The Impact of Social Grants on Rural Women: Perspectives from ABET Practitioners

Abstract

The most recent census information available, as well as other reports and studies reveal that out of a population of about 52 million South Africans, approximately 30 percent live on social grants. This translates to at least 15.6 million social grant recipients countrywide. This study examines how social grants have contributed to the well-being and especially livelihoods of rural people. It also examines how the grants have enabled and empowered recipients, encouraged self-reliance and created opportunities for socioeconomic growth and development towards poverty alleviation for rural recipients. Proponents of Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) tend to link issues of education and development to literacy. This study examines how social grants contribute to improvements in families’ livelihoods and the well-being of individuals who receive them. In addition, it seeks to establish whether there is a link between the provision of social grants, as a social policy model, and literacy, development and education. While the social grant is meant to bridge economic disparities by assisting the poor, this study is located at an intersection of two schools of thought about this policy – those in support of and those against it. Jeffrey Sachs’ Millennium Villages Project underpins the theoretical framework of this study as it gives hope for those critics who believe that Africa will forever be dependent on foreign aid and hand-outs. Qualitative and document analysis methods were used to collate and analyse journals and diaries kept by grant recipients in fifteen (15) rural households in the Free State over a period of two years. The main findings of the study reveal that social grants, as an economic intervention, are contributing substantively towards poverty reduction. However, the recipients feel that the social grant is a gift from government and believe that it will be forfeited, if they become self-reliant. The study concludes that more income-generating activities should be encouraged through the provision of loans or seed-funds as CARE-South Africa had done in their community development interventions to grant recipients. Social grants are only a means of survival, but community education can bring about for development – along with other adult education programmes – and is a key element in addressing sustainable development.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n13p541