QUESTIONS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVEPMENT

Implementing the new Children’s Act -    HELEN LAMOELA MP
Democratic Alliance
May 2007
This will be a major policy for the sector.  Huge implications re:- resources, finance and social workers.

Question 1
How ready is the sector to implement in 2008?

Response
The sector is preparing to implement the new Children’s Act by way of developing national and provincial implementation plans over a period of 3 to 5 years.  The need for more social workers and social auxiliary workers are receiving attention through a retention strategy for social workers and the recruitment and training of social auxiliary workers.

Question 2
Do you have an implementation strategy? and can you provide the committee with such a plan by July 2007?

Response
Implementation plans by the national and provincial departments of Social Development are currently being developed and could be made available to the committee by July 2007.


Early Childhood Development -   HELEN LAMOELA MP
Democratic Alliance
May 2007
The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) is also intended to open up job creation opportunities for low income women.

Question
How will they ensure that this happens?

Response
The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) is one part of an overall government strategy to reduce poverty through the alleviation and reduction of unemployment.  The EPWP is a short-to-medium term programme that aims to provide work opportunities coupled with training. It is a national programme covering all spheres of government and state-owned enterprises.  Early Childhood Development and Home Community Based Care forms part of the Social Sector Plan.  The ECD part of the EPWP Social Sector Plan is linked to the Integrated Plan for Early Childhood Development and the Departments of Social Development and Education are key departments in the implementation thereof. The Department of Social Development has an obligation to ensure that children receiving early childhood care and development services are adequately protected and receive the best possible care.  As such the Department of Social Development registers ECD centres as places of care and provide a subsidy to disadvantaged children attending the ECD centres.  Ordinary ECD care workers and practitioners caring for these children are earning a low income and need improvement with regard to their formal training in ECD, so as to provide a better service and to open up job creation opportunities for them.  The Department of Education provides training to ECD care workers and practitioners who have been selected from the registered ECD centres.  Through this training a potential career path is also opening for them to obtain more advanced training so that they would be able to move to higher levels in teaching and earning a higher income.  For instance, they would be able to advance from level 1 (an ordinary ECD care worker) to level 4 (becoming an ECD practitioner) and 5 (becoming a Grade R educator.  Some of these practitioners would be able to establish their own ECD centres in time, should they be interested.


Scholarships -    HELEN LAMOELA MP
Democratic Alliance
May 2007
Capacity Building of other categories of staff that is crucial for Social Development.  (We cannot afford all social workers) So we must have more, Youth Workers, Community Development Workers, Auxiliary Workers. What is your strategy to ensure more of above and by when?

Response
(a)   Youth Workers
The Department of Social Development entered into a partnership with the National Youth Service. The MoU was signed in 2005, leading to partnership projects:

NYS Objective:
To promote social cohesion & build social capital;
To inculcate a culture of service to communities by young people;
To inculcate the spirit of patriotism in young people & an understanding of  their role in the promotion of civic awareness & national reconstruction;
To develop the skills, knowledge & abilities of young people to enable them to make a meaningful transition to adulthood; &
To improve youth employability.

Project 1: Assistant Probation Officer (APO) Youth Service project – (2006) 220 youth; (2008) to be determined  
APO project launched jointly in August 2005
Commenced in 2006
Youth support Probation Officers in the supervision of children on home supervision.
Training and supervision activities by the youth are in progress

Project 2:  NGO Capacity Building – 300 youth (still to be finalized)
Youth to provide Org. Dev. Support to NGOs implementing HCBC & ECD
To be implemented in partnership with NDA
Consultations with the Dept are in progress and proposal is being finalised
To begin during this financial year

Project 3:  Care for Vulnerable Youth/ Children  – 600 youth
Youth support the dept in the administration of children grants
To be implemented in partnership with South African Council of Churches
Consultations with the Dept are in progress and proposal completed
It was aunched by Dep President in March 2007
Project to be implemented during this financial year

(b)   Community Development Workers
The Department has started a process towards developing norms and standards for Community Development Practice. The Department is drafting a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a Joint Implementation Plan with South African Qualification Authority (SAQA) for the generation of Community Development Qualifications and Unit Standards (NQF 4 to 6). Such qualifications and unit standards will be registered on the NQF and will provide necessary skills and capacity to community Development Workers.  The process is at an advanced stage.    

The Department is also in the process of conducting Community Development Skills Audit. The audit is meant to investigate the number of Community Development Practitioners existing in the country. These numbers will be matched against the roles and function of Community Development Practitioners. In so doing, the Department will be in a position to assess the need for additional recruitment of the practitioners. The audit will also guide the Department in terms of the required skills and placement of the Community Development Practitioners. The Department is exploring the possibility of entering into partnership with funding agencies with a view to provide scholarships to students and officials interested in community development profession.

(c)   Auxiliary Workers
Social Auxiliary workers have been prioritized to meet the demand for service delivery in view of the scarcity of social workers and whilst more social workers are being trained.  The number of social auxiliary workers prioritized is 3000 per annum over the MTEF.  HWSETA can only train 100.  Provinces have budgeted for social auxiliary worker who must be trained through a learnership programme.  Agreement has been reached with the HWSETA to support the training programme and systems are being put in place to fast track the training.

What is your strategy to ensure more of above and by when?

The Department has made it a priority to build capacity for Community Development Practitioners. The Department is motivating for the introduction of NQF 7 in the future.


Who is responsible to monitor and evaluate the 20 000 NPO’s in the sector? – HELEN LAMOELA MP
Democratic Alliance
May 2007

Response
The NPO Directorate has to date 44 167 registered non-profit organizations.  Many of these are organizations that deal with issues involving children and the care or treatment of children.  The NPO Directorate has registered a wide range of non-profit organizations, not only those that provide social development services and these include NGOs, CBOs, Section 21 and Trusts.

The NPO Directorate in the Department of Social Development as prescribed in Sections 17 & 18 of the NPO Act (Act 71 of 1997) requests every registered NPO to provide a narrative and an audited financial report on an annual basis, nine months after the end of its financial year.  The NPO Director only monitors compliance in this regard and does not however monitor or evaluate these NPOs in terms of their functional responsibilities or objectives.

The persons responsible for their evaluation and monitoring are
sponsors or donors Provincial Administrations who supply funding for specific objectives
Various other departments who fund NPOs
NPOs also have to account to the South African Revenue Services if they are classified as Public Benefit Organizations.


To whom do they report and who will be accountable for the progress.

In terms of their compliance with the NPO Act, they will submit narrative and audited reports to the NPO Directorate of the Department of Social Development.

In terms of their functional responsibilities and objectives they will report and be accountable to:

sponsors or donors
Provincial Administrations who supply funding for specific objectives
Various other departments who fund NPOs
NPOs also have to account to the South African Revenue Services if they are classified as Public Benefit Organizations.

Transformation of Welfare Service Delivery   HELEN LAMOELA MP
Democratic Alliance
May 2007

Question 1
When will we be able to implement these services?

Question 2
Can a timeframe be tied to implementation seeing that we experience a tremendous shortfall of Social Workers now and in the future?

Response for both Question 1 and 2
The transformation of services is articulated in the integrated service delivery model that was approved by MINMEC in 2005/2006.  This model is at various stages of implementation across provinces.  This entails the review of the structures and facilitating service delivery at a district and local level.  In terms of social welfare services, the dearth in resources, including social workers requires a more comprehensive and structured approach.  In addition to short term activities as articulated through amongst others the scholarship programme for social workers, the ISDM is being taken forward by the development of norms and standards for social welfare service delivery through a five year programme that will ultimately lead not only to improved service delivery and improved efficiency, but will also provide a sound basis for the acquisition of resources. The development of norms and standards has just been completed as part of the first phase.  The second phase will include the development of an implementation plan for the implementation of norms and standards.  The process will ensure that along the way there are quick wins that can be achieved towards enhanced service delivery.


For too long Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes have been lacking in the rural and remote rural areas         HELEN LAMOELA MP
Democratic Alliance
May 2007

Question 1
Any explanation for this situation?

Response
For about 4 years the Department of Education was running with ECD programmes in a fragmented manner. However, the Social Cluster has turned that around through the Integrated Plan for ECD and Social Sector Plan for EPWP.  ECD has been identified as one of the Government’s and Department’s priority for the next three years.  An action plan for the short (2007/8), medium (2008/9) and long (2009/10) term has been developed by the department and accepted in principle by MINMEC which is aligned to the Social Sector Plan and the Integrated Plan for ECD.  The Provincial Departments of Social Development are currently finalizing their action plans which will be aligned to the national Action Plan. This Action Plan is targeting under resourced areas, which will include rural and remote rural areas. A communication strategy is being developed to make communities aware of the services and programme.

Question 2
Can a timeframe be tied to the implementation of these programmes and who will take responsibility for this?

Response
The action plan mentioned above has timeframes attached to it over a period of three years, short (2007/8), medium (2008/9) and long (2009/10), in order to ensure successful implementation, accountability, monitoring and evaluation.  The Heads of the Department (national and provincial) will accept full responsibility for the three year action plan and progress will be reported to the Social Cluster on a quarterly basis.

Question
What measures are being put in place to ensure that children receiving grants – parents will be prioritize for Social Development services to ensure that the cycle of poverty is broken, and that they get off welfare grants – for example HELEN LAMOELA MP
Democratic Alliance
May 2007

get employment
get housing
and counseling services to improve their situations.

Response
The Department in conjuction with the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) is exploring mechanisms of linking grant recipients with economic activity and sustainable livelihoods.  Already the department is piloting a project linking grants to sustainable livelihoods in the Eastern Cape.  Within this pilot cooperatives are also explored not only as vehicles for sustainable income generation and job creation but also as means to achieve social cohesion and integration. The pilot project also emphasizes the importance of community participation, local knowledge and resources in the search for lasting solutions to alleviation of poverty.  The project is implemented over a period of four years in four phases and the 1^st and 2^nd phase have been completed. 

The Department is also looking at integrating international systems to ensure that grant recipients also receive welfare and other basic services to reduce their vulnerability from poverty trap.

During Child Protection week 28 May – 04 June 2007 the department will hold a symposium on Tackling Child Poverty.  The outcome of this symposium will assist the department in unpacking strengths and gaps of existing interventions in addressing poverty.

Question
Why delays in registration of NPOs? -     Mrs Masilo, MP
Chairperson of the Select Committee on Social Services
African National Congress
May 2007

Response
The Non Profit Organizations’ Act of 1997 allows for a period of 2 months in which to finalise and register a nonprofit organization.

The NPO Directorate receives +/- 60 new applications on a daily basis.  In the execution of its duties and the provision of service to the public, officials of the Directorate are guided by the Batho Pele principles, amongst which are transparency, respect, honesty and courtesy. These principles are always adhered to in order to enable efficient service delivery to the public.

There are specific internal processes that the directorate follows in order to ensure high quality service in line with the spirit of the NPO Act and to guarantee an effective and efficient registration facility for the organizations.  Invariably these processes, though necessary, do delay the turnaround time in finalizing applications.

Since the promulgation of the Act in 1997, the Directorate has been experiencing difficulty in meeting the needs of the growing number (44167) of registering NPOs.  This was exacerbated by the limited number of officials in the unit due to insufficient funds.  With effect from 2007/08 the budget has been increased although still insufficient.  This unit is improving on the turn around time for registration of NPOs.

What is the link between social workers, community development workers and community development practitioners?  Mr Tolo, MP
African National Congress
May 2007

The main challenge that the Department of Social Development is faced with is ‘poverty’ and its outcomes – most of which are casualties that need clinical and statutory care.  The Department’s target groups are the poorest of the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized.  The Department strives to provide comprehensive, integrated, sustainable and high quality social development services against vulnerability and poverty, and to create an enabling environment for sustainable development in partnership with those committed to building a caring society. 

This objective requires multidisciplinary collaborative practice which in the social development context will include social workers and community development practitioners.  While social workers pay attention to the clinical and statutory requirements of the clients, community development practitioners will be paying attention to profiling of the households and communities to identify assets and capabilities and the extent to which they can be mobilized to achieve sustainable livelihoods.  The aim is to ensure that individuals or families that require welfare services are restored as quickly as possible through appropriate develop programmes and projects to self-reliance.

Community Development is a pro-active and preventative process that seeks to empower and capacitate the poor and vulnerable individuals, households and communities. This is done through social mobilization, capacity building, implementation and monitoring of poverty alleviation programmes. Networking with NGO’s and other spheres of government is also part of this process towards building self sustaining communities. Community Development is provided by Community Development Practitioners who are professional development workers with tertiary education.  Their role is to organize communities, conduct research within the community to identify problems, identify assets and capabilities, locate resources, analyze local power structures, assess human needs and investigate other concerns that comprise the community’s character.  They identify and analyze strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats that may promote or present as a barrier for community development and use the information to develop relevant poverty reduction and sustainable development programmes.  Their responsibility is to facilitate community development programmes and projects that seek to ensure sustainable livelihoods in the communities. They also ensure that communities do graduate from a state of dependency to self-reliance where they are able to use local resources for their own development.   Community Development Practitioners undertake community-based participatory research which engages a community as an equal partner in the process.

Community Development Practitioners and Social Workers complement each other and must operate in an integrated manner to ensure delivery of holistic services with maximum impact.
The Department of Local Government has introduced a cadre of Community Development Workers (CDWs) who are community-based resource persons whose role is to collaborate with other community activists to help fellow community members to obtain information and resources from service providers with the aim of learning how to progressively meet their needs, achieve goals, realize their aspirations and maintain their well-being. They are cadres of a special type, participatory change agents who work within communities from where they are selected, where they live, and to whom they are answerable for their activities. A range of government spheres and departments, particularly local government supports them financially and functionally. Although specifically trained and certificated for their role, they have a shorter training than professional development workers who receive tertiary education. CDWs, unlike professional development workers, are resident in the communities in which they work.
Current policy on food parcels – are we still doing it? When?

There is no legislation specifically focusing on the distribution of food parcels. This was thought through as a strategy by DSD to mitigate the impact of rising food prices in 2002 on the backdrop of an insurmountable drought that adversely affected the farming sector.  Most of the poor and indigent families/households still require social assistance and food parcels will remain as a complimentary strategy to afford them food on the table to curb malnutrition and other nutritional defects.  However, the Department has adopted the sustainable livelihoods approach to ensure that the assets and capabilities of these beneficiaries are identified and strengthened through appropriate programmes.   The Department is piloting poverty reduction approaches one of which is to “link grants to sustainable livelihoods and economic activities”.  This will ensure that able-bodied members of families benefiting from social assistance programmes are assisted to earn an income that will complement the grant received.  The grant for National food Emergency Scheme was terminated.

What is our role as DSD on professionalizing youth work?

The Department of Social Development entered into a service level agreement with SAYWA (South African Youth Workers Association) in 2006, for reviewing and developing the youth development practice policy. SAYWA’s mandate is to ensure training of youth workers, youth workers membership and monitor the data base of youth workers.

The Youth Development Directorate as part of its strategy is proposing a national policy conference that will focus on the following sub-themes: Youth Work background and new trends; international perspectives on youth work; Best practice models; Youth Work Curriculum and training programmes. The outcome will be used towards development of the youth development practice policy. Development of policy will influence professionalisation of youth work and curriculum development.

As part of the planning for the conference the Youth Development Directorate intends to draw on expertise and from South African academic institutions (UNISA and Durban University of Technology), African countries (Botswana) and International countries (USA and Europe). Guests will be invited to submit abstracts and present papers for the purposes of guiding and contributing to the development youth work practice policy that will work in the South African context.

Question
What is the process towards equalization of stipends?
Mr Tolo, MP
African National Congress
May 2007

Response
At the inception of the Home Community Based Care Programme (HCBC), the Department of Social Development and Department of Health jointly developed a Framework for HCBC, which recommended a stipend of R500 per month for caregivers. The introduction of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) within the Social Sector led to the review of payment of stipends to caregivers within the HCBC programme. The EPWP Social Sector Plan recommended that caregivers should be remunerated according to the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) levels. In other words, the caregivers should be remunerated in accordance with their levels of qualifications as opposed to pre-determined stipend of R500.

The placement of caregivers on different NQF levels is a long process as most of the training programmes that the majority of caregivers underwent were not accredited by the Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSETA).  To determine at which levels the caregivers should be placed, the Department of Social Development and Department of Health engaged the HWSETA in conducting Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) among a group of selected caregivers. RPL is the acknowledgement of the skills and knowledge a person has acquired through previous training, work or life experience, which may be used to grant status or credit in a subject or module

The disparity in the payment of stipends to caregivers within HCBC came when the Department of Health raised the stipends of caregivers without due consideration to the processes mentioned above. This resulted in the discrepancies in the payment of stipends for caregivers in the two departments. To address this, the two departments are presently finalizing a Regulatory Framework for Community Workers. When it comes into effect, the Framework will regulate the training and remuneration of caregivers within HCBC programme across the board and will standardize the payment of stipends to caregivers.

In terms of the Regulatory Framework, caregivers who are on an equal NQF level will receive an equal amount of stipend irrespective of which department is funding that stipend. To expedite the accreditation of training programmes for caregivers, the two departments are working closely with the HWSETA to conduct the RPL process with caregivers currently in HCBC programme. The departments have also initiated the process to fast-track the accreditation of training service providers to ensure that there is adequate and accredited service providers to train as many caregivers as possible to meet the targets as set out in the EPWP Social Sector Plan.