Winner announced in the category for Social Welfare

31 July 2008

Dr Veni Naidu has been announced as the winner of the 2008 social welfare category of the prestigious Shoprite Checkers/SABC2 Woman of the Year Award.

She accepted her award at a dazzling event held in celebration of women in South Africa tonight (Thursday 31 July 2008) in Cape Town. Ms Angie Phaliso and Ms Cecilia Zungu were the other two finalists.

Receiving her Award Dr Naidu said that she is dedicated to whatever she chooses to do and gives her 100% commitment thereby leaving no stone unturned to achieving a better outcome and that the Award has inspired her to do even more.

“I have reinvented myself and changed careers a few times. I did this knowing that to multi-skill is a way to challenge myself and at the same keeping myself employable at all times. Through my research work in Soweto and other parts of the country, I have inspired other women to overcome social and economic obstacles.

“I am driven by my passion to initiate change in society and I have experienced that others can perform greatness not due to their skills or techniques alone but achieve greatness as a result of their passion. I believe that everyone is a winner in their own right and every small win adds up,” she concluded.

Dr Naidu gave up a high powered and lucrative career in the corporate world ten years ago to make a real and meaningful contribution in the world of development in the hope of becoming part of a solution for a better South Africa.

She enriched her education with the focus on development and was received a doctorate in researching the potential impact of HIV and AIDS on business, families and on the communities in which they live. As most studies focused on the medical aspects of HIV and AIDS at that stage she believed it to be essential to investigate the economic and social impacts.

She initially undertook a study of the impact of HIV and AIDS on strategic market plans. Dr Naidu completed the first study in South Africa on the impact HIV and AIDS on income-earning urban households and added new knowledge to the subject.

Other researchers have expanded on her work and some of her micro economic studies have been used in macro economic modelling. As Dr Naidu has not been shy to tread un-chartered waters to make a difference to the lives of disadvantaged South Africans she has made significant contributions in the field of health and social development.

Her work has pointed at what the costs of morbidity and mortality of HIV and AIDS to households are and that extending peoples lives with treatment is more beneficial to business and to the individuals’ family.

The results have been disseminated to policymakers and decision-makers to make them aware of the potential economic and social impacts, in order, to influence them and improve service delivery. She found a real need for community-based organisations, Government, business and the community at large to be more effective in their development work by harmonising their efforts.

Her work then went on to facilitate the process. The results of the household survey was disseminated to a public meeting hosted by the local Soweto ward council to encourage community members to develop action plans to deal with some of the issues identified in the study.

In unusual and innovative research action the study employed local people from Soweto without previous work experience in the field and other people from previously disadvantaged backgrounds.

After the study Dr Naidu assisted each member of the research team to find employment in the research sector. In recognition of the impact that the study would have on fieldworkers, she obtained sponsorship for this service from the Department of Psychology, Vista University based in Soweto so that each fieldworker would receive psychotherapy during the course of the fieldwork.

Whilst it is true that many interviewees participate usually in research grudgingly the respondents in the Soweto study felt they were being heard. Dr Naidu assisted some of these families to apply for social grants, obtain their identity documents, be transported to hospitals to access health care in emergencies, contact school principals to release school reports of children who did not pay school fees and was an empathetic ear.

In another large piece of research she has also looked at Government’s support of non-profit NPO’s which is based and justified on the fact that there is an impossible burden placed on the public health system by HIV and AIDS and that it is encouraged by the additional benefit of creating employment under the Expanded Public Works Programme.

Dr Naidu was however of concern that little is known about the cost of services or the performance of these NPOs providing the service. She then undertook research on home community-based care in five provinces of South Africa on the cost of home community-based care to service adults and orphans and vulnerable children contributing to policy debates and program action.

This study encouraged the provision of budgets to provide an appropriate level of service in a sustainable manner, the development of norms and standards for home-community based care, development of monitoring and evaluation indicators, capacity building and training of NPOs.

It was the first time a researcher brought the community, the donors and the government together in a forum where the NPOs were empowered to disseminate the research findings. While doing this study she also assisted some NPOs to write out their business plans to access funding and complete financial reports; these activities were outside her role as a researcher.

Dr Naidu has also assisted the National Department of Social Development establish research gaps in HIV and AIDS and assisted Metropolitan Life with the “Live the Future” HIV and AIDS Scenarios for South Africa: 2005-2025.

The World Bank engaged her services in 2007 to assist with tracking aid financing to the Somalian health sector that covered a six year period. It is the kind of research project which failed in many conflict countries but Dr Naidu managed to conclude this project successfully. The result will hopefully be that more funding will reach the Somalian health sector.

This dazzling gala event at which the winners was announced will be broadcast in a celebratory television programme on SABC2 at 20h00 on Saturday, 9 August 2008 when National Women’s Day is celebrated.

SABC2 will also broadcast a 48-minute programme in which all the finalists inserts are combined on Sunday, 3 August at 21h00 also on SABC2.

Ends

Issued by Patti Quinton @ (011) 465-5225 or 083 263 6281
On behalf of: Shoprite Checkers/SABC2 Woman of the Year Award

31 July 2008