environment. A child and youth care centre forms part of the broader field of child protection and represents a bounded system of dynamics especially with regard to the process of children’s participation. There continues to be various barriers with regard to children’s participation in general but especially for children who have been found in need of care and protection. This is largely linked to the emphasis being put on the vulnerabilities and needs of children who have been placed into alternative care. The general aim of the study was to qualitatively, through a case study design, explore and describe the nature of participation as a children’s right in the context of a child and youth care centre in the Western Cape. The case study was utilised in order to gain more insight into the nature of participation as a children’s right, based on the perceptions of the children, child care workers, social workers and professionals within the system. Thirteen semi structured individual interviews were held with the child participations. Prior to the interviews, a session was held with the children to discuss the purpose of the research and to allow them to become more aware of the concept of children’s participation. The children were asked to create a collage of their perception of children’s participation as a right. Two separate focus groups were held for the adult participants; one for the child care workers and the other for the social workers and professionals. Based on the findings of this qualitative study about the nature of children’s participation as perceived by both children and adults in a child and youth care centre, the article in Section B aims at highlighting those critical elements needed for the realisation of children’s participation within a context of child protection.Master