IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/tec/journl/v27y2022i1p717-726.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The importance of social work roles in disaster risk management in Zimbabwe

Author

Listed:
  • Dickson Machimbidza

    (Department of Social Work, University of Limpopo, South Africa)

  • Louis Nyahunda

    (Department of Social Work, University of Limpopo, South Africa)

  • Jabulani C. Makhubele

    (Department of Social Work, University of Limpopo, South Africa)

Abstract

This study was aimed at exploring the efficacy of social work roles in disaster risk management in Zimbabwe in the face of climatic changes. It was carried out in Binga district, Matebeleland-North province using the qualitative methodology and a case study design. The study sample was comprised of 8 practicing social workers. Snowballing and purposive sampling techniques were used to select these participants. Data were collected through in-depth interviews using an interview guide. Thematic content analysis was employed to analyze the collected data. It was found that social workers play essential roles before, during and after disasters. On disaster preparedness, it was established that social workers assume roles of educators, community workers and disaster planners. Moreover, it was found that they play the roles of case managers, administrators of social protection and counselors during the disaster response phase of disaster risk management. Subsequently they also act as advocates, development facilitators as well as monitoring and evaluation personnel in the disaster recovery phase. As per the findings, the study recommends that social workers be recognized as essential in disaster risk management at both policy and practice level. Further, there is need to enhance social work training education for flexibility and contextual application of social work knowledge in the field of disaster risk management for quality realization of green social work in Zimbabwe.

Suggested Citation

  • Dickson Machimbidza & Louis Nyahunda & Jabulani C. Makhubele, 2022. "The importance of social work roles in disaster risk management in Zimbabwe," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 27(1), pages 717-726, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:tec:journl:v:27:y:2022:i:1:p:717-726
    DOI: 10.47577/tssj.v27i1.5554
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://techniumscience.com/index.php/socialsciences/article/view/5554/1988
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://techniumscience.com/index.php/socialsciences/article/view/5554
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.47577/tssj.v27i1.5554?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emmanuel Mavhura, 2020. "Learning from the tropical cyclones that ravaged Zimbabwe: policy implications for effective disaster preparedness," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 104(3), pages 2261-2275, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Feiyue Wang & Ziling Xie & Zhongwei Pei & Dingli Liu, 2022. "Emergency Relief Chain for Natural Disaster Response Based on Government-Enterprise Coordination," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-22, September.
    2. Mavhura, Emmanuel & Raj Aryal, Komal, 2023. "Disaster mortalities and the Sendai Framework Target A: Insights from Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    3. repec:thr:techub:10027:y:2022:i:1:p:717-726 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social work; Disaster risk management; climate change; Zimbabwe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tec:journl:v:27:y:2022:i:1:p:717-726. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tasente Tanase (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.