Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences
School of Agricultural and Food Sciences
Department of Consumer Science
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
The second phase of this project included the development of a generic model for community-based interventions on commercial farms. After finalizing the needs assessment, focus was centered on the hygiene and sanitation practices as one of the needs in the rural community of farmworker households in the Fouriesburg district in the Free State. Interventions were planned, executed, and completed during 2004. A commonly accepted approach to rural community development was followed, namely establishing programmes or interventions implemented within the participatory action research paradigm. The model used the identified need as a prototype to clarify and implement the intervention process and the evaluation thereof. The model is unique as it stipulates each of the four phases in the intervention namely the situation analysis, design, implementation and outcome evaluation; it is also comprehensive and logical and can therefore be considered as a teaching tool for researchers and scholars. This practical, methodological framework can be used as guideline for similar projects in future. It addresses the entire continuum of processes involved in developing valid and reliable interventions for rural communities. It also provides a basis for managerial functions in order for better, more successful programmes to be developed. The process as implemented on Oranje Farm has proven a considerable improvement in hygiene and sanitation. Other subjects currently under investigation to address the perceived food insecurity and issues regarding dietary diversification are the contribution of food access strategies to dietary diversity and the food coping strategies practiced by the women. The model will now be extrapolated in this community and others to facilitate community development.
Contact person: Ms D Kruger.
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