De capability approach als normatief-evaluatief kader voor sociale interventies: Kwalitatief onderzoek in India met inzichten voor de Vlaamse en Nederlandse praktijk

Abstract

DE CAPABILITY APPROACH ALS NORMATIEF-EVALUATIEF KADER VOOR SOCIALE INTERVENTIES A B S T R A C T Utilizing the Capability Approach as a normative-evaluative framework for social interventions:Qualitative research in India with insights for social work practice in the Netherlands and FlandersThe Capability Approach is a broad normative framework used to evaluate individual wellbeing, the development of a country, and gender inequalities. Den Braber (2013) argued in an article published in the Journal of Social Intervention that the CA can be used as an evaluative instrument for social policies, arrangements, and actions. As an evaluative instrument, the CA takes various aspects of the well-being process into account: resources, client conversion factors, sets of capabilities, freedom of choice, and sets of functionings. This makes the CA more comprehensive than other well-being approaches, such as welfarism, which mainly focuses on "happiness", and resourcism, which primarily focusses on "primary goods". The aim of this study is to explore whether and how the CA can function as an evaluative framework for social interventions for cases of partner-related sexual abuse by the Indian NGO Women Helpline (WHL). We also aim to make recommendations for social work practice in India, Flanders, and the Netherlands. The study adopts a qualitatively grounded theory of research methodology in the analysis of 12 in-depth interviews and two focus groups. The respondents include the director of the WHL, its coordinator, benefactor, social workers, an external advocate, and victims of partner-related sexual abuse. In addition, two semi-structured focus groups -with 10 male students and 10 female students -were organized by the Xavier Institute of Social Service. Before we discuss the findings of the study in more detail, we first distinguish two different forms of partner-related sexual abuse. The first form of sexual abuse is "sexual violence" and can be defined as rape and other forms of non-consensual sexual intercourse.The second form is "sexual abuse under the false promise of marriage". This type of abuse is unique to Indian society as it reflects the stigma that women face if they lose their virginity before marriage. If a man ends a sexual relationship with a woman after promising to marry her, this is considered abuse. We focus on the latter definition of sexual abuse because the majority of the WHL's clients who had a partner-related sexual abuse charge could be identified under that definition. It is important to mention that in order to make the CA more suitable as an evaluative framework for social interventions, we adapted two of Sen's original concepts: "individual resources" and "individual capabilities". We redefined resources as the finances, goods, and services of the organization. We did not change the definition of capabilities, which are the real opportunities that a person has to lead the life he/she has reason to value. In this study, we focus on the real opportunities for women to lead a dignified life wi...