Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable - Unicef

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Department of Home Affairs Mobile units These were established in 2006 to reach into impoverished and marginalised rural communities. They have proven to be very useful in filling the rural service delivery gap. However, there are a number of problems in accessing the mobile units and the services they offer. These include: ● insufficient consultation with communities about where mobile services should be sent and a lack of accessible and accurate information about where and when mobile service delivery units will be available in rural areas. For example, in the Ratlou district, reliance is placed on a social network for the distribution of information about the days on which mobile trucks will visit a particular area. The social network is made up of community development workers, ward councillors, ward committees, tribal authorities, chiefs and local pension committees. Social networks of this kind cannot be relied on to convey the information (Peters & Williams 2009); ● insufficient numbers of mobile units; ● no dedicated staff for the mobile units; ● equipment in the units is often out of order and this means that documents cannot be issued. All that they can do is take the application and the applicant must still travel to the nearest fixed service point to collect the documents, defeating the objective of the mobile units (Giese & Smith 2007). Hospital birth registrations The DoHA has provided equipment and staff to 110 hospitals across South Africa with maternity and obstetric units to process immediate birth registration for newborn babies. 17 Young children A 2005 study in KwaZulu-Natal found that birth registration was poorest among very young babies (Dove & Naude 2005). In the research sample, 38 per cent of children between the ages of 0–3 months did not have birth certificates, 19 per cent of children between 3–12 months were not registered, 16 per cent of children 1–15 years did not have birth certificates and 13 per cent of children over the age of 15 years had not been registered. These findings regarding young babies in poor rural communities were confirmed in a study conducted in 2009 in the rural communities of Mbizana in the Eastern Cape and Ratlou in the North West province (Peters & Williams 2009). The areas were chosen because of their predominantly rural character and high poverty levels. The take-up of the CSG in these areas is very low. Only 56 per cent of children that qualify for the CSG in Mbizana receive it, and this figure is even lower in Ratlou, where only 37 per cent of children receive it. Generally, there is a delay in accessing the CSG for children from birth to three years. The primary reason for the low levels of access to the grant is lack of enabling documents. Reasons for very young children’s poor access to enabling documents The reasons for especially young children not having birth certificates are diverse. However, a common theme is the difficulty their mothers and caregivers experience in obtaining the supporting documents necessary to register the birth of the baby. This is 17 Acting Deputy Director-General: Civic Services, 2008; available at http://www.pmg.org.za/report/20080801-accesseducation-children-special-needs-birth-certificates-and-id-doc 15
Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable children in SA often complicated by the lateness of the registration of the birth, which requires additional supporting documents. Unlike in predominantly urban areas, many of the births are not hospital or clinic births, but home births. As such, there is no formal hospital-issued birth notification certificate, which would suffice as proof of the birth of the baby for the purpose of registering the birth. In the absence of a birth notification certificate, the application for birth registration must be supported by a Road to Health/Clinic Card. Getting a Road to Health Card is a barrier. Some of the clinics will not, for a variety of reasons, give the child/ caregiver a Clinic Card until the child is due for its first immunisation (at six weeks). This introduces delays into the registration process. Some clinic staff do not see the intrinsic and valuable link between birth registration (and subsequent access to grants and other services) and child well-being, which is precisely what the Road to Health Card is designed to facilitate and monitor. In addition, because the Road to Health Card is regarded by the DoHA as a legal document, any mistake made by the clinic staff on the Card will invalidate it for use as a registration supporting document (Giese & Smith 2007). The need for proof of paternal identity for the registration of the birth is another aggravating factor. If the parents wish to register the baby with the name of the father, but the mother and father are not married, then the father must be present at Home Affairs when the birth is registered. This introduces delays in the registration process, especially when the father lives away from home, for example as a migrant labourer. Traditional/cultural naming practices and processes in rural areas, which delay the naming of the baby, contribute to delayed registrations and the resultant documentation complications. If mothers do not have an identity document, the registration of the birth of their baby is delayed. The birth registration Regulations require proof of maternal identity to register a baby’s birth. In the case of mothers (often those that are younger than 16) who have not yet obtained their identity documents, the registration of the birth is delayed until the mother has done so. In some cases the grandmother registers the baby, identifying herself as the mother (Giese & Smith 2007). The latter practice is unlawful and itself causes further complications and delays further down the road when the mother does obtain an identity document and wishes to register the baby with her name. The DoHA is recognised as a key partner in the integrated model of service delivery that is contained in the NIP for ECD. However, a review of coordinating structures set up by government to address the comprehensive needs of vulnerable children revealed that the DoHA was not, at the time of the review, represented on the National Interdepartmental Committee for ECD, which is responsible for the planning and implementation of the NIP for ECD (Giese & Sanders 2008). This represents a missed opportunity to address the gap in the early registration of babies within the context of an integrated service delivery plan. Children affected by HIV/AIDS Many of the difficulties associated with birth registrations and accessing enabling documents are aggravated in the context of HIV/AIDS. Poverty levels, maternal illness, death and increased child mobility in AIDS-affected communities leaves many children without supporting documents and/or the adults required to register their births. 16
Page 1 and 2: Government-funded programmes and se
Page 3 and 4: Commissioned by the Principal Inves
Page 5 and 6: Chapter 4 Department of Health Intr
Page 7 and 8: Chapter 11 Department of Police, So
Page 9 and 10: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The US National In
Page 11 and 12: PCR PEP PMTCT SAPS SASSA TB UNCRC U
Page 17 and 18: CHAPTER 2 Department of Home Affair
Page 25: Government-funded programmes and se
Page 77 and 78:
Government-funded programmes and se
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
CHAPTER 4 Department of Health Intr
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
CHAPTER 5 Department of Basic Educa
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181 and 182:
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
CHAPTER 6 Department of Labour Intr
Page 189 and 190:
Page 191 and 192:
Page 193 and 194:
Page 195 and 196:
Page 197 and 198:
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
CHAPTER 10 Department of Human Sett
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
Page 215 and 216:
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Page 233 and 234:
Page 235 and 236:
Page 237 and 238:
Page 239 and 240:
Page 241 and 242:
Page 243 and 244:
Page 245 and 246:
Page 247 and 248:
Page 249 and 250:
Page 251 and 252:
Page 253 and 254:
Page 255 and 256:
Page 257 and 258:
show all

Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable - Unicef

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?