| Summary: | A dissertation submitted to the FACULTY OF ARTS in partial fulfillment of the requirements for MASTERS DEGREE IN SOCIAL WORK (Community work) in the Department of Social Work at the University of Zululand, 2000. === The purpose of this study is to identify the role played by women in the
agricultural development projects that are managed and worked by women in the Nseleni district of Kwazulu-Natal.
The other purpose of this study is to
establish the impact that these projects have.
Females are heads of families in many households of rural communities of
Nseleni. This is attributed to the fact that most males are working in remote
urban areas of the country. Many of these females are fully engaged in different
agricultural projects. When it comes to the administration of these projects,
women are relegated to the bottom of the ladder as regards positions. Nseleni is
under a tribal authority, which is composed of six different amaKhosi. In all
these tribal authorities, the second in charge, the Izinduna, are all males. This
has had a negative effect on the role of women in terms of getting access to
farming land, where they have to get a male guarantor. Looking at extension
officers, particularly from the government, most of them are males. This
imbalance in the government employees has also influenced decisions taken to
favour males. This is contrary to the 2020 vision of the Department of
Agriculture which is to unlock agricultural development and to improve service
delivery in KwaZulu-Natal without any gender discrimination. This vision is
aiming to use participatory methodologies in involving communities at large in
agricultural development.
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