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HSRC Annual Report 2016/17
Key Gender Issues and Gender-related Constraints in South Africa and the Institutional Context Supporting
Gender Integration
HAST researchers, together with the non-profit organisation FHI 360, reviewed this topic. The analysis found that gender
inequalities, poverty, racism, economic disparities and other differentiating social factors define the landscape in which
HIV programming takes place. Despite an enabling legal and policy framework, South Africans continue to grapple
with gender inequalities at different levels. Gender inequalities undermine autonomy in relation to sexuality and fuel
vulnerabilities related to HIV. While gender inequalities remain embedded in the fabric of society, and prevailing gender
norms reinforce gender inequalities across communities, the US President’s Plan for Emergency Relief programming
reflects a variable uptake of gender integration.
Impact Evaluation of the First Things First (FTF) Campaign
An evaluation of this Higher Education AIDS (HEAIDS) HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign was conducted to
establish its relevance, impact, efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. The study used a quantitative value for money
(VfM) assessment approach and a qualitative assessment using focus group discussions and key informant interviews.
Overall, the FTF HCT campaign has performed strongly or well against the five criteria used, and obtained a final score
of 78.4%, which is an average of 71%, for the VfM assessment and 85.8% for the qualitative assessment. These findings
imply that the HCT campaign at higher education institutions has a positive impact on the HIV epidemic among young
people in South Africa.
Human and Social Development (HSD)
“A world of interdependence cannot be safe or just unless people everywhere are freed from want and fear and are able
to live in dignity. Today, as never before, the rights of the poor are as fundamental as those of the rich, and a broad
understanding of them is as important to the security of the developed world as it is to that of the developing world.”
Kofi Annan 2005
Profile of HSD
The HSD programme employs critical and theoretical humanities and social sciences lenses to explore complex questions
about society and groups of people living in adversity over their life course (children, youth, and families) to overcome
legacies of oppression, especially inequality, racism, sexism, and their intersections, and bring about social change.
The team aims to generate evidence that can assist policymakers and practitioners in making informed choices and
decisions in response to South Africa’s broad human and social development challenges.
The work of the team is centred on four thematic areas:
•
Children in adversity;
•
Youth in the global south;
•
Families and reproductive justice; and
•
Society and belonging.
Two key ideas find expression in all four thematic areas. These are the HSD’s foci – the humanities and diversity. The team
adopts a perspective which is historical, anthropological and philosophical, with a strong emphasis on contemporary
narratives and the role of fiction and music in cultural reproduction and identity-work. Close attention is paid to diversity
by interrogating the intersections of gender, race, class, sexuality, geography and age on human and social development
and how these shape the trajectories of individuals, families and communities.