Thembelihle Brenda Makhanya

Climate-induced disasters are escalating globally, with profound impacts in South Africa, mostly affecting marginalised individuals and communities. The recurring floods between 2022, 2023, and 2024 in the South African provinces of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and the Eastern Cape (EC) have exposed the exceptional vulnerability of woman-headed households living in rural communities and in informal settlements. This study explores the lived experiences of woman-headed households who survived flood events and analyse how gender, class, and environmental injustice intersect to shape their vulnerability and resilience. Utilising a qualitative descriptive design, this article is guided by the Social Justice theory and Eco-social feminist perspective. It interrogates the intersections of climate change, gender inequality, and socio-economic precarity, using empirical data from eighteen (18) women flood survivors to foreground the vulnerabilities and resilience strategies of woman-headed households. The findings of the in-depth individual interviews and thematic analysis illustrate the compounding effects of structural violence, economic precarity, intensified caregiving burdens, and housing insecurity. It became clear that participants were not only profoundly affected but were also first responders, organisers, and caregivers in the absence of immediate state support. The study advocates for a feminist-informed, eco-justice-aligned social work praxis that centres lived experiences and community resilience in disaster preparedness, mitigation, and recovery. Ultimately, the article reveals the urgent need for gender-sensitive disaster risk reduction strategies and the enhanced integration of social work in climate adaptation interventions. A justice-oriented approach is urgently needed to address the systemic failures that render woman-headed households vulnerable to recurring climate disasters.

Flood disasters pose severe threats to vulnerable populations, demanding urgent and contextually grounded responses from the social work profession. This qualitative study, guided by green social work principles, explores the lived experiences of 23 survivors of major flooding events in the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa in 2022, 2023, and 2024. It explores the psychosocial and material impact of floods as a climate-induced disaster, survivors’ coping strategies, and implications for social work practice and education. Using purposive sampling, semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals directly affected by flooding. Thematic analysis revealed profound effects on emotional well-being, housing, livelihoods, and community cohesion. Participants recounted trauma, displacement, and economic hardship but also demonstrated resilience through social networks and cultural knowledge. The findings expose a significant gap in social work’s current response to climate-related crises. The study calls for a realignment of social work education and practice to incorporate ecological justice, trauma-informed care, disaster preparedness, and culturally sensitive interventions. Centering African experiences, the study advocates for a paradigm shift toward sustainable and inclusive approaches, contributing to the growing relevance of green social work in addressing environmental challenges.

This article argues that environmental citizenship and climate change debates have been an elitist subject, not only because they are embedded in Western ideologies but also because natural and environmental science disciplines dominate them. This hegemony occurs against the backdrop of climate change affecting all nations and people alike, which suggests a need for diversified models and context-specific and inter/multidisciplinary interventions. This article calls for a holistic approach to the achievement of an eco-social world, an approach that acknowledges African values, to curb climate change disasters. Using the conceptual analysis and Afrocentric social work worldview, this article discusses the People’s Charter for an Eco-Social World, a framework adopted during the People’s Global Summit held online from 29 June to 2 July 2022. The summit focused on the theme ‘Co-Building a New Eco-Social World: Leaving No One Behind,’ a central emphasis of this article. The discussion illuminates the nexus between the People’s Charter, Afrocentric values and the values of the social work profession. The core values of the People’s Charter, including inclusivity, respect, solidarity, ubuntu and buen vivir, align with social work principles and offer a path towards environmental justice. This article also highlights the implications of incorporating African-aligned values into an international policy instrument. It thus recommends Afrocentric green social work as a holistic and inclusive approach to climate change debates that are likely to achieve an eco-social world for all.

The study employed a qualitative research approach and emancipatory framework to explore students’ experiences with blended learning and emergency remote online learning (EROL). Two data sets were collected from two projects using focus group discussions and semi-structured individual interviews. The findings highlighted that although technological advancement in universities increased access to information, the needs of the disadvantaged students remain overlooked. EROL and/or blended learning adopted by the universities did not address the fundamentals of access to teaching and learning for the disadvantaged, but focused on institutional needs and saving the academic year. The utilisation of blended learning prior to COVID-19 was excluding some students, and it was unclear how EROL was transformed to ensure that all students accessed education during COVID-19 induced lockdowns. There is thus a need for research to focus on opportunities for student technological advancement not only for ensuring access to education but also for meaningful service delivery during practice.

South Africa is a country with 11 official languages. However, teaching and learning in South African universities continue to be dominated by a language that was imposed by colonialism. Drawing on a broader doctoral study which explores students’ experiences of (de)coloniality in post-apartheid education, this article reports on how access to education is hindered by the absence of indigenous languages as languages of learning and teaching. This article is based on data that was collected through in-depth individual interviews with 10 social work graduates. In a setting dominated by English, graduates spoke of their hardships in accessing education. Framed within the Afrocentric paradigm and anti-colonial theory, the article calls for the advancement of African indigenous languages in South African universities as part of the transformation agenda. The article draws attention to a need for the university community to commit to the formulation and implementation of language policies that promote translanguaging.