PRESENTATION TO PORTFOLIO COMMMITEE ON

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

15 NOVEMBER 2006

Presentation Outline• Strategic Priorities

• Performance Areas

• Key Achievements

• Financial Outlook

• Challenges

• Plan Of Action re: Challenges

• Approach to improve overall strategic coherence

• Create an enabling environment for social and human capital investment.

• Promotion of social integration.

• Social protection initiatives to build the capacity of vulnerable groups.

• Provide a comprehensive social security system.

• Leadership in social development to ensure the deepening of the social policy discourse and evidence-based decision-making.

• Effective and efficient management of social development programmes and activities in partnership with civil society and other social partners.

• Good governance.

• Steering national involvement in African and International frameworks and agreements with respect to socio-economic development.

National Strategic Priorities

Key Performance Areas1. Developing appropriate regulatory mechanisms for promotion and

protection of rights of the poor, vulnerable and marginalized.– Develop, monitor and facilitate the implementation of Social Development

policies, strategies, programmes and service standards

2. Contribution to Human Capital Investment by developing skills in social development.

3. Expanded Public Works Programme in the Social Sector– Coordinating EPWP in the social sector by setting up institutional structures

and mechanisms at national and provincial levels of government

4. Improve Institutional Performance– Transform and restructure the Department to ensure effective and efficient

service delivery.

Key AchievementsDevelop appropriate regulatory mechanisms for implementation

of Comprehensive Social Security system

• Children and Family benefits– Operationalised both the Social Assistance Act 13 of 2004 and the

SASSA Act of 2004– Completed research on desirability for the extension of the Child

Support Grant to the age of 18 and presented options to cabinet.– Approved procedure manual for social relief of distress

• Disability and Retirement benefits– Piloting harmonised assessment tool for disability grants approved in the

previous financial year

Key AchievementsSOCIAL RELIEF BOARD

• There was no disaster events declared, during the period under review.– Outstanding funds were disbursed for disasters declared

during previous reporting period. – The Relief Board has not played a strategic role in the

provision of social relief resulting in a blanket approach to disaster relief.

– The Disaster Relief funds Board made payments to a total of R46 million in eight provinces

Key Achievements Comprehensive Social Security :Provision of social assistance benefits to

Vulnerable groups • The total number of social grants beneficiaries has increased from 9.9

million in September 2005 to 11.4 million in September 2006. The total is computed into the following categories:

• Grant March 2005 March 2006 Sep’2006Old Age pension: 2,087m 2,132 mDisability: 1,298 m 1,312m Foster Care: 245,798 300,119 363,684Care Dependency: 85,507 91604 93,879 Child support grant: 5,6m 6,91m 7.496 m

• The extension of the age of eligibility for the child support grant from 11-13 years which was introduced in April 2005 grew from 558,172 to more than 1.2 million children

Key AchievementsServices to older persons

• The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) and National Assembly Approved the Older Person’s Bill. – The Bill has since been passed by parliament (Older

Persons Act No.: 13 of 2006)

• Developed guidelines on the transformation of old age homes, including norms and standards for service delivery.

Key AchievementsSubstance abuse• Finalised the policy on the management of substance abuse. The

policy defines the role of social development in the management of substance abuse.

• Finalised the new National Drug Master Plan (NDMP 2005 – 2010). – The Plan provides a framework for integrated intervention by various

government departments.

• Facilitated the appointment of Central Drug Authority (CDA) members.

• CDA facilitated:– Submission of mini drug master plans– CDA strategic plan for the next five years– Establishment of 8 provincial substance abuse fora

Key Achievements

Services to people with disabilities• Finalised the draft policy document on disability.

– The policy will assist in streamlining services for people with disabilities and the implementation of uniform standards.

– Costing of the policy is in progress

• Developed policy guidelines for the management of protective workshops.– Policy will assist the achievement of consistency and

uniformity in the management of protective workshops with a view to integrating service delivery.

Key AchievementsExpanded Public Works Programme: Sector Coordination

• Established institutional mechanism and structures for coordination and implementation of EPWP in the social sector under the leadership of Social Development.

• Facilitated the mainstreaming of EPWP objectives and targets within the strategic priorities and programmes of social sector department.

Expanded Public Works Programme: Capacity Building

• Facilitated the development of comprehensive capacity building strategy for the social sector programmes.

• Fast tracked the accreditation of training service provider.

Key Achievements

Expanded Public Works Programme: Expansion of Services

• Expansion of Early Childhood Development services– Achieved 11% increase of registered sites receiving subsidies– Developed an inter-sectoral development plan in collaboration with the

Department of Education and Health.

• Expansion of HCBC services• Manual for skills development for caregivers in HCBC was developed.

• Facilitated training of 6,144 caregivers and they are receiving stipends. • 73745 families are receiving material and non material support through the

HCBC services.• Developed costing model for HCBC and support programmes • Developed norms and standards to ensure provision of quality services.

Key Achievements

Develop appropriate regulatory mechanisms for implementation of Services to children

• The Children’s Bill (B.70-2003) was split into two Bills (Sec 75 & 76 Bill).

• The split provided for the separation of provincial and national competencies.

• Parliament passed the Children’s Bill in 2005• The Children’s Act no.38 of 2005 (Section 75) has since

been assented to by the President in June 2006.• Amendment Bill (section 76) will be introduced to

parliament in 2006

Key Achievements

Services to children: Orphans and other Vulnerable Children

• Established strategic partnerships with civil society organisations to coordinate the provision of comprehensive services to vulnerable groups.– Identified and provided appropriate services to 5,987 child-headed

households

– Distributed school uniforms to 35 441 among children from vulnerable households

– Established and supported Child care forums

• Management of foster care:– Developed monitoring tool to track statistics of foster care placement

backlog.

Key AchievementsServices to children: Abuse, neglect and exploitation

• Approved and costed policy framework to prevent and combat child abuse.

• Reviewing the National protocols on the management of Child Abuse and Neglect.

• Initiated the development of norms and standards for prevention and combating child abuse and neglect.

• Installed servers for computerised national Child Protection Register in 8 provinces. – Eastern Cape already incorporated.

• Concluded agreement with the Canadian International Donor Agency - facilitate the development national surveillance system

Key Achievements

Services to children: Adoptions • Adoptions Register is fully functional and up-to-date.• The Minister launched a campaign to promote national

adoption.• Approved guidelines and database for inter-country adoptions.

Services to children: ECD• Approved ECD guidelines and plan • Finalised Inter-sectoral parenting training manual • Initiated training on ECD in KZN and GP• Increased the amount of subsidies for children and number of

facilities registered.

Key Achievements

Services to Families: Empowerment of victims of violence• Increased shelters and one-stop crisis centres for abused women

and their children from 42 in 2004 to 86 in 2006.

– The shelters provide for a short term accommodation, security and development programmes for women.

• Completed training of 400 professionals in victim empowerment and trauma support, domestic violence and South African Victims’ Charter of rights

Key Achievements

Services to Families: Social Crime Prevention• Trained 750 probation practitioners in restorative justice

and probation practice principles.

• Recruited and trained 46 assistant probation officers

Key AchievementsCommunity Development: Sustainable livelihoods• Developed an exit strategy for the Poverty Relief

Programme projects • Developed strategy for linking Social Grants

beneficiaries to Sustainable Livelihood – The strategy is currently being piloted in Dutyini in the

Eastern Cape.

Community Development: NPO• Achieved registration of 8 398 organisations• All registered organisations complied with the reporting

requirements

Key Achievements Human capital development: Social services professionals.• Recruitment and retention of social services professionals

– Re-grading process for Social Services Professionals• Completed re-grading process for social workers

– Revised remuneration packages for social workers in government – Developed generic job descriptions for social workers developed

• Re-grading for community development workers is still in progress.

– Provision of subsidies and scholarships for social services professionals and students who are still in universities

• 190 scholarships to social work students• Paid outstanding fees for 36 students• Granted 15 bursaries to students with focus on sustainable livelihood

– Trained 200 Social auxiliary workers

Key Achievements

Human capital development: National Youth Development Programme.

• Recruited 220 unemployed youth recruited through the National Youth Service Programme pilot project

• Trained of 120 unemployed youth in a Learnership Programme on Youth Work in Communities

• Established and support Youth Development Centres in the 3 Provinces (NW, EC and WC)

Key Achievements Institutional Reform: SASSA Establishment • Operationalised the SASSA Act of 2004• Appointed the CEO of SASSA • Seconded key officials from the Department to SASSA to

facilitate establishment of head office.• Finalised the transfer of more than 6000 grant administration

staff from the national and provincial departments Social Development

• Completed the shift of the administration of social grants.

Institutional Reform: NDA • NDA re-organised its internal processes, in order to improve

accountability and project tracking.

Key AchievementsInstitutional Reform: Strengthening institutional coherence • Progressed substantially with the restructuring of the departments.

– Key Areas of the restructuring process:

• The Minister approved a high level functional structure for the Department.• Expanded and re-organised the welfare and community development services • Re-orientation of the Security function to focus on comprehensive Social

security • Strengthened the financial management and monitoring capacity of the

Department, focusing on:– Financial planning, forecasting and monitoring– Financial and risk management

Key AchievementsInstitutional Reform: Strengthening institutional coherence • Key Areas of the restructuring process (continued):

• Created Chief Operations Office function– The office is responsible for the Oversight of public entities (SASSA

& NDA)– Centralised Monitoring and Evaluation function– Created Strategic Management Unit– Shifted Populations Development from line function to become a

support and planning function .– Established unit to facilitated incubation of new projects and

programmes including EPWP

• Established Social Policy Programme to support better coordination and analysis of social policy.

R 56,640,033R 55,586,128

R 1,053,905

0

10,000,000

20,000,000

30,000,000

40,000,000

50,000,000

60,000,000

Final Voted Expenditure Saving

98,1% Actual

Spending

DEPARTMENTAL SPENDING

R’000

R 708,274

R 643,264

R 65,010

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

700,000

800,000

Final Voted Expenditure Surplus

91% Actual

Spending

DEPARTMENTAL SPENDING – Excluding Conditional Grants payments

R’000

UNSPENT FUNDSNational Department Adjustments of the original Vote funds of the national Department of Social

Development

• A total amount of R376,965 million has been received as additional allocation for the 2006/07 financial year.

– R55.772 million of the above-mentioned amount were approved as rolled-over funds from the under- spending realized on the Voted funds to the national Department of Social Development for the 2005/06 financial year.

– The funds will be utilized for the implementation and finalisation of the first phase of the Management Information System for social security.

– The full amount has been earmarked for transfer to the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) during the remainder of the 2006/07 financial year, who will be responsible for the administration and management of this project as part of the improvement of the grant administration and payment system.

UNSPENT FUNDS

• Approved the remaining amount of R269,7 million as roll-over funds from the unspent social assistance administration conditional grant fund by the provincial Departments of Social Development at the end of the 2005/06 financial year.

– will be utilized for the payment of social security litigation costs, improvement of financial management systems and to defray costs associated with the transfer of staff to SASSA with effect from 1 April 2006.

Financial Outlook: Auditor General

• AG issued the Department with an unqualified audit opinion with matters of emphasis, meaning– Financial statements fairly present the financial

position and the results of operations of the dept & fully complies with NT guidelines

• However, AG is concerned about significant shortcomings which could impact on or influence audit opinion if left unattended:

Challenges: Matters of Emphasis

Admin of Social Assistance Grant

• 3 Provinces underspent (FS 78,1%, GT 83,9% & MP 76,7%); reasons:– Delays in filling of vacant posts– Improved disability reviews and clean-up campaign – Migration of beneficiaries to banks reduced handling

fees

Challenges: Matters of Emphasis

Under-spending on conditional grant: HIV & AIDS

• Limpopo underspent @ 82,6%, reasons:

– Delays in filling of posts

– Delays in signing of SLAs with NGOs

Under-spending on conditional grant: Integrated Soc Dev Services Grant

• 4 Provinces underspent (FS 25,3%; GT 81,9%; KZN 36,7%; LP 38,9%); reasons:

– Delays in concluding SLAs with NGOs

Challenges: Matters of Emphasis• Non – compliance with the NPO Act.

– Dept doesn’t have capacity to monitor approx. 40 000 NPOs currently registered.

• The slow process of filling of posts.

• Financial administration of the social assistance function during the transition poses many challenges due to dual responsibilities between SASSA and the Department which impacts on accountability.

Challenges: Matters of emphasis

• General weaknesses with SOCPEN– Lack of general controls surrounding the SOCPEN

System.

• Safe keeping of accounting records• The integrity of the non-financial data provided

by provinces is questionable• Lack of effective management information

systems compounds the problem.

ChallengesObjectives not Achieved• Quality assurance framework for social welfare services.• Development of audit reports on the 21 nodes of the

Integrated Rural Development Strategy and nodal strategies

• ISRDP/URP socio-economic study not completed• Anti-Poverty Strategy• Review of the policy framework for HCBC• Proposal on comprehensive Social Security• Training on assessment tool for disability and care

dependency grant

Plan of action to address challenges

• Developed plans, in consultation with SITA, to address all SOCPEN weaknesses.

– These will form part of the new business agreement to be concluded between the Dept & SITA.

• Formulated a long-term strategy to address the challenge of NPO management.

• The Human Resource Management developed measures to expedite the recruitment process;

• Held Intergovernmental workshops to verify data and propose solutions aimed at improving data integrity.

Plan of action to address challenges

• Implementation of the new integrated service delivery model

– Development & Implementation of norms and standards– Strengthen capacity of social service professionals

• Recruitment & retention strategy• Improvement of conditions of service

– Capacity building for our implementation partners• Implementation of new policy on financial awards

Macro Value Chain

.Mandate

PolicyDevelopment ServicesServices

Units of Service DeliveryLegislation

M&E

Influences Reviews Informs Improves

SocialSecurity Social Grants

SASSA

Welfare Services

CommunityDevelopment

PopulationDevelopment

PDSD & NGO

NDSD, PDSDNDA

NDSD & PDSD

Care & Support

Prevention& Rehabilitation

Protective services

Developmental Human CapitalInvestment

Social Development Indicators

Quality of LifeLiving Conditions

Well-Being

Social CohesionDisparities, Inequalities,

Social exclusionSocial Ties/Social Capital

SustainabilityHuman CapitalNatural Capital

Social ChangeSocio-demographic & economic StructureValues and Attitudes

Constitution

White Paper on Social

Development

White Paper on Population Development Planning Info.

& Research

Future PlansMACRO PICTURE OF REALITY:

• What is the Role of Social Development in relation to other departments

– How do we shape social policy – How do we influence and drive factors that affect the second

economy

• Policy and implementation approaches will have to:– to take into consideration complex social interventions - how

the programmes influence each other– We need a shift from programme-level toward system-level

planning, implementation and evaluation

Future Plans

• Alignment of the Social Development Institutions (NDSD, PDSD, SASSA and NDA)

– Clearly identify the units of service delivery and how to resource them

– Improve co-ordination and alignment– Clearly defined roles to ensure complementarities

and avoid duplication– Integrated system – to facilitate information

sharing

END