Editorial 
Editorial 
In the last issue of JSDA, we published a small notice of the passing of the former 
Editor, Brigid Willmore. In this issue, we carry a tribute to her as we felt that this 
was appropriate, considering the amount of work, and commitment that she had 
accorded to the journal. Also, it is hoped that a lot of us will have something to learn 
from her life. 
The articles in this issue may cover a wide range of topics, but their focus 
is on change for the improvement of social work intervention policies had methods. 
Social work practice in Africa, in Kwaku Osei-Hwedie's words, "must find itself 
and this struggle to identify pertinent problems and ways of solving them - in the 
African context - is ongoing. The profession needs to seek its own identity-within 
the context of its own situations, for it to be understood, let alone taken seriously 
by all and sundry. Social work in Africa must be able to address the major social 
problems confronting the region. Etlwin Kaseke calls for change or reform in 
juvenile justice in Zimbabwe, citing the definition of criminal behaviour, age of 
criminal responsibility, legal representation of the juvenile among others, as areas 
that require change. He further calls for a leaning towards sympathy to the juvenile 
rather than a preoccupation with protecting society from the juvenile, for obvious 
reasons. The judicial system should reform for juvenile justice to be realised. The 
rights of the juvenile have to be taken into account. 
Talking of rights, Gloria Jacques argues that social work supervision 
should be introduced in order to safeguard the rights of the client, social worker and 
social work agency. While it is not unique to social work, supervision has a place 
in social work, because of the nature of the problems that confront social work. 
There is a shortage of qualified social workers and the profession is relatively 
young, which makes a case for the introduction and implementation of the 
institution of supervision, in order to enhance performance. 
Ebebe Ukpong brings in a fresh look at the factors that inhibit NGOs' role 
performance in rural development. He poses a challenge to researchers to unearth 
these problems through research, and find appropriate management strategies. 
Chris Tobayi wa brings in a new approach to research data gathering - using 
school children as research partners. He suggests, rightly too, that this approach 
can be very useful if adopted and adapted to suit peculiar research situations.