Offender rehabilitation and reintegration have come to be embraced as a vital component of a comprehensive and holistic crimefighting strategy. Despite this, research shows that upon release from prison, ex-offenders are faced with a myriad of challenges that weaken the possibility of reform and predispose ex-offenders to recidivism. Using primary data from a qualitative study, this paper discusses the challenges faced by ex-offenders when reintegrating into mainstream society in Gauteng, South Africa. The findings show that ex-offenders struggle to adjust because of broken family and community relationships, unemployment and lack of aftercare services, among others factors.Victor.Chikadzi@wits.ac.za

This article discusses the challenges faced by role players who work with survivors of child sexual abuse within the Victim-Friendly System. The Victim Friendly System represents a confluence of multi-sectorial professional interventions targeting child sexual abuse survivors in Zimbabwe. Professionals involved in the Victim-Friendly System include social workers, medical doctors, nurses, police, as well as role players within the justice system such as magistrates and prosecutors, counsellors, educationists and psychologists. The findings of this qualitative study show that professionals work within the context of a shrinking economy that has given rise to a plethora of challenges that include, among other things, staff and skills shortages, lack of financial and material resources, poor access to proper infrastructure and other logistical constrains. The authors end the paper by discussing recommendations that have policy, administrative and professional implications.

Participatory development has long been touted as a panacea to the development failures resulting from highly burecraticesd and top down development programmes instituted by international donor agencies (Jennings, 2000;Neef, 2003;Mohan, 2001;Cleaver, 1999)

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