SOCIAL SERVICE PROVISION BY ZVIMBA RURAL DISTRICT COUNCIL. OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES.
Nyasha Musiiwa
(B1335709)
Supervisor: Ms Chigondo
BINDURA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND EDUCATION
Department Of Social Work
Dissertation Submitted to the Department Of Social Work Faculty Of Social Sciences And Humanities At Bindura University Of Science Education In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirements Of The Bachelor Of Science Honours Degree In Social Work
Due Date
May 2017
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APPROVAL FORM
The undersigned certify that they have supervised, read and recommend to the Bindura University of Science Education for acceptance a research project entitled: Social Services Provision by Zvimba Rural District Council; Opportunities and Challenges.
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RELEASE FORM
Name of Author: Nyasha Musiiwa
Reg Number: B1335709
Project Title: Social Services Provision by Zvimba Rural District Council; Opportunities And Challenges.
Program: Bsc Honours Degree in Social Work
Year Granted: 2017
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Permission is hereby granted to Bindura University of Science Education Library to produce single copies of this research project and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. The author does not withhold other publications rights and the research project nor may extensive extracts from it be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author’s written permission.
Student Signature………………… Date…………………………
Permanent address: 30 Burnside Road Darwendale.
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DEDICATION I would like to make a special dedication to my mother Ms L.Jairos without whose support and understanding l would not have been able to complete this study.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor Ms E.Chigondo for her support and guidance draft up to the final research. Her encouragement is greatly appreciated. I would also want to thank the Chief Executive Officer for granting me the opportunity to use the Local Authority as a case study for my research. Lastly l would like to thank the residents of Zvimba for their cooperation in my data collection.
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ABSTRACT The social service sector in Zimbabwe comprises of health, water, sanitation, education and housing. Economic development and growth of a country is measured by the standards of living of which social services are a key indicator. In Zimbabwe Rural District Councils are directly responsible for the management of infrastructure and service at large in their areas of jurisdiction using their locally generated income and available resources and allocations form the government. The study sought to analyse opportunities and challenges being faced by Zimbabwe’s Rural District Councils in the provision of social services to communities under their jurisdictions using Zvimba Rural District Council as a case study. The research was stimulated by the desire to see Local Authorities give residents quality service for their welfare. The major objectives of the study were to identify the mandate of local authorities in the context of social services that should be provided by Rural District Councils in line with the standard service delivery. The study also sought to identify the challenges constraining service delivery and possible solutions to mitigate such challenges. A narrative-descriptive research approach was used. The population was divided into two main categories which are council employees and the general public. A sample of 35 residents was selected using stratified random sampling from the district wards. In carrying out the study both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection were used through questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions to collect primary data. Findings showed that the major challenge facing local authorities are financial constrains lack of public participation and corruption. On the other hand the local authority under study proved to have opportunities that can be worked on to ensure an improved service delivery some of which are the engagement of the public, engagement of the Civil Society organisations.Finally the study manged to give recommendations to that the local authority should embrace public participation and establish legal frameworks that will guide that will improve transparency and guard against corruption.
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List Of Abbreviations and Acronyms
ZRDC -Zvimba Rural District Council
WASH – Water Sanitation and Hygiene
RWIMS- Rural Wash Information Management System
NANGO- National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations
LA - Local Authority
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Table of contents
Contents APPROVAL FORM ...... i RELEASE FORM ...... ii DEDICATION ...... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...... iv ABSTRACT ...... v List Of Abbreviations and Acronyms ...... vi Contents ...... vii CHAPTER 1 ...... 1 INTRODUCTION ...... 1 1.1 Introduction ...... 1 1.2 Background of the Study ...... 1 1.3 Research Objectives ...... 2 1.4 Statement of the Problem ...... 3 1.5 Purpose of the study ...... 3 1.6 Significance of the study ...... 3 1.8 Definition of Key Words ...... 4 1.9 Conclusion...... 4 CHAPTER 2 ...... 6 LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 6 2.1 Introduction ...... 6 2.2 Theoretical framework ...... 6 2.3 Social service delivery ...... 7 2.3.1 Decentralisation and service delivery ...... 8 2.3.2 The Role of Local Authorities ...... 9 2.4 Factors Impeding Effective Social Service Delivery...... 11 2.5 Opportunities ...... 16 2.6 Research Gap ...... 17 2.7 Conclusion ...... 17 CHAPTER 3 ...... 19
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METHODOLOGY ...... 19 3.1 Introduction ...... 19 3.2 Research design ...... 19 3.3 Target population ...... 19 3.4 Sample size ...... 20 3.5 Sampling technique ...... 20 3.6 Data collection ...... 21 3.7 Research tools ...... 21 3.9 Ethical Considerations ...... 22 3.9 Delimitations of the Study ...... 23 3.11 Limitations ...... 23 3.12 Data presentation ...... 23 3.13 Conclusion ...... 24 DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ...... 25 4.1 Introduction ...... 25 4.2 Questionnaire Response Rate ...... 25 4.3 Section A: Demographic Data ...... 27 4.4 Section B: Provision of Social Services ...... 30 4.5 Section C: Strengths ...... 34 4.8 Conclusion ...... 45 CHAPTER 5 ...... 46 SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS ...... 46 5.1 Introduction ...... 46 5.2 Summary ...... 46 5.3Conclusions ...... 47 5.4 Recommendations ...... 49 5.5 Conclusion ...... 49 REFERENCES ...... 51 Interview guide for Zvimba RDC staff members...... 55 Questionnaire For Zvimba Staff Members...... 57 Focus Group Discussion Guide For Zvimba Residents ...... 60 Questionnaire : For Zvimba Residents ...... 62 Approval letters ...... 66
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List of tables
Contents page
Table 4.1: Questionnaire Response rate…………………………………………………....25
Figure 4.1: Gender Distribution……………………………………………………………26
Figure 4.2: Age Distribution………………………………………………………………..28
Figure 4.3: Marital Status…………………………………………………………………..29
Figure 4.4: Education status …………………………………………………..…………....29
Table 4.2: Social services provided by the local authority…………………………………30
Figure 4.5: Response rate on the social service delivery…………………………………...31
Picture 4.1: Zvimba council projects in Zvimba South(Murombedzi Growth point)……..33
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction The provision of social services is the key mandate of local authorities and is essential for community development. However the provision of social service by local authorities in Zimbabwe has fallen below the standard and this may be attributed to many factors which will be explored in the research. This chapter will be looking at the background information to the study problem, objectives and significance of the study. The provision of social services by Zvimba Rural District council, the challenges being faced and the opportunities will be looked at under this research.
1.2 Background of the Study The establishment of the Local Governance system can be drawn back to the ancient times when the regime established the Salisbury Sanitary Board in 1981 that’s according to Wekwete (1988). The Local Governance was based on racial division of land and this created urban settlements where the whites lived and rural settlements where the blacks resided. Three types of local authorities emerged and these were urban Local Authorities, Local Authorities in large scale commercial farms and Rural Local Authorities. Black people lived in Tribal Trust Lands where the Rural Local Authorities governed while the whites lived in large scale farms and urban areas. This led to the development of urban centres where as the tribal trust lands remained underdeveloped; there were no schools, roads and hospitals nor sound resources.
After independence the government made changes in the local government that targeted at removing the racial boundaries. Despite these changes disparities between the urban and rural councils in the level of income and development continued. The government therefore promulgated the Rural District Councils Act by bringing together the District Councils which comprised of white commercial farmers and the Rural Councils which were black tribal trust lands to form the Rural District Councils (Makumbe 1988). Rural District Council were therefore given the mandate to promote development through the delivery of social and infrastructural services within the areas of their influence.
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Zvimba Rural District Council (ZRDC) was initially established on July 1, 1993, along with all the other District Councils under the Rural District Councils Act, 1988. The Council was formed by combining four (4) former Rural Councils name Aryshire, Trelawney, Zowa and Harare South councils and one (1) District Council which was Chirorodziva. The former Councils were Chirorodziva District Council, Ayrshire Rural Council, Banket-Trelawney Rural Council, Harare West Rural Council, Zowa Rural Council. This combination of the former Councils represented a considerable mixture of areas from Communal lands, Commercial Farming Areas, both large scale and small scale, to mining areas and the peri-urban areas of Harare.
On the roles and responsibilities, the former Rural Councils enjoyed a degree of autonomy not experienced by the District Councils and were generally well provided in staff and resources. The major roles of the District council are to concentrate on building and maintaining a rural road network to meet the needs of the commercial farmers and also provide a range of social services, including schools and clinics using their locally generated income and available resources and allocations from the government.
Zvimba Rural District Council has 5 major departments namely the Administration and Human Resources Department, Planning Department, The Engineering and Works Department, Finance Department and Audit Department. Under the Admin and Human Resources department is the Social Services section which focuses on the welfare of the inhabitants of Zvimba District through the provision of social amenities. Social services embrace health services, education, water, sanitation. Economic development and growth of a country is measured by the standards of living of which social services are a key indicator (Wekwete, 1988 )
1.3 Research Objectives To ascertain the social services that should be provided by Zvimba Rural District Council to its residents To identify the resident’s views on the quality of services being delivered by Zvimba Rural District Council. To investigate the challenges facing Zvimba Rural District Council in service delivery.
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To come up with measures that can be taken to mitigate the challenges facing Zvimba RDC.
1.4 Statement of the Problem Continuous provision of substandard and inefficient social services by Zvimba Rural District Council has been a major threat to the wellbeing of the inhabitants in the District. This has led to lack of essential drugs in rural hospitals and high rates of infant mortality rates. Approximately there are 24 of the 126 schools with unrepaired infrastructures (Zvimba RDC annual report 2016) and an increase in the number of people living below the poverty datum line also add up to the intensity of the challenges facing the residents of Zvimba. According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care Report (2010) there has been a number of outbreaks of diseases due to lack of toilet facilities in public areas and approximately 90 people were affected by an outbreak of cholera in Zvimba North in a small township named Raffingora and its surrounding areas. This has become a major threat to the livelihoods of the inhabitants of Zvimba District. This research will therefore look into the provision of service delivery, challenges and opportunities and ascertain how best the opportunities can be utilised so as to improve the service delivery by Council. This will ensure that the community of Zvimba stays healthy and free from extreme conditions of poverty and unsafe conditions.
1.5 Purpose of the study The primary aim of the study is to investigate the provision of social services by Zvimba District council ascertain the factors affecting the provision of social service and identify the dormant potentialities within Zvimba Rural District Council that can enhance effective service delivery.
1.6 Significance of the study
i)The researcher
The researcher will benefit from the research as he will have the opportunity to the practical knowledge of the operations of Local Authorities. Furthermore, the researcher is
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going to have a deeper understanding of the study and will sharpen the researcher’s skills for future researches. ii)The organization The study will help Zvimba Rural District Council to identify and utilise its potential to improve the provision of Social Service which will enhance the success of the organization. It will also assist the residents of Zvimba who are the stakeholders to realise their rights and responsibilities on social service delivery. iii)University The research will also be important to Bindura University of Science Education (B.U.S.E) as the study is going to increase the knowledge on existing information on Social Service delivery. Students in the tertiary institutes undertaking similar researches are also going to benefit from this paper.
1.8 Definition of key words Decentralisation -refers to the handing over of power by central government of some amount of authority or power to lower levels such as province and districts(Rondinelli 1983) Local Government –a decentralised institution with certain powers developed against it and delegated to it by the central government. Rural District Council- according to Bowman and Kearney (2002) it is a type of local government among the townships and councils Social Service delivery –provision of services which are regarded as state responsibility.
1.9 Conclusion The mandate of local authorities is to provide services to the people living within its areas of jurisdiction and be in a position to account for the manner in which the services are being delivered to the councils stakeholders. However councils have not been in a position to provide tits residents with the effective social services for the wellbeing of the people. For these reasons the researcher has been prompted to make an investigation into the factors affecting the provision of quality services by Zvimba rural district councils and to identify the opportunities of the council that can better the provision of services to
4 the people living within the areas of the council’s authority. It is hoped that the research will provide feasible and unbiased information concerning the factors affecting the council’s provision of services. The study will also provide recommendation to the local authority towards solving some of the challenges that are being faced to ensure that the provision of social services becomes efficient to the people
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction This chapter will mainly focus on related detailed writings which will enable the researcher to make a logical underlying principle for the research. The study will focus on the system theory in explaining the operation of local authorities in the provision of social service. Scholarly writings on local authorities, service delivery and research gaps are also reviewed in this study. This study will also focus on what can be done to improve on the social service delivery by local authorities.
2.2 Theoretical framework The research will be based on the systems theory propounded by Bowen (1950). He notes that a system can be viewed as a whole and its interrelated parts. The main assumption underlying the systems theory is that a well-integrated system is desirable and functional. According to the theory a human systems is an inherently open systems with boundaries and should be separated from the sub systems however it should interact with its sub-systems to ensure efficiency. A human system must exchange resources and information and therefore they can be in a position to act upon the information it receives from the sub systems to maintain its existence. Human systems can learn from subsystems through sharing of information and knowledge therefore interaction is essential for the efficiency of a human systems. According to (Juba, 1997) a human system should manage a degree of uncertainty from the other subsystems and be in a position to negotiate its environment for efficient functioning.
Application to the study
Zvimba Rural District Council is to be studied as a human system which is responsible for the delivery of services to people living within its areas of jurisdiction. The study will also look into the factors influencing the functioning of the system, which is the relationship between the council and other sub systems that are relevant to the existence of the Local Authority. Zvimba District Council has a number of stakeholders contributing to its operations, failure of the council to interact well with these
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stakeholders though sharing of ideas resource mobilization and regular interaction in the planning process has detrimental effects t local authorities survival are dependent upon the existence and interaction of it and its interrelated parts. This entails that failure of the council to interact with these interrelated parts may have adverse effects on its operations. Therefore this research is going to mainly focus on the relationship between Zvimba Rural District Council and its interrelated parts that is the ratepayers, and community members as they are the recipients of the social services which are delivered by council as it is mandated to do. The research will therefore search in detail the causal relationship between these variances and how it affects the provision of social services by thelocal authority either positively or negatively.
2.3 Social service delivery Basically social services can be regarded as the relationship between policy makers and service providers, and the people, it encompasses the services that are regarded as state responsibility. These include services such as education, health, water, and other services that generally promote personal security. Social services are vital in measuring the economic development of a given area. According to the study undertaken by Kumeyi (2012) the provision of quality social services remains a major challenge in the third world countries and this highlights the fact that the countries are have not reached a state of self-actualisation . He further notes that in the Sub-Saharan countries of Africa even when the services are being provided they are still substandard which mean that the government and their local authorities are failing to meet the needs of people efficiently as compared to other parts of the world.
The significance of the social services has been recognised by most governments in the African countries and in response to this it has been given much priority in the budget allocations and development plans. The inception of the Millennium Development Goals has even accelerated more the prioritization of the social services by most African Governments. However evidence shows that despite the efforts being made the provision of social services still lags behind. Romeo (1998) is of the notion that Rural District Councils have the mandate to provide public services. These local authorities however continue to deliver poor social services and this has been attributed to resource constrains
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in the African countries. Scholars assert that social services in the developing countries have been a major challenge and Zimbabwe is not an exception and therefore the lack of quality services form the local authorities for the local authorities has led to lack of confidence by the citizens particularly in the rural areas of Zimbabwe. This therefore is an indication that the relationship between the Local Authorities and their local communities is strained and this heavily affects the performance of local authorities. According to the systems theory the sharing of ideas between the human system and its sub systems in a crucial factor that results in its efficiency and the study undertaken by Mashuku (2012) fails to factor this concept thus this research will give an exploration of the significance of the relationship between the human system and it’s the sub systems.
2.3.1 Decentralisation and service delivery Mark Robinson (2007) in his research notes that local governments were established with the aim of decentralising powers and promoting efficiency in service delivery. He brings out the fact that the local authorities were established on the assumption that that they will be more responsive to the needs of the citizens and take their needs into account to determine the type of services to be provided to the people , the level of resources to be used and optimum means of ensuring effective service delivery. In addition to this the other assumption was that the resources will be available to support the provision of services at local level through government grants ad local taxation. These supportive are however unavailable therefore effort to improve the health, education and sanitation services are destined to fail. In his evidence he managed to show that there is no equity in the provision of services by local authorities. The research also shows that the decentralisation raises inequalities as a result of differential levels of administration capacity. On the other hand Robinson (2012) fails to acknowledge the role of community participation in the promotion of effective services for the community. He treats decentralisation as a major a concept that has brought inefficiency by merely looking at the roles that should be played by the central government. He fails to incorporate Midgley’s concept of community participation to community development and one of the measure of community development, social services are key in measuring development.
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Conyers (2007) undertook a study on decentralisation and social service delivery in Africa, his research brought out that despite some few cases of success resulting from the establishment of local authorities’ decentralisation has no positive results. He explains these negative results as stemming from the weak structures of accountability, lack of countervailing pressure from civil societies. He therefore postulates that it is for this reason that the African government have remained reluctant to dissolve power and finance to the local governments which constantly results in the lack of resources by the Local Authorities and thus poor service delivery. In this way the problems of poor service delivery in local authorities in Africa cannot be separated from poor governance. Just as Robinson, Conyers fails to look at a subsystem that interacts with other systems such as stakeholders such as ratepayers, community members and civil society organisations and their contribution to the effective functioning of local authorities.
2.3.2 The role of local Authorities
According to Bowman and Kearney (2002) a local authority is a type of Local Government among the municipality, towns and township, councils and school district. These councils according to the District Councils Act (1980) are the chief planning and development agencies within the areas of their authority. The Local Authorities are directly responsible for the provision of social services using their resources which are their locally generated revenues from rate payers and statutory allocations from the Government. However it should be noted that due to the unavailability of resources the statutory grants have ceased thus leaving the local authorities to depend on the revenue collected from rate payers.
The major role of local authorities is to provide communities within the area of their jurisdiction with social, infrastructural and economic services. According to Mangiza (1992) the Rural District Councils and the Local Government are responsible for supporting economic development as well as alleviating poverty through delivering a number of services .Rural District Councils also play a major role in providing for the needs of the people within the authorities of the Council. The major roles of Local Authorities are to provide social, infrastructural development in both rural and urban
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districts within the areas of their jurisdiction. Mangiza (1992) is of the notion that Social service delivery can be conceptualised as the relationship between the policy makers, service providers and the poor people, it encompasses services in their supporting systems that are regarded as state responsibility. These include services such as education, health infrastructure water sanitation roads and bridges that promote personal security. This highlights the fact that local authorities have the mandate to look out for the welfare of communities and individuals within the areas of their jurisdiction through effective and sustainable service delivery.
Health
From the period after the independence health services were decentralised to districts levels thus giving local authorities the mandate to deliver health care services to the people living within the areas of their jurisdiction. The Administrative handbook for Rural District Councils (1992) highlights that one of the primary functions of local authorities is the provision of health services. This mandate has been entrusted upon local authorities by the Ministry Of Health And Ministry Of Local Governance. With regards to the above Rural District Councils are encouraged to establish health care facilities and even mobile clinics were it is not financially feasible to establish structures to ensure that communities stay healthy.
Education
It is also the mandate of the local authorities to engage in physical infrastructure development projects. According to NANGO (2010) the infrastructure services may include the construction of schools, bridges, road networks, clinics and housing for orphans and other vulnerable children. It is therefore the mandate of the local authority to repair school buildings, furniture. Along with the role played by Local authorities in building schools they are also responsible for staffing and providing resources to ensure that the schools are efficiently functioning. NANGO (2010) is of the notion that the schools in the most remote area of the country have the lowest proportion of trained teacher ,books, laboratories and libraries and other resources that can cause efficiency, it identifies one school that is Binga for being an example of the school that are
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understaffed. The ratio at Binga has been identified by NANGO as 1:61 whereas the expected standard ration is 1:24 at most. This brings out the need for councils to establish schools in the areas of their areas of jurisdiction. The study undertaken by various scholar indicate that in rural areas the resettlement areas suffer most in terms of access to educational facilities and this a result of the fact that generally the areas have been underdeveloped and no attention is given to the areas by the local authorities. Despite efforts being made to establish the satellite schools in the farm houses that once belonged to the white farmers before they were evacuated in the 3rd Chimurenga there is no furniture in the schools to ensure that children are in a conducive environment for learning Mlambo (2013) notes that the building are dilapidated and some were even vandalised during the inversions and they struggle to find trained staff. Scoones (2010) indicates that in Tongogara District the pass rate for the years 2007- 2010 has been rating have been 3% or less. Efforts have been made by the government to ensure that pupils will not travel less more than 3 kilometres to access schools but in the resettlement areas children are travelling to as far as 15km to access education facilities thus that the provision of education services to communities by rural district councils has been a major challenge thus calling for attention to improve the status quo.
2.4 Factors Impeding Effective Social Service Delivery a. Unplanned settlement
According to Moyo (2013) the failure to poor service delivery in resettlement areas can be attributing to the unplanned settlement which came as a result of the resettlement programme of 2000. As the government tried to manage and rationalise the unplanned settlement people were thrown to areas where there were no basic social services such as water and sanitation ,education and health facilities and roads and thus the resettlement areas continue to lag behind in of the provision of social services. Moyo (2013) further alludes that the civil society organisation and other foreign government have tried to help local authorities in Zimbabwe in the provision of social services to the resettlement areas however due the economic and political instability their provision of services has subsided.
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According to the research undertaken by Manyena (2006) in most rural areas particularly in resettlement areas in Zimbabwe have little if any schools infrastructure. In response to this challenge satellite schools have been established in old farmhouses and tobacco barns without basic materials like benches and tables. The buildings are dilapidated and have often not been maintained since they were converted to classroom use. Communities struggle to find qualified teaching staff. Local authorities and the local government are therefore lacking the capacity to improve the educational systems currently prevailing in the resettlement and this has been attributed to the economic recession. b. Financial constrains
In the research that was undertaken by Mushuku (2002) on the challenges faced by local authorities in the provision of social services financial constraints are the major barriers to the provision of efficient and effective social services by local authorities. He alleges that the rate payers who are the major sources of income for the local authorities are ignorant of their responsibilities yet they demand services therefore the local authorities have not been in a position to meet the need of the local communities in the provision of welfare services. According to the Rural District Councils Act Section 96 local authorities are given the mandate to impose land development levy on land owners who lie tin the councils areas of authority. In the study undertaken by Mabuto (2015) in search of the challenges facing local authorities in the provision of social services he highlights that poor revenue base is the major challenge facing local authorities. Land owners, shops owners and miners are failing to own up to their obligation of paying tax to the responsible authority yet they are in constant need of services form the local authority. The scholars however fail to bring out the relationship that exists between the local authority and the ratepayers which may be a major factor influencing the ratepayers to neglect their responsibility. c. Inadequate government grants
Local authorities used to receive grants from the government, these they would use to engage in the district development projects as well as to ensure the wellbeing of the community through efficient social service provision. These grants from the government would be complemented by other grants from civil society organisations and this would
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assist in meeting the needs of the people. In the research undertaken by Mashuku,Chazovachii,Chitongo and Manhova (2012) the case study of Chivi RDC , their findings were that the failure of the government to give grants to local authorities has been major threat to the quality of services provided by councils . He further posits that in the year 2010 Chivi received 24% of the targeted grants and this had a negative impact on the development projects that had been planned on by the local authority. This led to the poor performance of local authorities in their development projects due to insufficient funds. d. Corruption
Corruption has been very prevalent in most of the African countries with Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Zambia at the forefront and this has been a major cause for poverty and poor performance by the local authorities in the provision of social service delivery (Wafawarova 2011). According to Olum (2010) corruption in local authorities manifests itself through deliberate bypassing of the procurement process and misuse of public assets for personal gains. Both Wafawarova and Olum agree that in the African context people have come to accept corruption as a normal and common practise. Corruption passes threat to the public administration and usually results in inefficiency. In his study Wafawarova highlights that around 62 % of Zimbabwean people have come to accept corruption and are of the view that it is normal and will not get bothered by people who engage in corruption.
In the study undertaken by Mabuto (2014) and Mashuku, etal (2012) note that corruption is the key factor resulting in the poor performance of local authorities particularly in social service delivery. Council employees are at times corrupt as they may engage in the misappropriation of funds. Sithole (2013) generally defines corruption as the misuse of public authority and funds for personal gains by those in power. Corruption can be classified into bribery, fraud and extortion and these entire have a negative impact on service delivery as the quality of may be compromised. Kanyane (2010) is of the notion that corruption eats away the revenue that would have been collected for service delivery. Corruption can therefore result in the non-delivery of some essential services thus denying local communities their right to enjoy services that are regarded as state
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responsibility. Some council employees end up using the funds that were directed towards project for personal gains. Sithole(2013) notes that one of the major causal factors of corruption is poverty.
Public officials in local authorities resort to bribes due to the long procedures that one has to undergo in the process of acquiring a service from the local authorities. According to Sithole (2013) tender are being awarded to unqualified personnel leading to poor workmanship. The result is that these unqualified contractors end up building substandard infrastructures such as clinics and schools thus compromising on the quality of service that should be provided by local authorities in the education and health sector. Corruption leads to the low confidence in the public institutions. Once officials break the trust of people who are the recipients of their services loss of confidence comes and undermines the rule of law and thus some affecting public participation which is crucial in running of council operations. It is also noted that due to the economic crisis workers have engaged in corruption whereby employees work towards their incentives at the expense of efficient service delivery. In Sithole’s study he indicates that in some cases employees ended up diverting funds that were meant for development projects to their own use as they were not receiving their monthly salaries, resultantly a number of projects that had budgeted for in that year could not be finished. e. Human Resource Crisis
Zimbabwe failed to maintain the health promotion strategies that had been initiated. This deterioration of the health care services has been attributed to the fast increasing shortage of trained personnel. According to Nyazema (2010) any qualified and competent workers in the health sector left the country in search of greener pastures due to the unstable political environment. Nyazema further alludes that the national vacancy status fails to bring out the shortage of such cadres in the health sector. One of the major challenges faced by local authorities in the provision of social services in the health sector is the shortage of human resources. Decentralized health management and equity of health services between rural and urban areas has led to a dramatic increase in child life expectancy. According to Mlambo (2013) these changes were not sustainable as Zimbabwe failed to maintain the health promotion strategies that had been initiated. This
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deterioration of the health care services has been attributed to the fast increasing shortage of trained personnel. According to Wagstaff (2003) many qualified and competent workers in the health sector left the country in search of greener pastures due to the unstable political environment. Mlambo (2013) further alludes that the national vacancy status fails to bring out the shortage of such cadres in the health sector and therefor the national health standards in the country continue to fall below the standards especially in the rural areas where there are no private health service providers. f. Public participation Community support to service delivery is one of the major important tools that can lead to an improved system. In a human system community members are one of the key sub systems who determine the efficiency of the human system that is if they are malfunctioning that implies that the variant may also become ineffective in its provision of services. Local authorities depend upon the support they get for the community members as they should participate in the collection and implementation of ideas in order to improve the functioning of the system. Local authorities are mandated by the RDC Act to collect land development levy from the people who live in the areas of their jurisdiction and these funds will be channelled back to the people through the provision of services that are essential for human survival (social services). The major challenge however on public participation in the communities is that they are not aware of their responsibilities, rights and public. Draai and Taylor (2009) note that if the public is not aware of their of such issues of public participation politics the elite should therefore foster a culture of participation making i clear to the public the direct and indirect benefits of participating in the provision of social services. In addition to this notion Makumbe (1996)also noted that some councillors are also illiterate and old aged such that they are not able to contribute to the policy formulation or the enforcement of by-laws and as such the needs of their people are poorly represented. The aim should therefore be to establish networks between the local authority, ward committees and political figures that relationship building to facilitate the need for development (Masango 2009) states that public participation is an imperative tool for sustainable and effective service delivery and this in line with
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2.5 Opportunities
a)Embracing public participation
In the research undertaken by Chanakira (2015) she alludes that one of the strategies that can be used to mitigate the challenges facing local authorities in the provision of services is to embrace public participation. Public participation is a key concept in Midgley’s concept of social development as it fosters a sense of belonging and problem solving capacities in the community members. In Chanakira’s research she highlights the fact that public participation enhances social accountability, efficiency and effective service delivery as the community members will be allowed to aces information from local authorities pertain got the use of public resources. There should be a councils and service consumers since they depend on each other for survival. This is in line with the concepts of the human systems theory that is going to be used as the theoretical basis of this research as community member play a pivotal role in the provision of social services since they are the beneficiaries of the services they should also take part in the provision of services to ensure that their needs are fully met.
b) Establishing anti-corruption strategies
Mabuto (2014) propounds that the setting up of a robust anti-corruption strategy can be useful in improving the social service delivery by local authorities. This is crucial in the sense that corruption eats away the gains that the government and the local people would have contributed to the local authority. This is further propounded by Wafawarova (2011) who says that corruption would have away the funds that would have been directed towards the provision of services to a certain group of people thus limiting them from enjoying quality services. Therefore the strategy becomes crucial I that once local authorities get rid of corruption their relations with the local people can me amended since it will boost community confidence in the local authorities as well as fostering social accountability.
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2.6 Research Gap Most of the researches undertaken by various scholars seek to unveil the factors impeding effective service delivery by local authorities however there has not been much on the relationship between the local authorities and their stakeholders and the factors influencing the behaviour of various stakeholders who are crucial in the provision of social services. Stakeholder participation is very crucial in community development and later alone in the provision of social services (Midgley 2004). Community members as stakeholders should take part in the development of their communities and this will assist the local authorities in the provision of social services Therefore this research will explore into the relationship between the a local authority and its stakeholders which may have an impact on the councils provision of welfare services.
Adding on to the above the researches that have been reviewed in this paper were focused on case studies such as Africa, Zimbabwe and other local authorities however the gap that the researcher has identifies in the literature is that the challenges facing the local authorities are peculiar in nature. In this way this research will particularly focus on Zvimba Rural District Council in order to establish the challenges that are peculiar to the organisation particularly in the provision of social services to the local communities and determine how the challenges can be overcome
Another gap that has been identifies by the researcher is that of the researchers who have looked at the challenges facing local authorities is that no one has attempted to explain the challenges using the human systems theory. Therefore in this research the writer will look at relationship of the interrelated parts that play a pivotal role in the provision of social service by council and determine how the nature of their relationship has a negative impact on the efficiency of council in the provision of social services. In this research the subsystems who are going to be looked into are the councillors, traditional leaders, civil society organisations, rate payers, and central government and community members
2.7 Conclusion Basically the chapter looked at the human systems theory which is going to underpin the research. The theory looks at Zvimba Rural District Council which is the case study as system with its interrelated parts, it therefore looks at all the subsystems as functional and
17 resultantly affecting the performance of the human system which is under study. The chapter also looked at the literature of other researchers who have contributed particularly in bringing out the challenges facing local authorities in the provision of social services.
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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction This chapter outlines the steps taken by the researcher in gathering the data that was used in the study. This chapter therefore looks at the research design, methodology, research tools and the chapter summary. The research was qualitative in nature as it the researcher sough to come up with an in-depth understanding of the delivery of social services by Zvimba Rural District Council as a phenomenon
3.2 Research design Exploratory research design was used to gather data on the provision of social services by Zvimba Rural District Council in search of challenges and opportunities. A case study was used to conduct the research because of its effectiveness in gathering insights regarding the research problem. A case study is an intensive investigation into aspects of a social unit or a small portion of the community in an effort to explore the insights pertaining to the topic under research. It also helped in gathering and interpreting statistical insights about service delivery by Zvimba Rural District Council. In this study Zvimba Rural District Council was selected due the fact that the literature reviewed by the researcher indicated that not much had been done to review the provision of social services by Zvimba Rural District council. It is against this backdrop that the researcher found it necessary to make inferences about the social services in Zvimba District particularly focusing on the challenges and opportunities of Zvimba District Council.
3.3 Target population The researcher targeted residents of Zvimba Rural District across the 35 wards and the employees of Zvimba who facilitate the provision of social services within Zvimba Rural District Councils areas of jurisdiction. Best and Khan (1993) defines a population as a group of individuals sharing one or more characteristics which are of interest to the researcher. Therefore the target population will be the communities of Zvimba
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3.4 Sample size
100 people were selected to represent the views of the total population and thus the sample is 0,5% of the total targeted population.
The researcher focused on the inhabitants of the district as well and the staff Zvimba Rural District Council. There was no expected age in the research as the research targeted the people who were willing to participate. A number of the questionnaires were distributed to women as the researcher sought to reduce the gender disparities that would affect the objectivity of the study.
3.5 Sampling technique Jankowics (2000) defines sampling as the deliberate choice of a number of elements, the sample which are to provide you with that form which you will draw conclusion.
Purposive sampling
The researcher used purposive sampling in order to obtain information from Zvimba RDC managerial staff members. This technique was chosen as it allowed the researcher to quickly identify the participants; furthermore it allowed the researcher to make inferences about the factors shaping Social Service delivery from council staff who happens to be the service providers. The managerial staff was selected as they are the ones who undertake the decision making in the human and financial resource allocation in the social service delivery system.
Stratified random sampling
In this research the researcher used stratified random sampling techniques to gather information from the Zvimba Rural District and the inhabitants of Zvimba communities. The researcher stratified the district into the 5 wards and one participant was randomly selected to represent the views of the whole ward pertaining to the provision of social services by Zvimba Rural District Council. The researcher chose the technique as it gave every resident an equal opportunity to participate in the study; stratification was done in
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order to ensure that every ward lying within the jurisdiction of Zvimba Local Authority had an equal representation.
3.6 Data collection A letter from Bindura University of science education under the department of social work was issued to the student undertake her research. The student wrote her own letter to Zvimba Rural District Council to compliment the letter obtained from the department, the two letters were used to seek the consent of Zvimba RDC which the researcher used as a case study in the research. Permission form the local authority was obtained through a written recommendation from the Chief Executive Officer.
Pilot study
The researcher undertook a pilot study in order to minimize questioning errors on data collection. The questionnaire guide, focus group discussion guide and the interview guide were designed and shared with other students and ultimately given to the supervising lecturer to review the questions that the researcher was going to use in gathering the data that would be relevant to the study. Having corrected the data collection tools the student went on to issue the tools to the respective participants.
3.7 Research tools a) Questionnaire
The research used semi-structured questionnaires to gather data from respondents. Closed and open ended questions were used. Questionnaires were efficient in that a lot of information was collected within a short space of time. Questionnaires were chosen as they are efficient in collecting data from a large group of people in a short space of time. However the challenges faced is that some of the participants could not understand the language used on the questionnaires. More so some did not return the questionnaires.
b)Interview
Semi structured interviews were used to collect data from the Zvimba Rural District Council heads of departments. The participants were made aware of the nature of the interview, the researcher fully explained the process and purpose of the interview and
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participants were made aware of the fact that participation was voluntary. The interviews were efficient as they allowed the researcher to establish a rapport with the interviewees and they also gave the researcher the opportunity to probe further questions relation to the topic that was under to improve reliability of the data.
c) Focus Group Discussion
The researcher using stratified random sampling technique conducted focus group discussions to complement the information gathered through questionnaires. Focus groups are an exploratory research tool - a ‘structured group process’ to explore people’s thoughts and feelings and obtain detailed information about a particular topic or issue (Sherraden,2001). Focus group discussions with respondents ranging from 10 -15 were efficient as they allowed all the participants to express their inner feelings and daily experiences pertaining to the Zvimba Rural District council’s provision of social services.
d) Secondary data
The researcher also made use of secondary data such as articles that have been written by the residents and the Local Authority concerning the provision of social services by Zvimba Council, the financial statements and strategic plan document of the local authority were also used. Minutes from budget consultations were also used following the consent of the Zvimba Rural District Council officials.
3.9 Ethical Considerations During the study the researcher made use of a number of ethics in order for the research to be successful. The following ethics were taken into consideration in order to make the research feasible.
Informed consent– researcher ensured that all the participants were provided with full information about the research before opting to participate in the research. No participant will be coerced to take part in the research hence all people will be given the choice to opt out I they are not comfortable. The right to anonymity –the researcher also preserved the participants’ right to remain anonymous if they chose to during the research process
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Justice –the author maintained justice to all participants refraining from discrimination of the participation based on gender, social class or religion.
3.9 Delimitations of the Study
The research was conducted using Zvimba Rural District Council as a case study. All roles and functions of Zvimba RDC in the provision of social services within their jurisdiction were explored. The data will be sourced from a sample size made up of six managerial members from the 6 departments of Zvimba Rural District Council who were interviewed, 35 Zvimba District inhabitants and the participants who attended focus group discussions. However the challenge faced was that due to commitment some of the managerial members from the council could not be met despite the several appointments being made. This had a potential of affecting the quality of the results obtained during the research. In addition, the study will concern itself with staff and residents perception regarding the Social Service Delivery
3.11 Limitations The study only looked at Social service delivery using Zvimba RDC as a case study. Some of the participants gave social desirable responses; some of the responses given were not objective but rather subjective basing on the fact that they have so many expectations from the council which are not being met. Due to time factors some participants gave responses affected by memory decay. Some could not remember the events that would have happened in the past. And some could not remember the period from which they started living in the district as they attached years to events.
3.12 Data presentation The presentation of the data gathered was done in a thematic manner. The data was presented through pie charts, graphs and tables so that it would be easier to make an overview of the findings for the researcher to give a conclusion. Pie chats were used for presenting the data gathered yet graphs were chosen for their efficiency easiness on interpretation of statistical data. Information was arranged in accordance to the thematic areas that were in relation to the study. Through arranging the findings into the thematic
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areas the researcher was able to make comparisons and large volumes of data were reduced into a manageable size which made the analysis easier and clearer.
3.13 Conclusion The study was qualitative in nature and it adopted the use of a case study where Zvimba Rural District council was under study. The researcher was able to collect data through the use of questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions. Stratified random sampling and purposive sampling were used in the study. The researcher also made use of the appropriate ethical considerations during the data collection procedures as highlighted in this study.
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CHAPTER 4
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction The chapter seeks to unveil the findings that were made by the researcher. Key informant interviews were held with Zvimba Rural District Council, focus group discussions held with the Zvimba District and the administration of questionnaires across the district was also done. Interview guides, focus group discussion guides and questionnaire guides were used as the data collection tools. Questionnaires were used as they ensure the collection of much information within a short space of time, more so it allowed the participants to freely pour out their feeling and perceptions which they could never bring out during focus group discussions due to the fear of being judged by others. Key informant interviews with the Zvimba management team proved to be very useful as the interviewees managed to give in detail the relationship between the council as a system and the other stakeholder and how they are positively and negatively affecting the service delivery.
4.2 Questionnaire Response Rate Table 4.1: Questionnaire Response rate.
Questionnaires Distributed Returned
35 34
The researcher distributed 35 questionnaires and of the total number distributed 34 were returned thus giving a response rate of 97. %. The other 3 % failed to respond due to lack of time and commitment.
Research findings
A greater population of the respondents attested that the local authority is failing to deliver equitable social services to the people living within its areas of jurisdiction. On
25 the findings 53 % (18 respondents) of the residents attested that Zvimba rural district council is poorly delivering social services to the people living within its areas of jurisdiction, on the same note 41% (13) of the respondents highlighted that ratepayers are not complying to their obligation to pay taxes and rates so that the council gets the funds in order for it to be in position to give back to the community through service delivery. During a focus group discussion held in Zvimba east constituency the residents complained that the big companies in peri-urban Harare which constitutes wards 25, 34 and 35 of Zvimba people are complying with taxes, however the residents are not receiving services from the council in return. In an interview with one of the key respondents in the Local Authority clarified that there was a tendency that the licenses for companies in the District were being collected and the companies were owning up to their responsibilities, however the challenge faced was that residents in the rural areas of the district were failing to pay the land development levy amounting to $3.00 per year. In relation to this a resolution had been passed in a full council meeting that despite other wards failing to pay their levies using the revenues collected from the entire district services were supposed to be equally delivered to all the 35 wards. However from the research findings this has proved to have a detrimental effect on those who contribute large amounts of money to council as they end up receiving a fair share of services as those received by the rural communities who would have not contributed anything towards land development. This is evidence to the fact that the residence compliance to tax and rates is inhibiting the council from delivering equitable social services to the people and this is in line with the systems theory which states that a system is made up of interrelated subsystems hence the malfunctioning of one sub-system can affect the efficiency of the system as a whole.
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4.3 Section A: Demographic Data Figure 4.1: Gender Distribution
18 male 53%
16 female 47%
N=34
Evidence shows that more men responded to the questionnaires as compared to women. This is a result of women’s reluctance to take part in the activities that are undertaken in the community, they tend to categorize many activities as men’s responsibility hence they find it hard to participate. This is an indication that gender affects how people relate, perceive things and act as highlighted by the Swedish Research Council(undated) More so one can say that due to the reproductive duties that are assigned to women, they do not have much knowledge on the activities being undertaken by Council concerning social service delivery hence they founded it difficult to respond to questionnaires despite the fact that they are the ones being affected by such issue as compared to their male counterparts.
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Figure 4.2: Age Distribution
0 2 6 20-30yrs(59%) 31-41 yrs(18%) 20 6 42-52 yrs (18%) 53-63 yrs(6%) 64 yrs and above (0%)
N =34
Most of the respondents were youths ranging from the age of 20 -30 years of age. This age group is vibrant and active when it comes to community activities hence they are well versed with the activities being undertaken by various stakeholders within and outside the community. More so, the ages constitute those who are young and not employed due to the economic hardships hence they had enough time to respond knowing what is needed in the community for better a better living. This explains why there has been a huge difference between the response rate of the old adults and the young adults
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Figure 4.3: Marital Status
3 5 13 single 38% married :38% widowed :14% 13 divorced :9%
N=34
Both the single and married constituted a high percentage of the respondents as they are more affected by the provision of social service by Zvimba. This is in line with findings that were made that 59% of the respondents are youth thus giving high percentage of both married and ingle respondents. Moreso based on the findings it can be argued that the life expectancy of the residents in Zvimba District is high as only a few of the respondent are widowed .
Figure 4.4: Education status
N=34
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According to the findings 12 respondents representing 35%of the respondents have attained primary education whilst 15(44%) respondents have attained secondary education thus leaving 7(21%) who have attained only tertiary education. This shows that at least each group of the people of various education statuses in the community had a reasonable representation. Indications from the researchers observations were that those who have attained tertiary and secondary education were more due to the fact that they are more aware of their rights and the role that should be played by the local authorities in the delivery of social services. Those who have attained Primary education were a few as they were not aware of the council in the provision of services and its responsibilities as a local authority.
4.4 Section B: Provision of Social Services Table 4.2: Social services provided by the local authority.
SOCIAL SERVICE FREQUENCY Percentage
Education 14 41%
Health 11 32%
Roads 8 23%
Water 6 16%
Toilets 13 38%
Market places 4 12%
Refuse collection 4 12%
Residential stands 4 12%
Nothing at all 14 41%
N=34
According to 14 (41.%) respondents from the research Zvimba Rural District Council is doing absolutely nothing to the people living within its areas of jurisdiction, in other words the council is failing to fulfill its responsibility as stipulated in the Rural District 30
Council’s Act. Fourteen14 residents representing a percentage of 41% are dissatisfied by the operating systems of the local authority. On the contrary 20 of the respondents indicated that the council has been taking part in the provision of social services as illustrated by the above table. This variance evidenced in the research is an indication that the council is failing to reach all its residents with equitable social services as some wards are being prioritized at the expense of others. In a focus group discussion held in Zvimba West residents asserted that Zvimba Council is prioritizing the growth point whilst the wards in A2 farms were discriminated in in the development programs. During a focus group discussion residents from the farm areas of Zowa farms Attested that they children had to travel long distances as much as 15 to 20 km to get educational and health facilities , this is an indication that the council is failing to reach such areas with equitable services to improve their livelihoods. Observations made by the researcher also show that the communal lands in Zvimba District still remain underdeveloped. This is in line with the finding made by Moyo (2014) in his research where he attests that the resettlement of people into fast track lands has left the inhabitants vulnerable to poor social service delivery as the lands are still underdeveloped due to various factors among which are poor road networks and financial constrains being faced by the local governments.
Fig 4.5: Response rate on the social service delivery
poor 53% fair 35% good 12% excellent 0%
0
4
18 12
N=34
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Information gathered from the research indicates that 53% of the residents are dissatisfied by the quality of services being provided by Zvimba Rural District Council as they rated the social service delivery system as poor. Twelve respondent (12) representing 35% attested that social service delivery by the council is fair whilst four respondents representing 12% rated the social service delivery as good. This is in line with the responses that were also gathered from focus group discussion in all constituencies of Zvimba, in Zvimba North residents attested that the council prioritizes Zvimba South Constituency that is the Growth Points and the surrounding wards at the expense of some areas such as Raffingora and Mutorashanga whose conditions continue to dilapidate in this way they claimed that the council was doing nothing to meet the social needs of the people living in those are. Observations made by the researcher indicated that there is poor road network, no clinics and schools are scarce. Contrary to the responses gathered in Zvimba North 12 of the 15 respondents in a focus group discussion in Zvimba South proved to be gratified with the work being done by the local Authority in their area.
‘kanzuru yedu irikutifadza chose(jovial) parizvino tine Murombedzi Secondary,zvimbuzi zviviri chimwe chekubhadhra nechimwe chemahara, project yemvura uye migwagwa yemu location irikugadzirwa aya marojects akatanga mugoe rakapera paseri iro.’(Our council is really doing some impressive work, currently we have a secondary school, pay and public toilets water reticulation and road surfacing currently underway and these are council initiatives which started in 2015) said a resident of Zvimba South: said a local leader in a focus group discussion
Clearly the above attestation shows that perceptions on the efficiency of Zvimba District Council vary from one constituency to the other depending on the activities being initiated by council in those areas. It should also be noted that this variation has given rise to the attitudes amongst the Zvimba Residents towards the council as they feel that the council lacks objectivity and rather it is biased when it comes to the provision of social services.
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Picture 4.1 : Zvimba council projects in Zvimba South(Murombedzi Growth point)
Source: Murombedzi Growth Point public and pay toilet (obtained from transit walks)
The above insert shows a picture of a public toilet and a pay toilet respectively, both built in Murombedzi Growth point during the years 2015-2016. Despite the residents of Murombedzi Growth point being joyful about the project brought by the local authority residents from other wards are bitter by the fact that the project has been done in Murombedzi growth point only. Sentiments brought out by residents in some part of the district during the focus group discussion indicated that much of the council’s development projects are being limited to the Growth Point at the expense of other district wards and townships such as Darwendale, Nyabira,Raffingora and Mutorashanga.
In Zvimba East that is some part of Harare in Residential and commercial areas such as Whitecliff, Haydon Park, Mt Hampden and Rainham residents showed bitterness as they allege that despite remitting tax and rates to the local authority they still did not receive any social amenity form the council roads have become hazards and this has a detrimental effect to the residents who commute to work on a daily basis and the general population at large.
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4.5 Section C: Strengths a) Provision of livelihood initiatives
Respondents brought to light that Zvimba Rural District Council is taking part in development projects in the small urban centers across the district for example in response to a questionnaire one respondent highlighted that vendors are being provided with flea markets as an affordable price of $5.00 per month and public toilets are also being built in public areas such as ranks. Observations made by the researcher also showed that in Raffingora a small farming community two public toilets had been built and in Murombedzi a Public toilets and a pay toilet both friendly to the girl child and the disabled had been successfully built and awaiting official opening. This shows that despite the challenges being faced by the local authority they are putting efforts to manage the public health of their communities.
b)Availability of equipment
In an interview with the Zvimba management team all the 6 respondents mentioned that Zvimba Rural District Council has equipment with serves as their cornerstone when it comes to the provision of social services hence not much will be needed when it comes to road construction and borehole drilling as they already have what is needed to provide the residents with portable safe water for drinking. They also highlighted that in the year 2015 40boreholes had been drilled in district and 138 boreholes repaired across the district in all the wards and this has been made possible by the fact that Zvimba has the necessary equipment required for effective service delivery. This is contrary to the findings made by Chanakira (2015) who asserted that lack of equipment was one of the major challenge faced by local authorities in the provision of their services as Zvimba Rural District Council state that the equipment is readily available at the local authority and that makes it easier for the local authority to deliver equitable social services to the people living within its areas of influence.
c) Provision of safe water for drinking
Respondents testified that the local authority has been successful when it comes to the provision of safe water for drinking in all the wards across the district .During a focus
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group discussion in Zvimba East which consists communal farms people testified that the council had drilled more than 10 boreholes during the period of 2016 and repaired more than 60 boreholes. Adding on to this the Social Service brought out the fact that they had embarked on a Rural WASH Information Management Pregame in which data on the available infrastructure in the district was captured , therefore it is now easier to identify the number of functioning and non-functioning boreholes as well as their geographical location. Due to this RWIMS program it has since become easier for the local authority to ensure that the residents are provided with portable safe water for drinking. The local Authority’s District Engineer also testified that the Local Authority has been able to embark on a water reticulation project in the Murombedzi Growth point and the purchasing of a new water pump worth a 100 thousand US dollars to ensure that all the inhabitants of Murombedzi Growth Point are provided with safe water for drinking, Kasanze has been furnished with a piped water scheme and 4 taps have been established hence around 120 households are benefiting from the pipe water scheme. d)Engagement of the Civil Society Organizations
According to the findings made in an interview with one of the key informants indications were that Zvimba RDC is very good at mobilizing resources to assist in the provision of social services.
‘The water reticulation project in Murombedzi Growth point has been funded by an Agency named Australian Aid in conjunction with the local authority, adding on the above the council had been in conjunction with UNICEF in the provision of portable water for drinking to the rural communities through borehole drilling’ said one of the key respondents in the Local Authority.
This is evidence to the fact that the Local Authority is resourceful as it engages the Non- Governmental Organization in the provision of social services to the people living within its area of jurisdiction. One community member testified that the rural WASH program had helped various communities through the provision of knowledge on how to start local initiatives such as Isals‘ MIKANDO to promote their livelihoods, various communities were reached with information and education and the significance of hygiene and this witnessed the construction affordable toilets using the locally available resources as the
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ZIMASSET alludes. These efforts are an indication that the local authority is working hard to ensure that the livelihoods of the people are promoted through engagement of the civil society organizations to maximize service provision.
4.6 Section D: Challenges i)Corruption
According to the research findings 16 (47%) of the respondent’s articulated that the major challenge inhibiting the local authority from, fully and effectively delivering the social services to the inhabitants of the District is corruption. Corruption refers to the misuse of public resources, office of power for personal gains.
Unozongonzwa ktui stand yako yakatorwa ikapiwa umwe nekanzuru(You will be informed later that your stand was reposed by the local authority’ said a resident in Zvimba North
The above statement is an indication that the residents are not in support of the channels being taken by the local authority in the repossession and the allocate the local authority in the repossession and the allocation of the residential stands council had repossess a number of stands that had not been paid for from the period around 2000 up to the period they reposed. Some of the stand had been paid for by a popular housing scheme which was not mentioned by name. This act by the council aroused bitterness from the residents as the stands were later on auctioned at a high price to people who had not been on the waiting list despite the land owners coming to plead for a grace period to pay for their stands. In Zvimba South the respondents in a discussion complained that the means of communications that were being used were not even accessible to some people who owned the repossessed stands. It is against this backdrop that the residents ascertained that the local authority is only interested in looting money form times to time through the repossession of the stands and auctioning yet there is nothing tangible they are offering to the people in their areas of jurisdiction. This is in line with the claims brought out by Wafawarova (2011) who says that in Zimbabwe local authorities have become disreputable for poor service delivery and hyper corruption.
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Vanozotaura padarika nguva kuti advet yakaiswa mu newspaper, ende kuno kana ma tv magetsi anonetsa plus ma newspaper hatimawani kumapurazi kunoku , ndobasa rema councilor iroro rekuti vapote vachitipa ruzivo pane zvirikuitika mukanzuru medu(‘They would inform you later that they advertised on the repossession of the residential stands in the press, our areas are too remote and we have no access to newspapers there is no electricity and transmission for radios and televisions, our councilors should be tasked to disseminate the information to us the grassroots in time’ said a resident from ward 21(Zvimba east)
Some of the lessees reside in farms hence they work extra hard in order to acquire stands in the growth point. What unsettled the Zvimba Residents much is the fact that the means of communication that had been used by the council to announce their repossession of stands did not reach most of the people particularly those who reside in the most remote areas of the district as they would have communicated with the respective councilors to disseminate the information to their respective ward residents.
Residents also articulated that when it comes to the employment of general hands the council is very corrupt as almost three quarters of the employed general hands are council staff relatives and councilor’s relatives.
“Vana vemuno havasi kumbopiwa mabasa kanxuru yakazara vatorwa(Citizens of this districts and the surrounding wards were not given recognition on employment by council , council employees all come from other district )said a resident
The above sentiment is an indication that that the residents of Zvimba are concerned with the criteria being used by the human resources department when it comes to job opportunities which is part of a social service in improving the livelihoods as most of the people working at the council are alleged to be relatives to the councilors and employees. This therefore has a tendency of resulting in poor social service delivery as the workers may in some cases lack the necessary skills required for the posts they occupy. In a research undertaken by Mashuku,Chazovachi ,Chitongo and Manhova (2015) they brought out the fact that use of corruption and nepotism may have negative effects as it may comprise the quality of the service based on lack of expertise and experience by the person carrying out the task.
37 ii)Lack of funding
Council employees blamed the residents for their failure to pay rates and license fees. In an interview with the Internal Auditor he highlighted that community’s reluctance to pay for services is the major challenge facing the local authority in the provision of the services to the residents. One of the key respondents highlighted that in the previous year’s just after independence when the economy was still vibrant the government would collect the revenue and allocate grants to the local authorities in accordance to their yearly budget, however due to the economic constrains the government is no longer allocating grants to local authorities, rather they are now using their locally generated income to ensure that services have been delivered to the local people. The finance act chapter .. clearly articulates that the Land Development Levy shall be used to meet the expenditure within the Rural District Council area from which the levy was collected. This has become the major sources of income since the economic situation no longer allows the central government to continue disbursing funds for the provision of social services by authorities. Therefore the Council depends on the locally generated incomes come through LDL and licenses which are paid by the residents. This therefore is an indication that there should be correlation between the council and the residents in the provision of social services. The local people participate through paying rates whilst the council ensures that the money collected through rates has been given back to the communities through service delivery. This is in line with the Rural District Councils
“Council rates are way too expensive we should at least pay a dollar per year and those above 65 years of age should rather be exempted from paying taxes”said a resident
This is an indication that the residents are failing to pay tax and rates at all and this has a negative impact on the social service delivery by Zvimba Rural District Council as the funds for delivering standard social services end up falling below what is anticipated by both the government and the people 53% of the respondents to the questionnaire indicated that residents compliance it rates and taxes was poor and this has a link to the 29.4% of the respondents who also alleged that the major challenges being faced by the local authority was lack of funds., this is in line with the systems theory by which says
38 that the a human system depends on its sub-system for survival and it cannot live independently from it. iii)Politics
The Zvimba council staff response to the questionnaires indicates that the major challenge facing the local authority in delivering the social services is lack of political will from the local politicians. These may include the councilors at large as they constitute the group of persons who should make decision in the running of the council affairs. In response to a questionnaire one of the council staff indicated that there is lack of cooperation e politicians hence they end up failing to support the council initiatives.
Adding more to this was an indication that most of the councilors are not educated and some of them are even old to the extent that that they cannot effectively represent the needs of the people thus resulting in less involvement of people in the e council activities. In some cases the councilors fail to encourage the local people to pay their rates so that the council will be able to give the services to the local communities using the locally generated income.
“One of the major challenges facing council is lack of political will from politicians on of encouraging the people to pay their dues to the council “said one of the key respondents
Politicians have the power to convince people to pay their rates to council so that the local authority will be in a position to deliver the services using the collected income. However some councilors do not encourage their local people to take part in the social service delivery through remitting their rates and land development levies. The councilors fail to do this due to the fear of being voted out of their political positions. The local communities are very much against the issue of paying the land development levy as they consider it the role of the government to delivery services to the people without them taking any part. The residents are ignorant of the part they should play in the provision of social services as they regard it the responsibility of the government and the local authority itself. In this way the councilor and other local politicians fail to educate the communities as they regard this sensitive issue to the communities which could leave them without political support hence at times most of them choose to be silent about it
39 due to the fear of losing political support. It should be noted that this is quite different from the findings made by Mashuku etal(2015) using Chivi District Council as a case study where they made findings that the lack of politician will leading to poor service delivery emanates from the constant fights between councilors. Councilors belonging to the ruling party and those from other parties over resolutions leave the council in dilemmas on what to pass as resolutions. iv) Lack of public participation
One of the council staff members articulated that the rural community members have a ‘donor syndrome’. This is a tendency of relying on the donors for support in the provision of goods and services for free hence they find it difficult to contribute as little as $3.00 per annum which is charged as land development levy. In a focus group discussion with the residents in all the constituencies of Zvimba they raised sentiments that the land development levels where expensive and they could not afford it due to the economic crisis currently facing the nation, hence they pleaded with the council to reduce the tariff to as low as $2.00 or $ 1.00 per annum. Contrary to the above, secondary data obtained for council indicated that in the year 2015 was less that 20 % of the targeted land development levies from the rural communities of Zvimba District yet they demand services form the council such as provision of safe water for drinking, maintenance of roads and construction of schools and clinics in their communities. This is due to the fact that they still have a conception that the government is providing grants to the local authority to ensure that very community member is reached with the social amenities, however it turns out that the government is no longer making provisions for the council to deliver services rather the council is now using the locally generated incomes to deliver services to the local communities.
Compliance to rates and licenses and levies is not critically poor and in most cases it results in poor budget performance. Approximatley12 respondents (35%) of the respondents articulated that residence compliance to the rates, land development levy, bus levy and licenses is very poor. This is indicates that despite the council having a wide revenue base as brought by one of the key respondents in her response to the questionnaire. Secondary data obtained from the local authority from the local authority
40 revealed that Zvib has a number of people who are failing to pay off their debts on levies, licenses and rates. Efforts to engage debt collectors have been made however the residents still fail to pay off their debts to the council in this way the council is left stranded as the revenue collection is the only source of income for the local authority.
On the same note according to the research findings lack of public support emanates from the councils failure to engage the local communities in the decision making process. 33% of the respondents indicated that the council never meets with the local people to engage them in the decision making process,
‘Council meets with the local residents once in a life time said a resident’ said a resident
This is an indication that the local authority rarely engages the local people in the decision making process, others raised that the council only meets once a year during the budget consultations and this therefore means that the council does its best to engage the local communities however some of the residents are too reluctant to attend the council meeting due to a non-cooperative attitude hence they end up alleging that the council never meets its residents. Such allegations are an indication that the council and the local people are not in good books; there is a tension and poor relations between the council and its residents. information obtained from council indicates that on a yearly basis council holds more that 35 budget consultation meetings with its residents that is at least one meeting with each ward, bigger wards such as those in the communal lands and towns are given two venues to ensure that every one gets the opportunity to meet with the council and their concerns with the local authority.
Some of the meetings are held between the community members and the councilors. However some residents posited that the councilors rarely meet their people and some of them are old and uneducated such that they forget to bring out the concerns of the people under their leadership in full council meetings thus making it difficult for the local authority to respond to the needs of the local people since they will be unknown to the council. This has been attributed to age as some of them are finding are no longer energetic enough to travel to and from council. As a result the residents tend to end up ignoring the councilors due to their failure to participate in the council chamber and bring desirable change to the people. In some cases the residents even develop an attitude
41 towards the council as they fail to agree the interval at which the failure is emanating from. Taking for instance war nine residents failed to participate in the 2017 budget consultation as they yelled at the council officers insulting the officials and the councilors as thieves and corrupt people .Allegations were that the councilor failed to discipline his people and thus the budget consultations could not be held peacefully. v)Poor Governance
Zvimba residents allege that the poor service delivery by council is a result of the poor governance by the local authority staff members. The poor governance has been blamed on the corrupt nature of the council staff. In the four focus group discussions 38 residents pointed out that the council staff prioritizes the procurement of fancy vehicles at the expense of social service delivery to its communities.
“They buy new cars on a yearly basis yet people are travelling up to 15kilometres to access health services in some rural areas”said a resident in a focus group discussion
This is an indication that council has the funds however they do not prioritize giving the services to the people. However indications from the council staff members are that 70% of the total yearly budgets are allocated to the provision of social services. This is also an indication that the council prioritizes the provision of the social services to the people. The role of the local authority is to provide the communities with social services. vi)Economic meltdown
Respondents asserted that the major challenge being faced by the local authority is the economic situation currently prevailing in the country. This is evident in the resident’s failure to pay rates, the closure of many companies which worked as council’s revenue base and the closure of most council bars which used to be council source of income thus reducing the total income for council. Therefore one can say due to the dilapidation of country’s economy councils have ceased to efficiently provide the local people with the necessary services required for a decent living
The clinics are empty there are no drugs and equipment for the patients and pregnant mothers
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The above sentiment raised by one of the council nurses is an indication that the council is failing to provide the clinics with essential items needed for the efficiency of health centers, this cannot solely be blamed on the local authority as bigger hospitals are even facing the same challenge due to the dwindling of the economy which does not allow the county to procure the essential drugs from foreign countries.
4.7 Section E: Opportunities
1) Sensitization of the local people to take
Sentiments were raised during the focus group discussion in Zvimba North were 8 respondents claimed that the local mines were failing to remit tax to the local authority, this was further alluded to by the council officials who gave an example of Pan African Mine in the northern part of Zvimba District.
‘Taxes from mines are not being remitted , we have Pan African Mine rich in gold but failing to pay tax whilst their heavy truckers are destroying our road networks’ said one of the key respondents
Despite being one of the biggest mines in the District which is majoring in the mining of gold it fails to remit its tax to the local authority. Another key respondent went on to clarify that a complaint had been raised by the inhabitants living nearby the mines, they alleged that discharged into the local river from which the local villagers drank thus impacting on their health and livestock. Therefore the engagement of such groups in the district can ensure the distribution of equitable services to the local people as the money they remit will eventually be challenged towards the maintenance of the roads which they use thus improving the infrastructure and accessibility of various places within the district.
More so the community inhabitants in the rural areas of the district showed lack of understanding on how the council operated and how it generates the income that is in turn directed towards social service provision. This therefore points to the need for the sensitization of the local people so that they are made to know that they are the council’s sources of income as the government is no longer giving grants to local authorities as it used to do in the past. This is in line with the stipulation of the Rural District Council Act
43 which states that the local authorities have to make use of the locally generated incomes to provide services to the people living within its areas of jurisdiction.
There is also need for sensitization of the local communities to ensure that they are made aware of their rights and responsibilities when it comes to the delivery of social services. Most of the community members as mentioned earlier have a dependency syndrome hence they tend to support donor programs and ignore council initiatives.
‘One of council opportunities is convincing the locals people and leadership though awareness creation on the purpose of the local authorities so that they will be in a position to understand that whatever council does is for the benefit of the communities. Therefore there is need for campaigns to instill sense of a positive attitude towards the communities to pay their rates for the service’ said the Council internal auditor
This an indication that there is need for the council to engage the local people in order to help them understand the functioning of their local authority so that they will not only demand services but rather they will ensure that the council has enough resources for effective social service delivery through their contributions.
2) Decentralization
One of the opportunities for Zvimba Rural District Council is to reorganize the budgeting process and the revenue collection process to grassroots level. Research findings indicate that the major reason limiting the council residents from updating their payments of rates is the non-availability of the local council offices in areas such as Mutorashanga, Zowa and Darwendale as the council are only at the district head office Murombedzi, Raffingora, Banket and Nyabira. During the transit walks the researcher observed that there is no sub office serving the people living in the commercial farms thus making it difficult for the rate payers to travel long distance to update their payment on a monthly basis. Information obtained from council staff was that a sub-office in Zowa had been recently closed due to the failure of rate payers to make payments therefore the money collected was way below that which was being used to pay the rentals and the cashier. This is in line with the recommendations given by Mabogunje (2001) who notes that the services should be decentralized to neighborhoods as it fosters transparency and
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accountability. This in line with the popular belief that council employees are corrupt hence there is need for the security system to be tightened to ensure that public resources are protected and directed to the public with transparency. However some of the council sub offices were shut down since the revenue collected from the farm communities of Zvimba had dilapidated. However the results were that the residents allege that the Murombedzi head offices are too far thus making it expensive for the ratepayers to travel long journey to pay their rates. There is need for the council to open, more offices in areas such as Zowa in ward 14 and Darwendale ward 21 using the available infrastructure to save costs, and this will ensure that the farmers form the surrounding farm communities will travel short distances to pay their rates thus ensuring that a larger population pays their rates.
4.8 Conclusion Provision of social safety nets, health, education and a decent life is the major role of Zvimba Rural district Council. Form the research findings social service delivery is not being efficiently being done by the local authority due to financial constraints, poor economic conditions currently prevailing and poor participation of the district inhabitants. Therefore there is need for council to engage the local communities to educate them on the functioning of the local authorities so that they will be able to participate in the provision of services through making financial contributions and also contributing ideas through their local councilors. This will ensure good relation between the council and the local people and help in the management of social services.
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CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
5.1 Introduction Local authorities are there to cater for the provision social services to the community under their jurisdiction on a sustainable basis. Failure to make provision of social amenities may have a negative effect of the quality of lives of the people which in turn hinders the development process. This study sought to explore provision of social services highlighting the challenges facing rural councils in delivering their mandate and therefore to attempt to give recommends and inferences. From the data obtained during the research there is evidence that suggest that lack of public participation , shortage of financial resources and maladministration are the main cause which negatively affect service delivery in council.
5.2 Summary Chapter one of the studies set the foundation of the study by giving the introduction to the study particularly looking at the background of the study and the research problem.
Chapter two basically focused on literature review. This was intended to review different studies undertaken by other researchers.The works reviewed works highlighted on the multi-dimensional perspectives of factors impacting on the delivery of social amenities by local authorities, conceptual and theoretical frameworks. From the reviewed writings evidence was that corruption has a detrimental effect on social service delivery in the administration of local authorities. The literature brought out that some of the opportunities for local authorities may be improving on accountability, public participation and establishment of anti-corruption strategies and enhancement of public participation. These features can be used to improve the local authority’s delivery of social services in such a way that will benefit the communities.
Chapter three looked at the methodology and research paradigm used by the researcher. The research was a combination of both qualitative and quantitative research .A case
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study was used using Zvimba Rural District Council in order to have an in depth understanding of the provision of social services. Questionnaires were issued to the residents, focus group discussions held and interviews with council staff members were conducted to extract data. The data collected was later analyzed using thematic content I chapter 4.
Chapter Four of the study was a detailed in-depth analysis of the data gathered during the study. It highlighted and speculated on the findings of the study that is the challenges being faced in the service delivery by local authorities and the opportunities that can be utilized by Zvimba Rural District Council to ensure a better social service delivery.
The final chapter, chapter five gives the summary, conclusions, and major recommendations and areas for further study.
5.3Conclusions From the research findings social services delivery referred to the provision of social amenities that are meant to improve the standards of living of the people in a particular community.
The local authority’s mandate in the provision of social service is to ensure that people living within its areas of jurisdiction have access to safe water for drinking, health serves education as well as study highlighted that the Zvimba Rural District Council is not is eloquent in the delivery of social service delivery due to factors such as lack of public participation, lack of funding, corruption and lack of political will and poor governance by council employees.
Corruption
Amongst the founded causes of poor service delivery the major causal factor in the poor social services is corruption. Corruption has emerged to be the most contributing factor to poor service delivery in many local authorities. The findings made by the researcher indicate that most of the council officials at the local authority Zvimba Rural District council are being bribed to deliver services such as allocating stands to those who do not appear on waiting lists at the expense of others who may be waitlisted for up to more than seven years without getting any feedback from the council. Corruption at the local
47 authority has also been witnessed through the employment procedure whereby most of the general hands that renew their contracts annually are related to either councilors or council permanent employees. Indications were that most of the employees lack the necessary experience for the job description thus resulting in the poor delivery of social services.
Lack of public engagement
Lack of public engagement proved to be the other contributing factor to poor social service delivery by the Zvimba Rural District Council. The findings indicated that there is lack of coordination between the local authority and the communities under their jurisdiction. Factors leading to the sour relations are a result of council’s failure to meet residents on a regular basis to discuss issues of importance; they are only met during the budget consultation meetings. This has had a detrimental effect on the participation of the communities financially, materially and in the decision making process. Findings evidenced that the communities are failing to contribute through the payment of the rates and land development levy due as they are not aware of the fact that these rates are the councils sources of income for effective service delivery. Therefore this had pointed to the need for the council to engage and educate the public on the operation of the local authority, the rights of the communities and the
Lack of financial resources
Another major factor impeding the council form effectively delivering services to the local communities is lack of funding. This is in relation to the findings made by Mashuku etal(2015). Chanakira (2015) and Tamirepi (2015) and Center for Conflict Management (2012) where they all assert that the major contributing to poor service delivery is lack of funding emanating from the economic meltdown and a poor revenue base. However it should be noted that with the case of Zvimba Rural District Council the finding made through the interviews with the management staff indicates that the local authority has a wide revenue base however the challenges is that the local communities do not update their payment thus negatively impacting on the council budget.
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5.4 Recommendations 1. Embracing public participation is key to effective social service delivery, local authorities as institutions for effective good governance need to foster efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery systems.
2. There is need for the development of a legal framework that enhances political transparency, public participation through community driven initiatives and accountability to enable citizens to access information from local authorities.
3. There is need for educating the local communities on their rights and responsibilities in the provision of social services to ensure that they participate and provide the council with the finances for effective social service delivery.
4. There is also need for engaging the civil society organization in the needs assessments and provision of social services so that the Local authority delivers the services that fully respond to the needs of the people.
5. There is also need for the decentralization of the service provision and budget formulation process to ensure that the needs and contribution of land development levies of all the communities are captured.
Recommendation for further research studies
This researcher recommends that there is need for social workers to ascertain the role of social workers in local authorities so that the research can therefore be used as a tool to advocate for the need for social workers in every local authorities to ensure efficiency in social service provision.
It is also recommended that further researches be undertaken on the factors affecting relations between the local authorities and the people living in their areas of jurisdiction.
5.5 Conclusion The chapter looked at the summary findings and recommendations based on the research findings. the researcher found that the major factor impeding the local authorities from
49 effectively delivering services is lack of finances and public participation hence the need for engaging the local communities in the buffeting process and also educating them so that they are made aware of their rights and responsibilities in the provision of social services
50
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APPENDICES
Interview guide for Zvimba RDC staff members. My name is Musiiwa Nyasha , I am a student at Bindura University of Science Education , doing an Honors Degree in Social Work. In partial fulfillment of the above mentioned degree I am carrying out a study on ‘Social service provision by Zvimba Rural District Council. Opportunities and Challenges.’ In this regard I kindly request your assistance.
Confidentiality and Consent: This study will not collect information that can be used to identify you as an individual. You are free to take part or not to take part in this survey. At any time during the interview, if you feel uncomfortable to continue it will not be held against you but rather the interview will be immediately stopped. You are free not to respond to questions that you are not comfortable with. This interview is intended to take the shortest time possible.
Section A: Provision of social services
1. What is your position at Zvimba Rural District Council?
2. For how many years have you been employed at Zvimba Rural District Council?
3. What is your understanding of social services?
4. What is the major role of Zvimba Rural District Council in the provision of social services?
Section B: Management of social service delivery
5. How is social service delivery being managed by Zvimba Rural District Council?
6. What are the major sources of income for Zvimba Rural District Council?
7. How much is the budget allocation for Social Services at Zvimba Rural District Council?
Section C: Strengths
8. What are Zvimba Rural District Councils strengths in the provision of social services?
9. What is being done by the Local Authority to ensure the provision of equitable social services to the people living within the councils areas of jurisdiction? 55
Section D: Challenges
10. What are the major challenges being faced by Zvimba Rural District Council in the provision of social services?
11. What do you think are the major causes of these challenges?
Section E: Opportunities
12. Suggest ways in which social services delivery can be improved by Council.
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Questionnaire For Zvimba Staff Members. My name is Musiiwa Nyasha , I am a student at Bindura University of Science Education , doing an Honors Degree in Social Work. In partial fulfillment of the above mentioned degree I am carrying out a study on ‘Social service provision by Zvimba Rural District Council. Opportunities and Challenges.’ In this regard I kindly request your assistance.
Confidentiality and Consent: This study will not collect information that can be used to identify you as an individual. You are free to take part or not to take part in this survey. If you feel uncomfortable to continue it will not be held against you.
SECTION A: BIOGRAPHICAL DATA i) Age a)20-30 yrs( ) b) 31-41yrs ( ) c) 42-52yrs ( ) d) 53-63 yrs ( ) e) 64 yrs and above ( ) ii) Sex a) Female ( ) b) Male ( ) iii) Period of employment Zvimba District Council a) 1-10 years ( ) b) 11-20 years ( ) c) 21 and above ( ) iv) Position at Zvimba RDC …………………………….
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SECTION B: PROVISION OF SOCIAL SERVICES
1. What is your understanding of social services?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. What is the major role of Zvimba Rural District Council in the provision of social services?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
SECTION C: MANAGEMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICE DELIVERY
3. How is social service delivery being managed by Zvimba Rural District Council?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4. What are the major sources of income for Zvimba Rural District Council?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
5. What percentage of the budget is allocated to Social Services delivery by Zvimba Rural District Council?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
SECTION D: STRENGTHS
6. What are Zvimba Rural District Councils strengths in the provision of social services?
......
7. What is being done by the Local Authority to ensure the provision of equitable social services to the people living within the councils areas of jurisdiction?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
SECTION E: CHALLENGES
8. What are the major challenges being faced by Zvimba Rural District Council in the provision of social services?
58
...... 9. What do you think are the major causes of these challenges?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
SECTION F: OPPORTUNITIES
10. Suggest ways in which social services delivery can be improved by Council.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… .
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Focus Group Discussion Guide For Zvimba Residents My name is Musiiwa Nyasha , I am a student at Bindura University of Science Education , doing an Honors Degree in Social Work. In partial fulfillment of the above mentioned degree I am carrying out a study on ‘Social service provision by Zvimba Rural District Council. Opportunities and Challenges.’ In this regard I kindly request your assistance.
Confidentiality and Consent: This study will not collect information that can be used to identify you as an individual. You are free to take part or not to take part in this survey. At any time during the discussion, if you feel uncomfortable to continue it will not be held against you but rather the discussion will be immediately stopped. You are free not to respond to questions that you are not comfortable with. This Focus Group Discussion is intended to take the shortest time possible.
Date :……………………….
Venue:…………………….
Total Population : ………
Males ……
Females……….
Section A: Provision of social services
1. What are the social services being delivered by Zvimba rural District Council?
2. How effective are these services in meeting the needs of Zvimba residents?
Section B) Strengths
3. What are Zvimba Rural District Councils strengths in the provision of social services
4. What is being put in place by the local Authority in order to reach the residents with equitable social services?
Section C) Challenges facing the local authority 60
5. In your own view are there any challenges being faced by the council in the provision of social services?
6. If yes what are these challenges?
7. What are the major causes of these challenges
8. What are the major challenges faced by Zvimba Residents in accessing these services?
SECTION D: Governance
9. How often does council meet with Zvimba residents?
………………………………………………………………………………………………
10. How are the residents responding to taxes and rates (land development levy, rates, licenses and bus levy)?
Section E) Opportunities
11. What can be done to mitigate the challenges being faced by Zvimba Rural District Council?
61
Questionnaire : For Zvimba Residents My name is Musiiwa Nyasha , I am a student at Bindura University of Science Education , doing an Honors Degree in Social Work. In partial fulfillment of the above mentioned degree I am carrying out a study on ‘Social service provision by Zvimba Rural District Council. Opportunities and Challenges.’ In this regard I kindly request your assistance.
Instructions: Tick were applicable
Respond to all the questions on the questionnaire
SECTION A: BIOGRAPHICAL DATA i) Age a)20-30 yrs( ) b) 31-41yrs ( ) c) 42-52yrs ( ) d) 53-63 yrs ( ) e) 64 yrs and above ( ) ii) Sex a) Female ( ) b) Male ( ) iii) Marital status a) Single ( ) b) Married ( ) c) Widowed ( ) d) Divorced ( ) iv) Highest Educational Qualification
62 a) Primary ( ) b) Secondary () c) Tertiary ( ) v) Period of residence in Zvimba District a) 1-10 years ( ) b) 11-20 years ( ) c) 21 and above ( )
SECTION B :Provision of social services
1. What are the social services being provided by Zvimba Rural District council to it residents?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. Rate the social service delivery system by Zvimba Rural District Council
Poor
Fair good
Excellent
SECTION C:Strengths
3. What are Zvimba Rural District Councils strengths in the provision of social services?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4. What is being put in place by the local Authority in order to reach the residents with equitable social services?
63
……………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………
SECTION D: Challenges
5. What challenges are being faced by council in the provision of social services to the people living within its areas of jurisdiction
......
6. What do you think are the major causes of the poor social service delivery by council
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
SECTION E: Governance
7. How often does council meet with Zvimba residents?
………………………………………………………………………………………………
8. Rate the residents compliance to taxes and rates (land development levy, rates, licenses and bus levy)
Poor
Fair
Good
Excellent
SECTION F :Opportunities
9. In your own view what are the measures that can be taken to improve the social service delivery by Zvimba?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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10. Are there any social service delivery issues that have not been mentioned that need to be addressed? if yes please indicate below
……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Comments
……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Approval letters
66
67