Social development in Seychelles |23 June 2014

The concept of social development is about putting “people at the centre of development”, with the priority being on putting people first and mitigating the impacts of development on their well-being through policies, programmes and activities.  

Coined to address the issue of poverty, unemployment, social disintegration, gender inequality, social distress and instability in families, as well as anti-social behaviour, the social development concept is directed at empowering the population in making positive life choices and promoting their full participation in the society. The concept was adopted by Seychelles in 1995 following the World Summit on Social Development which was held in Copenhagen, Denmark that same year. It has been incorporated in the National Action Plan on Social Development 2005-2015 with the main aims of attaining social sustainability at three different levels, namely empowerment at individual level, social inclusion and security. The Action Plan is being implemented by the Department of Social Affairs in the Ministry of Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports.

The promotion of family, gender equality and children has always been a key component throughout the socio-economic development of Seychelles, where much emphasis has been placed on the protection of vulnerable groups, such as children, elderly and people living with special needs especially the disabled.

Although some important reforms were undertaken since 2008, the State remains the most important social service provider, guaranteeing fair and equitable access to quality education and health care, and other basic services for the whole population.  The Social Development programmes, therefore, target areas which focus on the developmental needs of individuals, such as in education, health, and housing; and also focuses on the needs of the most-at-risk and vulnerable groups in society.  Other cross-cutting issues also considered as essential focused areas for the development of society and individuals include eliminating poverty, advancing gender equality, ensuring work-family balance, eradication of inequalities among the vulnerable groups and promoting intergenerational solidarity, and community participation in development.

The Social Services Division is the service-oriented division within the Social Affairs Department of the ministry that has the responsibility to promote the well-being of children, families, disabled persons and persons placed on probation orders. Its overall objectives are the maintenance of society, restoration of social functioning and alleviation of social problems. It consists of the Legal Services and Child Protection Section, the Community Social Work Section and Probation Services, which on a daily basis, offer services geared towards the empowerment, healing and reconciliation of people.

With the setting up of the Community Social Work Section in 1993, social work has been decentralised, moving closer to communities in the districts. All district administration offices now have social workers attached to them. They provide much needed assistance to families, schools, vulnerable groups namely senior citizens and children to alleviate social problems and restore social functioning.  Teenage pregnancy, absenteeism in schools, child neglect, truancy and anti-social behaviour are just some of the problems they deal with on a daily basis.

Formed in 1996, the Probation Services Section offers support and counselling for couples and families facing difficulty. Besides counselling victims and perpetrators of family violence, the Probation also assist in reconciling couples and deals with juvenile cases.

The Legal Services and Child Protection Section was set up during the years 1997 and 1999. The main role of the Legal Services is to represent the ministry before the courts in matters concerning children and family. Some of the main issues it deals with are custody, maintenance, guardianship, foster care, access, adoption, just to name a few.  The Child Protection Unit’s aim is to work in partnership with other child protection partners such as the Family Squad of the Seychelles Police to protect children from sexual, physical, neglect and emotional abuse.

The Gender Secretariat is based at the Department of Social Affairs, and plays a strategic role in advocacy and raising awareness of a vast array of gender issues such as violence against vulnerable groups. But with increasing violence against women being perpetrated in the home, which had resulted in fatalities over the last few years, there is renewed call for the enactment of laws to criminalise gender-based violence.  

Set up by government in 1998 to deal with family problems, the Family Tribunal based at Victoria House, which celebrated its 15th anniversary last year, is mandated with the same power as the courts in the fight against violence in the family. It has powers conferred to it by the 1996 Amendment to the Penal Code and the Family Violence (Protection of Victims) Act 2000, to protect and assist families through the issuing of protection orders. The Tribunal registers an average of 642 new cases every year.

The services that are offered by the Social Services Division are further strengthened by the grass-root movements at districts levels offering community-based programmes that are directly aimed at empowering the individuals, meeting their needs to become well-rounded citizens. Some of the active programmes are the Neighbourhood Recreational Activities, providing children aged from 5 to 15 years old with the opportunity to share experiences, cultivate new friendship, acquire and develop basic skills and get involved in activities as alternatives to negative influences; the Family Council, which promotes activities based on positive values aimed at empowering families to fulfill their expected roles in the district; the Senior Citizens which encourages social active lifestyles for the elderly;  the Disabled Support Group whose role is to promote the welfare of the disabled in Seychelles; develops, and assists with the promotion of sports, leisure and recreational activities for the disabled and their parents; the Emergency Brigade which offers assistance to the community in the event of any disaster, emergency, cleaning or maintenance of properties; District Teams, are interagency teams which act as a synergy of different public organisations in the community, the District Community Council whose role is mainly advisory to the ministry in district matters and the District Social Committees which act as a networking for all groups operating within a district to ensure better coordination of actions and activities.

In 2012 the Agency for Social Protection (ASP) was launched to ensure the provision of comprehensive social security services and social relief against vulnerability following the merger of the Social Security Fund and the Social Welfare Agency. The agency offers assistance in cases of sickness, maternity leave, disability and retirement, providing temporary financial and material help to persons who are unable to find employment. It also gives supplementary income allowance and a number of approved programmes such as the home care scheme, specialised treatment for children below 12 years, post-secondary student allowances, dedicated funds for financial help to primary and secondary school students and pensioners.

The social housing programmes -- which have led to an improvement in the living conditions of the Seychellois, (with at least 95% of houses connected to a potable water supply and electricity), free access to primary health care including maternal health care, and a comprehensive co-educational system available free of charge to all Seychellois children from the age of three to 16 years of age and attended by nearly 100% of children in this age group -- have all contributed positively to the country’ social development success. As a result Seychelles has a high human development ranking, being first in Africa and 46th out of 187 countries. The Seychelles 2013 MDG Report indicates that the country has achieved almost all the goals, especially those relating to education, health and social development.

However, the country’s social landscape has over the last decade gone through a radical transformation. Some of the major threats to the socio-cohesion are alcohol and hard drug abuse, increase in crime, risky behaviour, broken marriages, increase in divorces, increase in teenage pregnancies, single woman headed households, bad parenting, a culture of irresponsibility and dependency, poor work ethic, community apathy and prevalence of HIV/Aids on the rise among the most at risk groups being men who have sex with men, intravenous drug users and prostitutes. Under-age drinking, youth anti-social behavior, violence and truancy as well as lack of discipline in schools are also challenges facing the youth population, that must be addressed.

All these factors are having negative impact on families, the very foundation of the society. Hence it is important that the next generation of social policies are better re-aligned to respond to those emerging social issues and are formulated to take into account the present challenges facing Seychellois families. A good starting place will be to formulate an all-encompassing Family Policy.

As a response to the worsening social situation in Seychelles, the government has taken some serious corrective measures by embarking on a Social Renaissance campaign with a  Plan of Action spanning the years 2012-2016. The Social Renaissance is an initiative of the Department of Social Affairs with inputs from different ministries and its civil society partners. The action plan is being implemented in six goals, namely to uphold the family as the central unit of society; to empower our communities to be participants in development; to promote positive living values and the adoption of a healthy lifestyle; to encourage higher levels of personal, professional, civic and corporate responsibility; to safeguard our homes and communities; and to protect the health, safety and quality of life of all Seychellois.

Every action taken to meet these goals by each and every partner should be meaningful and life-changing. How the country responds to the challenges it faces today will determine the socio-economic future of its people.

Contributed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports