By Orville Williams

[email protected]

Following several significant adjustments to the country’s Social Welfare Act (2020), the Ministry of Social Transformation, Human Resource Development and Blue Economy is seeking to raise awareness among members of the public – especially those who have it. need – to a number of updated social protection programs. .

As its title suggests, the Welfare Act replaced the longstanding Poor Relief Act (1961) in September last year and now supports the less fortunate with food aid/ vouchers, funeral grants, a grant for fire victims, assistance for the homeless, home help for the elderly, and support for children, the disabled and the indigent.

The ministry announced these components in a press release yesterday, adding that “more are yet to come”, via funding from the United Nations International Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and major support from the government.

According to the Minister responsible for implementation, Dean Jonas, “changes to the law have been made to protect the vulnerable and indigent, [so] it is very important that our society understands and appreciates the necessary protection”.

These programs, according to the Ministry of Social Transformation, differ from those run under the old Poor Relief Act, which “focused primarily on individuals, with minimal investment in contributory schemes and providing assistance limited social assistance, such as the distribution of cash to the most deprived people”. to meet their basic needs. »

He insists that “vulnerability is much more than lack of money” and says the current law “represents what social protection policies and programs should be, an inclusive approach where everyone is covered and where everyone prospers”.

Alongside the programs, the ministry recalled that the creation of the Social Welfare Council and a Social Welfare Commission – to provide essential oversight and promote transparency – is another new component of the law, in line with the modernization of the social protection system.

The two bodies will be responsible for coordinating the operation of multi-sectoral social protection systems, covering non-contributory and contributory programs, labor market planning, poverty reduction and planning for the eventual extension of the social protection programme.

What do doctors, teachers, and policemen need to know to be good at their jobs? This is the subject of a community symposium to be held next February in Ann Arbor.

WEMU’s Lisa Barry talks to event founder Dr. Anna Gersh about her idea.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Lisa Barry: Making a difference in the lives of others, and then in your community, is important to many people. This is Lisa Barry, and there is an educator, researcher, and project administrator from Eastern Michigan University who is hosting a special event called One Love Symposium. And here to tell us about it is Dr. Anna Gersh. Thanks for talking to us.

Dr. Anna Gersh: Thank you very much for having me, Lisa.

Lisa Barry: If there’s love in the name, I’m with it. So why not start by telling us what it’s all about?

Dr. Anna Gersh: Sure. The One Love Symposium kind of came to me at the start of the lockdown. I had been, like many people, quite disturbed by the previous administration. Lots of action. And then, when the murder of George Floyd happened, I found myself in front of the television crying about the news, like a little on a regular basis. And I realized that I was at home with my 15-year-old son and I was modeling fear. And, I mean, that’s it. You know, I just – that’s what it was. I had to do something real. I just couldn’t be another white woman crying that the world isn’t perfect. So I started to formulate some thoughts on what we might be able to do. And it occurred to me that after 17 years as a classroom teacher, and then the last four plus years, I’ve been working on efforts to improve police training, including being a member of the Mayor of Ann Arbor’s task force to create a police oversight commission. back in training in 2017. And then, now I’m a member of the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office Policing and Compliance Commission. I have thought a lot about the nature of human services and the fact that there is research to be done at the point of care. Thus, the overarching goal of the One Love Symposium is to develop an improving certification process for a variety of human service professions, including doctors, teachers, and law enforcement officers, which service point time. And the way we want to do that, the way, you know, I think is a really good way to engage people, is to engage in a public scholarship effort. So that means, you know, getting stakeholders, people who use public services, which is all of us, at all levels, to help create this body of information that will help those workers to improve in their work.

Lisa Barry: So who do you think is involved in all of this? Do you bring in people from all walks of life or from all professions?

Dr. Anna Gersh: Yeah, right now we’re starting that it’s kind of a three-phase process. It is a three-phase process. I have about 10 youth data collectors. I have spent the past few months participating in different school programs – virtually and in person – and talking to young people about contributing to this effort. So the idea is that we’re actually going to meet next week. We have two meetings next week, from the 10th to the 12th. It is difficult to say exactly who will show up because they are young people, and they have a lot of commitments and interests. But I think I have a pretty good team, and then we’re going to meet, and I’m going to train them on the research protocol associated with the city, which is the institutional review boards, you know , making sure to protect the people you research with. And they’re going to create, them and me, a survey tool that they’ll bring to the communities of their choosing. Go get that information, bring it back. We will put it together in a report. This report will be used to extract some discussion questions. And we’re going to use it to fuel a conversation that’s taking place at the Ann Arbor District Library on September 28, which will be a preview event. And there are training professionals, including Dr. Wendy Burke, who is the head of the teacher training department here at Eastern, Rebecca Guzman, who is a founding member of MICHWA, the Michigan Community Health Workers Alliance. And I’m crossing my fingers for Brandon Locke at the police academy at Washtenaw Community College. I’m meeting him next week, but he seems very interested. This conversation will be moderated by Dr. Michael Johnson, who is the Department Head at UMass Boston and Public Policy and Public Affairs. He’s going to facilitate a values-driven decision-making conversation, which is basically a fancy way of saying a good facilitator who is able to extract important points from interested parties to help build that body of information. So it’s really about bringing in people at all levels – young people, community members, academics, professionals – to put in place a community certification process, ultimately, and hope that it will be like a little thing of 30 hours that everyone can participate. So people like, you know, preschool teachers and brain surgeons, potentially have something to gain from this certification process.

Lisa Barry: So I hear you using words like data, research, and training. Yet it is called the One Love Symposium. Where does love come from in all this?

Dr. Anna Gersh: Well, you know, I guess that sounds… I don’t know. I don’t know what it looks like. I mean, it’s from a Bob Marley song. And, you know, it’s One Love, One Heart. You know, the idea that the social service professional deals with all of humanity is a concept of unity. And, you know, I think all the issues that arise in that moment of service where the social service professional – the doctor, the teacher, the policeman – are assessing what you need or should you be ignored or forgiven or punished. It is a moment that should be informed by the universal human values ​​that we all share. And so, that seemed like a good name for it.

Lisa Barry: So, the first stage arrives in September. And then what’s after that before the big event in February? This is how it works ?

Dr. Anna Gersh: Yeah. Mm hm. Thus, collecting data on young people during the summer. September is the kind of academic professional event. And then all of this information is going to feed into the love symposium, which will take place, in part, at the Blue LLama Jazz Club in February 2022. The specific date, we’re starting to work on that. But we have some, I’m starting to collect some. It will be more of a kind of celebratory occasion. There will be round tables, but, you know, so there will be an academic aspect, but there will also be an integrated artistic aspect. Marcus Elliot will be performing as part of this event and the great saxophonist… the young and brilliant saxophonist Marcus Elliott and who also hopes to attract other people. But we are in a process.

Lisa Barry: Speaking of this process, are you still looking for participants, or can everyone in the community participate at some point?

Dr. Anna Gersh: Yes, the September event will be both in-person and live. And there’s a teen writing contest, open to any young person from any district in Michigan, because it’s an online submission. But you need to submit to a registered teacher, so you can check this on a teen writing contest feature. Prize money and all submissions will be included in an anthology, which will be available for pre-sale to fund the pay features of this symposium. So kids can win cash prizes, participating teachers who will act as a verification level for kids’ essays or… it doesn’t have to be an essay. It can actually be anything. But, these teachers will also… there is a remuneration formula to be established for these teachers as well, and it is available on the site.

Lisa Barry: And what is the site? Where can people get more information?

Dr. Anna Gersh: One Love Symposium dot com.

Lisa Barry: And we will put that with a link to this interview on our website, WEMU dot org. Dr Anna Gersch. I hope you will let us register and follow the process for the next One Love Symposium which will be held right here in Washtenaw County. And we’ll get back to base and continue to be updated on what’s going on in all of this.

Dr. Anna Gersh: I look forward to this. Thank you.

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— Lisa Barry is the host of All Things Considered on WEMU. You can reach Lisa at 734.487.3363, on Twitter @LisaWEMUor email him at [email protected]

Story

The concept of the Minor in Creativity, Arts and Social Transformation (CAST) was proposed by Dr Cynthia Cohen (pictured), Director of the Peacebuilding and Arts Program based at the International Center for Ethics, Justice and public life. Cohen’s initial ideas were discussed and reinforced by a group of students involved in his classes and projects. A preliminary proposal was reviewed and reinforced by many faculty members. The Brandeis faculty approved the minor in its current form in May 2014, and Jennifer Cleary of the Department of Theater Arts joined the advisory board as co-chair. The first students enrolled in fall 2014 and the introductory course was first taught in spring 2015.

CAST is governed by an advisory committee and is administratively hosted by the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life. A student advisory committee was formed to help launch the minor and bring student perspectives to the development of the program.

With the generous support of the following donors, the minor has offered small grants to faculty and visiting lecturers and lecturers:

• Amy Merrill ’68
• Elaine Ruben ’63
• The Max and Sunny Howard Memorial Foundation, with inspiration from Naomi Sinnreich P’13.
• We also appreciate the support of Ammad Bahalim ’04, for his visionary funding of CAST 170a: Documenting Immigrant Experiences, which focused on the stories of immigrants from Muslim-majority countries.

Proper education and edification can bring about changes in the concepts and behaviors of certain individuals, and such change in concept and conception can help initiate a desirable and effective society and nation. Educated minds help illuminate new paths and options for a better and bolder society. Moreover, education induces rational thinking, consistency, independence and self-determination in an individual’s personality. Education undoubtedly plays a central role in societal change, but to strengthen and secure our community, we must educate our women. Therefore, we must push our society to end the barriers faced by women, who struggle for their education and learning.

A society with better educated women prospers more than one with illiterate and less intellectual women. When 10% of girls go to school, the country’s GDP increases by an average of 3%, while keeping girls out of school costs a country millions. Educated women with a college education tend to get better paying jobs, have better job choices, more work privileges. Consequently, they reinvest more in their families and communities, which breaks the chain of poverty. while uneducated and illiterate women do not benefit from these beneficial factors and continue to face poverty and misery.

Every woman is much stronger and more capable than she thinks. A woman with power and education can not only thrive but can also conquer the world with her abilities. By supporting each other, we can help someone prosper. If Pakistan ends the gender gap in education and succeeds in achieving the goal of educating and empowering Pakistani women, then together as a nation we can exploit failures and weaknesses of our country, but we must also change ourselves first, by getting rid of rigorous mentalities and rituals and by promoting the education of women and giving every woman her right to an education

Education is empowering and also builds self-confidence in women. They have a better understanding of their rights, their roles and a healthy lifestyle. An educated woman finally knows how she can effectively use her freedom beneficially and constructively by reaching all her abilities. Education helps women discover some of their main qualities and skills. Educated women are more aware of the conditions and suffering around them and are more likely to step forward to improve and strengthen them.

Through education, women prefer to speak out on their own, can present strong evidence of the decisions they have made, and can oppose, resist, and speak out against domestic violence and sexual abuse, and are less likely to complain. be subjected to such violence. While uneducated women are more exposed to this violence and can barely speak out against abuse and are less aware of facing and responding to such violence.

Educated women typically marry four years later than their estimated age at marriage and have fewer children, somewhat reducing rapid population growth. These women are less likely to die in pregnancy, give birth to healthy children, and are more concerned about their family’s health, such as their nutrition and vaccinations, so their children are less likely to die of preventable diseases. or malnutrition.

The role of an educated woman as a mother is no greater than any other. An educated mother can edify the minds of future generations. They can provide more confidence and support to their children, making them more aware of the world and their surroundings. Educated mothers are more likely to promote their children’s education, can raise their children better, participate more in decision-making in their homes, and have better planning and understanding of future consequences. But when it comes to uneducated mothers, they have a higher death rate during pregnancy, give birth to sick children, usually give birth to more than three children, have no knowledge of health and treatments, while their babies are less likely to receive a full course of vaccinations and suffer from malnutrition that prevents them from surviving. Over the past four decades, the global increase in female education has averted more than four million child deaths. Uneducated women hardly think about the education and future of their children.

President Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address left me, like many others, excited and hopeful. There was a sense of possibility in the air, the possibility of a better future. It was wonderful to enjoy these moments after such a long period of pessimism. It was a relief when President Ramaphosa approached civil society as a partner and transformed the previously rather hostile attitude of the government into one of partnership and collaboration. I can only imagine the masses of emails the Presidency has received from civil society organizations committing to partnership and offering their area of ​​expertise and methodology in support of the President’s call.

South African civil society is a diverse and large sector with over 85,000 registered NPOs. The common denominator is, in large part, the improvement of conditions in society. Yet it appears that the impact towards transformative change in South Africa is small. It doesn’t take much to realize that over 350 years of oppression and deliberate dehumanization have brought South Africa to where it is, with the current state apparatus captured and eroded by capitalist and rapacious individuals. And of course, since last week, the hope of walking on a new path.

While the renewal of political leadership after the Zuma years is important, the task before us is not their responsibility alone. As much as we all admire the new president and the expected changes he must bring, I think we need honest conversations within civil society about the massive resources (human, financial and social) that make up this sector, d on the one hand, and the lack of transformative change on the other. The development industry is booming globally and in South Africa. TED talks, webinars, new ICT solutions, fundraising seminars, development consultants and a growing number of NPOs are part of the new normal.

If the time is right, I think the conversation about change needs to start by differentiating between development and transformation. Development is the global paradigm for change. If we take the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the World Bank Development Indicators, the African Union Agenda or South Africa’s National Development Plan, they all speak to the development paradigm. What the concept of development seems to imply is that there is a certain direction for change, apparently reinforcing strategies and programs that seem very similar across the world to achieve the desired results of growth and development.

Social transformation is a less popular and difficult term because it speaks of deep, complete and radical change. He talks about disrupting, interrupting and restarting. He challenges us to think upside down and upside down. It requires brutal honesty and clarity. South Africa desperately needs transformation to fight centuries of institutionalized oppression and dehumanization.

In the South African context, this requires deliberate acts to counter ongoing historical injustices, captured and corrupt state institutions and actively participate in building a transformed society. Even though the President has promised that under this leadership, state capture will be eradicated, we must push and be vigilant. Social transformation is the prerogative of citizens and needs a servant and effective state to support it, the one that was promised by President Ramaphosa during SONA.

The state should simply play a service role on the agenda of the citizen of this country. A separate transformation from development is also vital to ensure that this transformational project will not be captured by Western or capitalist ideas of development and the belief that resources and dressing up a problem or band-aid will provide the solution. While foreign companies or governments may hold the resources and funding for a transformational agenda, it should be clear from the outset that they can participate, join and enable the process, but never own or determine the results.

What it requires is to work for a country and, ultimately, a continent that offers the possibilities of a dignified life for all. It means a country where no one is discriminated against because of their race, color, sex or beliefs and where everyone has the freedom to access opportunities. This means not repeating cycles of poverty, but focusing on innovation and building bold solutions. This will require going against the mainstream approaches of mainstream philanthropic or development institutions.

Moving towards a transformational agenda, which puts decency and dignity at the center, will enable human possibility or, in other words, ensure that each person can walk high in their own stature. This will require a commitment to focus on quality, sustainability, excellence and efficiency. It will also require being bold and creating innovative, world-class interventions. The protection of territories and the single thought of their perpetuation cannot be authorized.

The vision that civil society must have is to activate social transformation by designing bold, world-class solutions that understand the complexity and intersectional nature of the problems to be solved. DM

Carolin Gomulia is Head of Strategy and Fundraising and Communications and Advocacy at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.

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Creativity, Arts and Social Transformation (CAST):

Learn more about creating art. Learn to harness the power of community. Collaborate with teams of people from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. Become aware of yourself as a listener and listen with qualities of presence that elicit difficult stories to tell. Identify sources of resilience.

Become a CAST miner. Check out the CAST miner projects that came before.

CAST commitments, in solidarity with Black Lives Matter

The interdisciplinary Creativity, Arts, and Social Transformation (CAST) program condemns white supremacy, anti-black violence, police brutality, the school-to-prison pipeline, and the many additional daily violence against black people in through which individuals, groups, and institutions in the United States perpetuate and profit from the legacy of slavery. Read more.

Photo credit: Jaime Black

Jaime Black | between us

November 9, 2021- February 25, 2022
Kniznick Gallery

Hosted by CAST Chair, Dr. Toni Shapiro-Phim

Water. Rock. Twigs. Body. The Red color. These elements appear throughout Jaime Black’s exhibition, between us, honoring the interconnectedness between humanity and the natural and spiritual worlds. The artist, of mixed Anishinaabe and Finnish ancestry, pays particular attention to the power of Indigenous women in all of these areas as nurturers, trust builders, holders and givers of knowledge.

Learn more…