DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

1
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

• Presentation to the Joint Monitoring Committee on
  the Improvement of the Status of Women
• Public Hearings on HIV/AIDS
• 25 September 2001

2
Overview

• Gender inequality and HIV/AIDS
• Impact of HIV/AIDS on women
• Response of the Department
• Challenges

3
Gender and HIV/AIDS

• Gender inequality
• Increase womens risk of contracting HIV/AIDS
• Limit womens access to resources for coping with
  HIV/AIDS
• Increase womens share of burden
• HIV/AIDS perpetuates and exacerbates gender
  inequality

4
Women and Poverty

• Women are more likely to poor
• Studies on poverty in SA show that the poorest
  households are usually headed by women
• Education opportunities for girls are increasing,
  but not commensurate with opportunities for boys
• Women in employment are likely to earn less than
  their male counterparts

5
Violence against women

• Women and girls are more likely to be victims of
  domestic violence and sexual abuse than men
• Women and girls are more likely to be victims of
  rape than men

6
Impact of HIV/AIDS on women

• Increased risk of contracting HIV/AIDS
• Reports on other countries suggest higher
  infection rates amongst teenage girls and young
  women than their male counterparts
• Reports suggest that this derives from womens
  social and economic status relative to men

7
Impact of HIV/AIDS on women

• Infected women are likely to
• Lose jobs if they had them
• Stigmatised as spreaders of HIV/AIDS
• No access to social assistance other than
  applying for disability grants for themselves of
  Child Support Grant if they have children under 7
  years
• Unless they have access to food and health care,
  their life expectancy is reduced drastically.
  Impact extends to their children
• Fear of what will happen to their children when
  they die

8
Impact of HIV/AIDS on women

• Women are expected to be the caregivers
• Disruption of education of girls
• Loss of jobs/reduced earnings
• Grandmothers have to support grandchildren often
  on a single social grant

9
Departments Response

• Responses attempt to address the immediate needs
  of women infected and affected by HIV/AIDS as
  well as the broader issue of gender inequality
• Responses are mainstreamed in Departments
  framework for combating HIV/AIDS
• Departments responses are informed by
  interactions with affected women and communities

10
Departments Response

• Home-Based/Community-Based Care
• Poverty alleviation programmes focused on
  HIV/AIDS and economic empowerment of women
• Advocacy campaigns and partnerships with Women
  (including young women)
• Improving access to social assistance
• Victim Empowerment and Domestic Violence
• Training and building capability
• Research and information

11
Home-Based and Community-Based Care

• 3 programmes
• Joint projects with Department of Health and
  provinces
• Projects funded and managed by National
  Department using HIV/AIDS funds (5 projects)
• National Projects funded from Poverty Relief Fund
  17 projects (Provinces also have HIV/AIDS
  related projects funded from Poverty Relief Fund)

12
Home-Based and Community-Based Care

• Target groups are vulnerable children and women
• Assistance provided to women
• Material assistance (mainly food)
• Counseling and support groups
• Accessing social assistance, welfare services and
  poverty alleviation programmes
• Home-based care for women and their families
• Information to assist women as caregivers
• Life skills to prevent infection

13
Coverage of Joint Projects
Province 2000/2001 2001/2002
Eastern Cape Tsolo District Estimated beneficiaries 50 families and 47 orphans Mhlakulo Butterworth
Free State Welkom District Estimated beneficiaries 210 children and their families/caregivers QwaQwa Sasolburg Odendaalsrus Virginia Theunissen Bultfontein
Gauteng - Alexandra Carleton Sebokeng Bronkspruit/ Cullinan
14
Coverage of Joint Projects
Province 2000/2001 2001/2002
KwaZulu-Natal - Ndumu Moyeni Nseleni, Nduduzweni Bhambayi, Khanyeselani Mpendle Portshepstone/Kokstad Pietermaritzburg
Mpumalanga Tonga District 34 projects Estimated beneficiaries2816 children Matibidi Mmamthlake KwaMhlanga Eerstehoek
Northern Cape De Aar Diamond Fields Namaqualand
15
Coverage of Joint Projects
Province 2000/2001 2001/2002
Northern Province Maraba Mashashane Westernburg Seshego 1120 children Dwarsloop Acornhoek Dzanani Messina Nylstroom Potgietersrus
North West Jouberton Klerksdorp 115 children Brits Zeerust Vryburg
Western Cape - All regions of Province will be covered
16
Poverty Relief Programme

• PRP has targeted women since its inception.
  About two-thirds of beneficiaries of Departments
  programme are women.
• From 1998/99 to 2000/2001
• Managed R363 million in PRP funds
• 2868 projects to value of R329.795 m
• Payments of R289.913 m to projects

17
Poverty Relief Programme

• In 2000/2001
• Transferred R9.73 million to HIV/AIDS projects
  initiated by communities and Faith-Based
  Organisations
• Womens Flagship Programme
• Funded from PRP and special allocation for
  Flagship Programme
• 16 Projects operating (2 per province, except KZN
  and Northern Cape)
• 801 women and 913 children benefiting

18
Poverty Relief Programme

• 2001/02 to 2003/04
• Support income-generation activities for women in
  rural areas (100 projects)
• Establish 144 rural food production clusters of
  100 households each, with emphasis on households
  affected by HIV/AIDS
• Support 100 community-based projects providing
  care and support for households affected by
  HIV/AIDS

19
Social Assistance

• Women are significant proportion of social
  assistance beneficiaries either directly or
  through their role as caregivers
• Information and communication campaigns to inform
  women about social grants, especially Child
  Support Grant
• Limitations of coverage of grants in context of
  HIV/AIDS are being investigated by Committee of
  Inquiry into Comprehensive Social Security
• Improving administration of social security

20
Victim Empowerment

• VEP provides care and support and life skills for
  women (and children) who are subjected to abuse
• 66 projects at provincial level providing 24hr
  one-stop service for women (reach 2500 per month)
• 34 National Projects include
• Trained 225 social workers and lay counselors in
  Domestic Violence Act
• Directory of Services produced
• Survey on shelters for abused women

21
Advocacy work Partnerships

• 16 Days of Activism on No violence against
  women includes men as partners in combating
  violence against women and sharing responsibility
  to reduce HIV/AIDS
• Working on partnership with LoveLife
• Training girls and boys as groundbreakers to
  promote HIV/AIDS awareness
• Life skills training
• Involving youth in Home-Based and Community-Based
  Care Programmes

22
Advocacy work Partnerships

• Partnerships with aid organisations
• Partnership with Faith-Based Organisations
• Already supporting HIV/AIDS projects of FBOs
• Working with FBOs to involve them more
  comprehensively in HIV/AIDS programmes

23
Building capacity

• Home-Based Care and Poverty Relief Programmes
  include building capacity of women
• Launched HIV/AIDS Capacity Building Programme for
  government officials includes understanding
  impact of HIV/AIDS on women
• Requests received to extend programme to NGOs and
  CBOs

24
Information Base

• Started audit/survey of all HBC and CBC projects
  in country (with Department of Health)
• Survey identifies services offered, target
  groups, sources of funding, governance
  structures, etc
• Survey will be used to scale up response and
  identify areas not covered
• Survey will serve as basis for monitoring system

25
Budget Allocation
Programme Budget Allocation
HBC / Community-Based Care 2000/01 R6.8 million 2001/02 R13.4 million
Poverty Relief Programme 2000/01 R120 million plus R37.678 million roll-over from 1999/2000 2001/02 R50 million. Of this, R10 million is for Flagship type projects R5 million is for community HIV/AIDS support R10.88 million is for food security
Flagship Programme 2000/01 R1.612 million plus R650 000 from Poverty Relief allocation 2001/02 Integrated with PRP
Victim Empowerment 2000/01 R2.3 million 2001/2002 Nil
26
Budget Allocation

• Women also benefit through social assistance
• Child Support Grant 1 078 884 beneficiaries at
  1 April 2001, paid R117.809 million in 2000/2001
• Aged Pension 1 882 188 beneficiaries at 1 April
  2001. Assuming 50 are women, benefits to women
  were R522.423 million
• Care dependency grant 30 269 beneficiaries at 1
  April 2001, paid R18.76 million

27
Challenges and Responses

• Addressing the problem of stigma
• Provide tangible assistance to people affected
  (access to social grants, counseling, health
  care, etc)
• Education of communities where HBC and CBC
  projects are located
• Support to National campaigns
• Young men as partners in fight
• Faith-Based Organisations

28
Challenges and Responses

• Scaling up response to meet demand
• Direct more support to community-initiated
  projects
• Strengthen partnership with FBOs
• Other partnerships with business and labour
• Promoting volunteerism and involvement of youth

29
Challenges and Responses

• Ensuring protection of children
• Prioritise orphans and infected children in new
  Child Care legislation
• National guidelines and protocols to apply to all
  HBC and CBC projects funded by government

30
Challenges and Responses

• Access to social assistance
• Interim national procedures for dealing with
  applications for disability grants and social
  relief in distress
• Mechanisms to check that participants who are
  eligible for social assistance receive grants
• Long term options on grants being investigated by
  Committee on Social Security

31
Challenges and Responses

• Food security
• Strengthen food security component of HBC and CBC
  Programme
• Integrated Food Security Strategy being developed
  by government
• Budgetary issues
• Discussions with Treasury on funding for HBC and
  increasing social relief budgets
• Lack of funding for Victim Empowerment Programme

32
Concluding Remarks

• Combating HIV/AIDS and its impact on women
  requires us to change the daily reality of many
  women
• Their access to resources they need to fight
  poverty
• Their status in society