SAWISA 2026 Finalists

Prof. Tanusha Raniga is a finalist in the Distinguished Woman Researchers Humanities and Social Sciences. She is Professor of Social Work, specialising in developmental social welfare policy, research and practice, at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). Her research career spans 22 years and focuses on gender justice with an emphasis on livelihood strategies, including the feminisation of poverty and poverty alleviation strategies. 

Prof. Raniga has significantly contributed to the implementation of economic development cooperatives and social entrepreneurship projects using a sustainable livelihood approach. Her empirical work has examined the economic benefits for women who initiated livelihood activities to supplement their state social grant income across KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, as well as in Zimbabwe, Botswana and eSwatini.

Prof. Raniga's publications critically engage with the complexities of translating the constitutional rights of the poor and vulnerable in African society into access to social protection, resources and funding in the informal economy. Over the past decade, her research has focused on the relationship between economic policies, social grants, and poverty alleviation in single-mother households – an area central to the developmental social welfare paradigm and to the training of social work and community development students in South Africa. Her 66 publications and book chapters have deepened the theoretical and developmental social welfare practice solutions that explain the psychosocial and economic experiences of women, offering an important opportunity to reflect on social development leadership, innovation and the future of society amid rapidly evolving family structures. She is a principal researcher on several national and international projects on global social work, social development transformation, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Prof. Raniga's scholarly contribution has culminated in her earning a C2 NRF rating in 2017 and two national awards, namely, the Association of South African Social Work Education Institutions 2025 Social Work Researcher of the Year and the 2013 Young Up and Coming Academic.

She has been instrumental in organising webinars, symposiums, and conferences with international partners including Dortmund University in Germany, the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), UJ and Midlands State University in Zimbabwe, bringing together leaders across academia, government and civil society to focus on societal impact and to build SDG partnerships between the Global North and Global South. This research partnership has received funding of €400 000 from the German Academic Exchange Service. 

A total of 152 master's and PhD students (98 of them women) have benefited from inter-university student exchanges, advanced research competency workshops and presentations at symposiums, webinars and conferences that Prof. Maniga has worked on. In 2024 she was the lead editor of two Scopus-accredited journals, the Journal of Social Development in Africa and the African Journal of Social Work. She has graduated seven PhD students and 23 master's students and has made a significant contribution to mentoring emerging scholars across Africa. Prof. Raniga is recognised by her peers nationally and internationally as a prominent scholar who has developed transformative developmental social welfare solutions to enhance the social and economic inclusion of women in the informal economy.