[« Back]
Dr Veni Naidu - 2008 Social Welfare Winner
Dr Veni 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 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 on HIV and of 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 modeling. As Dr Naidu has not been shy to tread uncharted 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 an 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 usually participate 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 concerned 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 to 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.
News
High quality nominations received
Nominations for the 2012 Shoprite Checkers Women of the Year Award have closed and the organisers said that top calibre nominations were received from all over the country to name South Africa’s most outstanding women of this year.
Quality education critical in SA
Ms Barbara Creecy (photo), MEC for Education in Gauteng, said working to achieve quality education is critical to redressing the political, economic and social standing of everyone in South Africa.
Women of the Year Office
Tel: +27 21 980 4285 / 1570
Fax: +27 21 983 5222
Send e-mail
