Journal of Social Development in Africa (1986), 1, 67-80 
Social Work Research in Relation to Social 
Development in Zimbabwe* 
VERONICA BRAND + 
Social workers have traditionally been concerned with social problems. 
Some of the fundamental assumptions that underlie much of social work 
practice are that social malfunctioning is at the root of all social problems, 
that problems can be dealt with on a one-to-one level and that individuals 
can be helped to 'adjust'. In recent years, there has been a growing struggle 
to localise social work processes and knowledge in a Third World setting, 
and to move away from an uncritical use of many of the values and models 
of intervention that were derived in Western society. Developmental social 
work, as described by Mutiso (1979), recognised that the problems of the 
individual in social functioning are rooted in the pattern of economic and 
social relationships that prevail in a given society. In most countries of 
Africa the glaring inequalities in society that characterised the colonial period 
have continued into the period of independence, though sometimes to a lesser 
degree. There are still institutional, social, cultural, economic and other 
impediments to the mobilisation of resources for the betterment of society. 
Social development aims to remove these impediments. Although the precise 
meaning of social development is less than clear, I am taking it as being 
development which makes man/woman the focus of development efforts, 
which seeks both to respond to people's needs and mobilise existing resources 
for greater self-reliance at local, national and international levels, in other 
words, a people-centred development. 
As a result of this trend it is hardly surprising that in Zimbabwe, as in 
other Third World countries, there is a marked convergence between the 
concerns of social workers and those of other development workers and 
rural change agents. The question then arises, what role if any can social 
work research play in relation to social development here in Zimbabwe? 
To approach this question I plan to do the following: 
1) to explore what is meant by social work research and to outline the main 
aspects historically and in the present; 
2) to consider some of the pertinent facts about social work research in 
Zimbabwe and what has been happening over the last few years; 
* A paper presented at a seminar on 'Social Work and Social Development', School of Social 
Work, Harare, October, 1984. 
+ Sr. V. Brand RSHM, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Work, P. Bag 66022, Kopje, Harare, 
Zimbabwe.
Veronica Brand 
to consider the justification for social work research and its potential 
%Mxibution to social development in Zimbabwe; 
Ho touch on some of the problems and pitfalls; 
ilto develop some guidelines as to how it could be developed; 
sand finally to offer some recommendation for the future. 
" icial work research 
fc review of the origins of social work research as it developed in the 
'Western world shows that it grew out of a strong recognition of the need for 
Nfcial reform. Its aim was to disclose facts about the social and economic 
ing conditions of the poor and disadvantaged groups in society that could 
'"•Hfcitivate reform and that could serve as a basis for remedial action. Social 
research at the turn of the century in Britain and the US was explicitly 
^Hue-committed and change-oriented. Marsh (1983) argues that the earliest 
'"trial work researchers understood and articulated the two main factors 
distinguish social work research from social science research, namely: 
pragmatic focus, and the direct experience of the investigators with the 
Articular social problem under investigation and their consequent 
%olvement in the issue(s) concerned. 
Edith Abbott, an important social work pioneer and a founder of the 
"S&hool of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago, 
^ igued that subjective concern about a problem, be it abandoned children, 
UJ&stitute elderly or conditions in the workhouses, informed rather than 
*:istorted research. Caring was not incompatible with research. In fact it 
t*ten provided the necessary impetus for consequent social action. 
There are many examples of this early research which was applied 
action-oriented and related to the social, economic and political 
Gfcots of poverty. I believe that this same principle underlies research for 
dfccial development in Africa today. Some of these best known early studies 
Included Booth's Survey (a seventeen volume picture of the 'Life and 
• ssabour' of the people of London), the Pittsburgh Survey and others. Much 
iff this early social work research was descriptive in nature. A great deal of 
a*dth was placed in the power of facts with the underlying philosophy of "If 
r we can only tell it as it is this will provoke change". But this is not always 
case. Knowing about the destruction potential of nuclear missiles does 
«tot end stockpiling of nuclear weapons. Detailed information about high 
s™wels of infant mortality, malnutrition and inadequate health services does 
«ot 'shock' governments into action today any more than it did before. The 
'««ork of Dorothea Dix on the treatment and care of the mentally ill was 
S Jnored for a long time before it was followed up by an intensive advocacy 
KO»r change and reform. It was only when it was realised that facts can lose
Social Work Research in Relation to Social Development in Zimbabwe <jp 
their power to produce action and that there is no certain link between 
producing evidence of need and ensuring effective political and 
administrative action to remedy a situation, that a second dimension was 
developed. This was the diagnostic type of study, whereby researchers tried 
to analyse the nature and causes of social problems. These two aspects, 
description and diagnosis, form the first major focus of social work 
research, namely achieving an understanding of social problems and the 
processes that are the target of social welfare policies and programmes. 
A second major trend in social work research developed since the 1930s, 
and has dominated the last twenty years in the Western world. The 
emphasis here has moved to evaluation. How effective are our services, our 
programmes and out methods of intervention? This second type of social 
work research requires a different type of knowledge for its aim is to assess 
the impact and consequences of specific interventions. How effective are 
they? This was in some senses developmental in that it led to the 
development and testing of new techniques in social work. "Assessment of 
outcome" studies have been particularly popular where programmes have 
been esablished for some time and have involved a deployment of resources, 
financial and human. To what extent can this be justified? Is one 
programmes and our methods of intervention? This second type of social work 
research requires a different type of knowledge for its aim is to assess 
established. In a thought-provoking article, Jeanne Marsh argues the 
historical (past) and continuing importance of both these types of social 
work knowledge. Social work must continue to focus on (a) descriptive and 
"understanding oriented' research relevant to an understanding of social 
work processes and social problems as well as (b) evaluative and 'changeoriented' 
research aimed at producing knowledge that is aimed at improving 
and refining methods of intervention. 
There is a third type of research of more recent origin that is not the 
preserve of social workers and yet that has great importance for social 
workers today, particularly in Third World settings. That is participatory 
research. What is participatory research? Using a working definition that 
was developed by the International meeting in Toronto in 1977, we can 
answer by saying: 
Participatory research is an approach in social research by which the 
full participation of the community is sought in analysing its own 
reality for the purpose of promoting social transformation for the 
benefit of the participants in the research. These participants are the 
oppressed, the marginated, the exploited. The activity is thus one of 
education, research and social action. 
This approach has been tried in various settings — perhaps most notably 
in Latin America. Its use is deeply affected by the model of the relationship 
between theory and practice that is adopted. In a setting where 
functionalism dominates, the tendency has been to refer to 'action
Veronica Brand 70 
research'. This type of research views change within the acceptance of a 
consensus model of society. Change is adjustment, perhaps in the 
programme being introduced, the project being implemented. It does not 
call for any changes on the macro-level of social, political and economic 
institutions. On the other hand, where a conflict view of society 
predominates, a more radical type of alternative form of action-oriented 
research has evolved. This calls into question the existing socio-economicpolitical 
system and aims at social transformation, rather than marginal 
adjustment at the micro level. Seen in this light, participatory research is a 
radical alternative to the traditional method of research used in 
functionalist based sociological enquiry. As explained by Gianotten and de 
Witt (1983) it is based on the premises that 
— knowledge does not exist as separate from practice 
— the knowledge accumulated by people must continuously be appraised 
— knowledge is a social product and goes through a cycle of change 
— traditional distance between 'subject' and 'object' in classic research is 
unacceptable 
— it is not possible to separate 'facts' from 'values', that is, research cannot 
be neutral. 
Seen in this light, participatory research opts for research activities in 
which grass-roots groups participate directly. Such groups are not passive 
objects of quantitatively oriented surveys, but rather active agents in the 
process of generating knowledge geared to change. Hence participatory 
research is by definition an educational experience for those involved, be 
they the peasants themselves or the professionals who form part of the 
team. 
Social Work Research in Zimbabwe 
Although it is in its relative infancy, I believe that social work research in 
Zimbabwe is beginning to come into its own, albeit in a somewhat 
haphazard fashion. There are a number of factors which could be seen to 
have contributed to that: some of them in the society at large, some within 
the social work agencies and others within the School of Social Work as a 
training institution. 
Zimbabwe 
The social, political and economic circumstances associated with 
independence, the end of war, the Zimcord donor aid conference of 1981, 
the arrival of international organisations and funding groups, embassies 
and many other events have all helped to launch a new era of prospecting 
for facts, almost as frantic as the mineral prospecting of the 'gold rush' to
Social Work Research in Relation to Social Development in Zimbabwe 71 
Rhodesia a century ago. A newly independent Zimbabwe offers a unique 
opportunity for all types of research, and many recent developments have 
occurred that widen the opportunities. For example, various government 
commissions of enquiry have been established, such as the Riddell 
Commission, Agricultural Commission, Commission on Taxes, etc., which 
are aimed at information gathering as well as policy formulation. Various 
research units have also been established in the major departments of 
central and local government, (Department of Social Welfare, City of 
Harare Research and Planning Unit, City of Harare, Health Department 
(Research Unit)). Furthermore the restructured Centre for Applied Social 
Studies at the University, and the Zimbabwe Institute for Development 
Studies are important organs of research. There has also been a renewed 
government commitment to national efforts of information gathering, and 
social workers have frequently played key roles in the exercise. In addition 
to the 1982 census, a number of national surveys were undertaken using 
social work personnel, including the Manpower Survey. Disability Survey, 
Housing Demand Survey, Informal Sector Survey, National Household 
Capability Programme Survey, the situation of rural women, urban 
transport survey and a survey of Co-operatives (by the University). 
Social workers' involvement with research 
A 1983 follow-up study of the Harare School of Social Work graduates 
revealed that former students were employed in as many as ten ministries of 
government and in a number of innovative capacities in addition to the 
more traditional types of social work jobs within the Department of Social 
Welfare. However, there was still a clear urban bias with slightly more 
than half of the respondents working in Harare. However, of these, quite a 
number operate out of urban offices but cover specified peri-urban and 
rural areas. The same follow-up study revealed that although few graduates 
cited research as their major tasks, one third of all those respondents said 
that they had been personally responsible for carrying out at least one 
research project. In almost all cases this was part of their work. Areas 
covered included: research in squatter settlements, housing and urban 
development projects, studies of personnel training needs, education related 
research, research on women's issues, and action research in the 
community. 
From the above it was evident that social work Diploma graduates have 
been widely involved in carrying out research projects over the course of the 
last few years, whether they were employed by central or local government, 
voluntary or private organisations. Still others had been involved in a 
subsidiary capacity. But in marked contrast, very few of the Diploma 
graduates had published any material in professional journals or other 
publications, thus showing that most research projects are agency rather 
than public documents.
72 Veronica Brand 
The Harare School of Social Work 
Research is, however, taking on increasing importance in the curriculum 
and the orientation of the School of Social Work. This can be illustrated by 
touching briefly on four main areas, that of dissertations, fieldwork, 
research projects and the curriculum. 
(i) BSW dissertations We are now in the tenth year of our BSW 
programme. There are 56 dissertations that have been written during the 
past nine years and are now available as public documents in the University 
and School of Social Work libraries. Despite the obvious variation in 
quality, relevance, depth of analysis and scope of project, these represent a 
substantial body of empirically-based studies covering a wide range of 
social development areas. The vast majority of them are case studies 
(dealing often with particular institutions, such as Jairos Jiri, Matthew 
Rusike Children's Home, etc.), and most have an urban focus, with only 
eight involving rural research. This latter fact is largely explained (but not 
totally) by the fact that rural research was not possible during the situation 
prevailing in the pre-Independence period. In terms of .subject matter, 1 
have a community work emphasis, 8 casework, 7 residential, 7 industrial 
and 5 Psychiatric/Medical. 
From the above it appears that although most of the dissertations written 
depend on research in urban areas, the majority of them have a 
developmental focus. The focus on access to such basic needs as education, 
shelter and health is indicative of some developmental orientation. Less 
easily explained is the focus on industrial social work settings. 
(ii) Fieldwork assignments Increasingly, students have been involved in 
research programmes as part of their fieldwork assignments. All students 
are now required to do one fieldwork placement in a rural setting. These 
assignments have ranged from the more traditional type of large scale 
survey to the informal participatory research project. Some are examples of 
'action oriented' research, and others offer the more elusive hope of 
indirect benefit to the community through policy development and 
programme initiations. Examples include: evaluation of women's clubs 
activities, monitoring and evaluation of two low-cost housing schemes, 
Redd Barna — assessment of needs of children in resettlement areas, survey 
of disabled for Cheshire Foundation, and agency evaluation exercises. 
(Hi) School research projects Over the course of the last six or seven years 
the School has become increasingly involved in research projects with a view 
to generating local material based on empirical research, while at the same 
time improving and expanding social services and helping to formulate 
policy in key areas. Setting up a fieldwork unit, first urban and then rural, 
has helped to bring the School more into touch with the community in 
particular areas of on-going involvement, including some monitoring and 
evaluation, and to link with research efforts. The main areas of research 
have so far involved the problems of the aged and the process of aging, the 
informal sector, follow-up of former students and evaluation of academic
Social Work Research in Relation to Social Development in Zimbabwe -j3 
programmes at the School of Social Work, documentation and analysis of 
origins of two local agencies, and the social and economic situation of 
paraplegics. 
(iv) Research in the teaching Curriculum Over the course of the last five 
years there has been a move to teaching research methods as a subject linked 
to practicum and project, experimental learning. 
Justification for social work research in Zimbabwe 
The need for local research in all areas of development work is underlined 
by the present state of the global economy and the need for a New 
International Economic Order. At present, there is a heavy dependence of 
the underdeveloped South on the technologically superior and industrialised 
North. Research is generally centred in the North with the result that many 
of the technological and informational innovations are developed in an 
industrialised setting in response to needs of people whose lives, problems 
and concerns are often light years away from those of the rural poor of 
Africa. This northern research bias leads to a perpetuation of the 
dependency syndrome whereby research is carried out in first world 
countries with little if any possibility for locals to develop the necessary 
skills. It also results in high levels of specialisation, sometimes in 
inappropriate areas, and also allows research experts and consultants to 
come to African countries on expensive consultancies, sometimes diverting 
important resources to research questions that are often remote from the 
people and have few, if any, meaningful returns to the rural poor. 
Hence there is need to foster locally-based relevant research efforts that 
find their roots in the experience of the country and can be planned, 
conducted and analysed by local people. As Marcos (1982) notes, "such 
research could relieve Africa of its dependence on imported research 
findings that are not always useful and often alien to the African 
environment". Strengthening local research capabilities requires both 
curriculum changes in training programmes so that the middle level 
development workers are able to be involved meaningfully in such research 
projects, and also the establishment and development of data banks at the 
national level that are accessible to research workers. Such data banks 
would then facilitate the exchange and flow of information locally and 
within a given region. 
A second main reason for saying that social work research is essential to 
social development in Zimbabwe is that there is at present a dearth of 
important information that is necessary for formulation of appropriate 
policies and development of programmes for rural development. The first 
level is that of the generation of baseline sociological and anthropological 
information on communities earmarked for development intervention:
74 Veronica Brand 
knowledge about such things as locus of community decision-making, 
social networks, power structures, etc. Sellassie (1982) notes that "change 
agents often plan their interventions on the basis of inadequate knowledge 
of the socio-cultural environment, and of false assumptions of what people 
want and how they will respond to situations critical for life". This is most 
clearly seen in relation to particular areas where knowledge is sketchy and 
programmes are develped on the basis of what are often unwarranted 
assumptions. Bazin (1982) notes that special emphasis, for example, is 
necessary in questions relating to women's problems in general. Why? 
Because there is lack of sufficient information and valid research to 
document just how important in national research exercises such as census 
emunerations and national studies (which are usually quantitative and 
aggregate in nature) tend to ignore important differences by sex. Even the 
concepts themselves, as well as the ways of conducting the surveys, need to 
be revised in light of accurate knowledge rooted in the experience of the 
rural poor. A clear example of this is the use of such concepts as 
'economically active' which, by quirk of definition, ignores the key 
economic contribution of women in the peasant economy to the overall 
national GNP. 
A third basis for justifying social work research as having an important 
contribution to make to social development in Zimbabwe is that, being 
more openly value-committed than pure social science research, it can play 
an important role in critically appraising past and present policies and 
helping to develop innovative alternatives. It can therefore help to assess 
and identify community needs and assist in the evolution of programmes, 
continuously monitor and eventually evaluate the projects undertaken. In 
this way it can provide feedback to the implementing authorities, either 
government or NGO, and can help to refine programmes and policies. This is 
a major function of action research and an important supplement to 
traditional methods of social welfare. 
In summary I suggest that social work research in Zimbabwe today, if it is 
to contribute to social development, may be called upon to: explore new 
areas, things about which little is yet known. It can also describe accurately 
situations that are the life of our people, and diagnose causes of social 
problems, be they delinquency, non-participation in community activities 
or whatever. It might also be called upon, to evaluate programmes, 
projects, development efforts and modes of intervention. 
Pitfalls and Problems 
But there are many possible problems and pitfalls for Zimbabwean social 
work research in its contribution to social development. Some of the main 
pitfalls have been identified by Chambers as a set of biases. Chambers was
Social Work Research in Relation to Social Development in Zimbabwe 75 
discussing the phenomenon of 'rural tourism', where brief rural"visits are 
made by urban core personnel (for example researchers) to peripheral rural 
areas. Due to shortage of time and the importance of the visitors vis-a-vis 
the locals, the rural tourist's desire for information can be satisfied in ways 
that direct the information considerably. Refugees in a rural camp in 
Tanzania said of UN officials, "They come and they sign the book and they 
go. They only talk with the buildings." Chambers elaborated on the 
phenomenon of rural tourism by listing six biases, biases that also deeply 
influence rural research. The spatiat bias means the concentration of 
research in urban, tarmac or roadside settings. The concentration of 
research in and near urban centres is often done for good reasons, such as 
making contact with key people, providing ease of access and quick 
contacts, and being 'cheap' in terms of transport and fuel and using less 
travelling time, yet the result is a focus on the economically advantaged 
peri-urban areas. The project bias means that rural research tends to focus 
on well-known showpiece projects, concentrating on the exceptional rather 
than the typical because they have greater visibility. This bias creates greater 
interest among researchers, more investment by donors, and more research. 
The person bias means that rural research focuses on the less poor. Political 
and social protocol means that the elites often dictate who will subsequently 
be interviewed; cultural constraints often screen women from researchers 
(especially when the researchers are male), and the male heads of 
households speak for the whole family; those who are successful, adopted 
innovations and use services are usually the more visible, and the person 
bias concentrates research on the active, present and living, at the expense 
of the inactive, the sick, migrants and those who have died. As Chambers 
notes, "Much of the worst poverty is hidden by its removal." Dry-season 
bias means that rural research tends to concentrate on that part of the year 
where harvests are in and food is more plentiful and there is likely to be less 
disease. The professional bias means that researchers often concentrate on 
their own particular area of interest and fail to adopt a 'holistic' approach 
to the problem. This bias can result in unnecessary duplication of effort. 
The politeness bias can mean that culturally prescribed factors inhibit 
contact between researchers and the poorest people. 
Another net of problems for meaningful social work research in rural 
areas relates to the 'brain drain' within Zimbabwe and all third world 
countries. There is an inverse law of rural contact, whereby the older and 
more influential one gets, the more separated one becomes from the realities 
of rural conditions. More experienced researchers tend to get trapped in 
town by work and administrative responsibilities, to say nothing of family 
commitments and promotion chances. The trend for social work graduates 
to get employment in industry and the private sector also exacerbates this 
problem. 
A further issue is that of the appropriateness of some research. Research
76 Veronica Brand 
can be inappropriate in its stress on rigorous scientific standards — and 
restriction to what are considered to be 'hard facts', use of time-consuming 
methods of sampling, and failure to take account of the impact of cultural 
factors. Quality can sometimes be sacrificed to quantity, as vast amounts of 
data are gathered, sometimes indiscriminately, without sufficient emphasis 
on reliability. An example of this was brought home to me recently in a 
rural fieldwork situation where a student discovered that the interpreter 
who was being used by her supervisor was distorting the answers given by 
the rural women. Had the student not broken it to her, she would have 
returned to England happy with her numerous taped interviews. Another 
pitfall, almost the opposite of inappropriate research, is to ignore the 
obvious, the project or the programme in which one is personally involved 
and which needs to be documented. 
Tentative guidelines for developmental^ oriented social work research 
Perhaps the most obvious principle that can be offered to guide 
development oriented social research is that prof erred by Marcos (1982), 
that it be action-oriented and applied. Hence it must have concrete links to 
possibilities for change. The need to guard against divorcing research from 
action and seeing the project as ended when the report is submitted is 
paramount here. Premature truncation of community studies is, according 
to Vintor and Tropman (1974), one of the prevailing pathologies of 
community studies. Secondly, social work practitioners need to be 
personally involved in research, and cannot leave it to social scientists 
alone. It is social workers through their experience in the field, who are 
familiar with service delivery systems and with their clients, the public 
assistance recipients or peasant farmers struggling to form a co-operative. 
Writing more than fifty years ago, Edith Abbott argued that social work 
practice must be central to the social work research enterprise. She stated 
that: 
"If social research is to go on, it can only develop scientifically with 
the help of well trained social workers. All the investigation 
techniques in the world will produce nothing but a multiplication of 
dullness unless those who are doing the work have a keen 
understanding of the problems that are to be solved. Otherwise the 
investigator is a headless machine" (as quoted in Marsh, 1983). 
Thirdly, research should be applied to concrete problems originating in 
the field and not in the imagination of the researcher, nor in a foreign 
textbook. In this way it will deal with questions that are relevant to policy 
and will assist in policy formulation. This must also avoid the pitfall of 
rationalisation whereby a study is undertaken simply to justify the existence 
of the agency, the programme, or the project under review rather than to 
meet a felt need in the community. There is always the danger of goal
Social Work Research in Relation to Social Development in Zimbabwe yj 
subversion. Fourthly, such research should be committed to a participatory 
approach involving the rural people as much as possible in the research 
process, as subject and co-investigator rather than as passive object. 
Fifthly, in a Third World setting there is a need for research to have a strong 
reality base. A clear knowledge of the actual availability of resources helps 
to guard against the pitfall of utopianism, which fails to consider 
sufficiently the constraints of the real world and often leads to proposals 
being discarded as unrealistic or inappropriate because they are geared more 
to the ideal than to the real. Chambers argued that there is often need to 
move against the tradition of research and the bias of the educational 
system itself, in its stress on accumulating more and mor,e knowledge 
because knowledge is seen as good in itself. Any data collecting exercise 
needs to address the important question: "How much information is 
needed in the light of such issues as: 
— Who will process and use it? 
— What benefits will accrue? 
— What simplification can be introduced? 
— What results will be available in the time for utilisation? 
— What will it cost? (cf. Deboek and Kinsey, 1980). 
Finally, social work research for social development must produce 
findings that reach policy makers, and can be meaningful to them. DeBoeck 
and Kinsey argue that there are a number of factors responsible for the fact 
that information gathered by monitoring and evaluation units is seldom 
used appropriately. Sometimes this is because it is overly academic, 
sometimes the management is not involved and fails to see its use, 
sometimes the presentation is not linked to the needs of the user and 
sometimes the delay between research and publication is so long that it is 
outdated by the time it is presented (some examples of five year delays are 
mentioned). It is important to find ways and means of effectively 
communicating research findings to policy makers and ensuring that they 
are incorporated into public decision-making processes. 
Suggestions 
The following suggestions are offered regarding areas where social work 
research could be integrated more fully into social development efforts: 
Collaborative efforts 
I suggest that more use could be made of the multi-disciplinary approach to 
research. To prevent duplication of efforts and to ensure a 'holistic' 
approach to problems of rural poverty, more use could be made of research 
teams comprising people of different specialist orientations who agree to 
collaborate on development-oriented research.
78 Veronica Brand 
Easier access to studies carried out 
Communication is an important part of research and it often falls down at 
the completion stage. The study is completed, date analysed and then 
silence sets in . Here I would like to make a plea that completed reports be 
made public. This seems to be noticeably absent in the case of a number of 
recent studies that have aroused interest — but the final report of which is 
yet to be available to interested parties. I would also suggest that there 
should be more circulation of 'in house' publications and occasional 
seminars or workshops held on topics to disseminate information for the 
purposes of collaborative-action. 
A national network for sharing and communicating research findings 
should be established. This could facilitate circulation of updated bulletins 
or synopsis of projects being carried out as well as occasional abstracts of 
findings or reports. This would help to pool information, prevent 
duplication and help to strengthen the national research potential in the 
development field. It would also help to overcome the professional bias 
identified by Chambers by exposing professionals to studies from other 
fields. 
Small is beautiful 
Despite the need for 'thinking big' in terms of collaboration, sharing and 
pooling of research experience, I believe that 'small is beautiful' is a good 
moto for appropriate development social work research. Not that our vision 
or our scope should be small or narrow, far from it. We should be 
concerned with people-centred research, the village, the adult literacy 
group, the co-operative. To be able to document the inside workings of 
these is important. We must start where people are, help them to tell their 
story, for research is contemporary history. Aggregate data quantifies facts 
about nations, regions, districts and towns but often hides the human face 
of poverty. They tell us the dimensions of the problems (be it malnutrition, 
illiteracy or prostitution) but they seldom touch on its reality. They do not 
tell us what it is like to be illiterate, why so many people are still illiterate, 
what are the factors that perpetuate illiteracy. They can be ignored because 
they are just numbers, like the facts that fill our newspapers or screens. I 
feel that social workers have an important task to tell the human story, to 
record cases to help us to understand better such things as how communities 
emerge, how club objectives change, how and why decisions in cooperatives 
occur. To be relevant to social development, I believe that social 
work research must build on the base of small studies, involving 
communities in the process. It is in the light of these that bigger policy issues 
can be viewed and evaluated. 
Participatory research 
More use should be made of participatory research projects. At the 
FFHC/AD Regional Seminar in the Ivory Coast, (December 1982) 
participants from various African countries presented case studies. Analysis
Social Work Research in Relation to Social Development in Zimbabwe 7p 
and discussion of these case studies reinforced the participants' view that 
development programmes in Africa have brought rural people far less 
benefits than anticipated, and that attempts to develop rural areas without 
participation is doomed to failure. Hence the importance of involving 
people in all stages of project formulation and implementation. For this to 
be a reality, the projects must be designed in relation to the availability of 
local resources, local conditions and people's capacity for management and 
organisation of projects. Hence, 'small is beautiful'. 
Support system 
I believe there is need for a support system for practitioners to be involved 
in research. Innovation and experimentation must be borne out of practice, 
not out of the ivory tower of top administration offices or academic 
curiosity. Polansky (1960) argues that "it is necessary to be a practitioner in 
order to sustain creativity". Most of what is new comes from the firing line 
of direct practice! If that is true, then those on the 'front line' of rural 
development work must take the initiative in research even through the 
monitoring and evaluation of projects in which they are currently involved. 
To do this, they may need to rely on a support system. This can be in the 
form of access to resources (e.g. library, finance, personnel, the sounding 
board of other interested development workers, etc.). It is not limited to the 
School of Social Work though I would certainly suggest that the School 
might be able to play a very supportive role in this regard. As staff, we have 
already considered the possible mutual benefit to be derived from a 
'partnership' type of association on given projects involving staff and 
students in a back-up capacity. This would have the added benefit of 
enriching our teaching input, providing useful material for seminars, 
discussions, other fieldwork projects, etc. 
Poverty oriented research 
My final suggestion concerns the need for and importance of poverty 
orientated research, so that social work practice in Zimbabwe can be 
reoriented so as to take on a truly developmental role in transforming our 
society. This is the challenge facing us.
80 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
BAZIN D 
BRAND V 
CHAMBERS R 
DEBOEK G and KINSEY B 
GIANOTTEN V and deWIT T 
HALL B 
MARCOS S 
MARSH J 
MUTISO R 
POLANSKY S G 
VINTER R D and TROPMAN J E 
Veronica Brand 
1982 "The Role of Women in Rural Development in 
Africa: Implications for Social Services" in The 
Organisation and Delivery of Social Services to 
Rural Areas. ASWEA Doc. 19, ASWEA, Addis 
Ababa. 
1983 "School of Social Work Graduates 1971-81: A 
follow-up study of Work and Educational 
Experiences", School of Social Work, Harare 
(unpublished mimeo). 
1980 Rural Poverty Unperceived: Problems and 
Remedies, World Bank Working Paper No. 400, 
World Bank, Washington. 
1980 Managing Information for Rural Development: 
Lessons from East Africa, World Bank Working 
Paper No. 379, World Bank, Washington. 
1983 "Rural Development, Education and Social 
Research", Ideas and Action, 153, 10-17. 
1978 "Which side are you on?" Ideas and Action, 
124, 3-6. 
1982 "Human Resources Development and its 
Utilisation in Africa" in Report of a Seminar: 
The Organisation and Delivery of Social Services 
in Rural Areas. ASWEA Doc. 19, ASWEA, 
Addis Ababa. 
1983 "Research and Innovation in Social Work 
Practice: Avoiding the Headless Machine" 
Social Service Review, 57, 582-598. 
1979 "Developmental Social Work", Journal for 
Social Work Education in Africa, III, 17-24. 
1982 "Manpower Development Strategies for Social 
Development in Africa", Journal for Social 
Work Education in Africa, IV, 17-28. 
1960 Social Work Research, Chicago Press, Chicago. 
1974 "The Causes and Consequences of Community 
Studies" in Strategies of Community 
Organisation, edited by Cox et al Itasca, F.E. 
Peacock.