The White Paper on Social Welfare defines social welfare as "an integrated and comprehensive system of social services, facilities, programmes and social security to promote social development, social justice and the social functioning of people."

The objective of social welfare is to promote the wellbeing of individuals, families and communities. Welfare services are part of a broad menu of social services which aim to enhance the quality of life of South Africans and which provide an enabling environment for women, youth, children, families and the aged to achieve their aspirations

The (3) major social welfare components consist of social security, social welfare services and social development; other components include administration, social assistance, welfare facilities development and auxiliary and associated services.

The need to transform social welfare delivery is stated clearly in the White Paper for Social Welfare. Various instruments have been developed to transform social welfare services and these include the:

Welfare financing policy; Developmental Quality Assurance, new welfare legislation, a comprehensive and developmental policy package. This Financing Policy is one of the most important policy instruments to fast track the transformation of both service delivery and the financing thereof. Demographic information - Socio-economic setting

The following socio-economic indicators reflect the welfare status of the country.

Welfare Status Indicators

FERTILITY: 3,8 MORTALITY 43,1 (per 1000) MIGRATION 6,4 %

The welfare budget has been increasing over the past three years to the amount of R 16 billion.

Of the total budget R 14 billion was allocated to social security (see table 2) and this absorbs about 90% of the budget. Provinces with the highest population and poverty rate are not getting a fair share of the budget (see table 2)

The provincial welfare budget allocations from the financial years 1995\96 to 1997\98 are depicted below, in Table 3. The total welfare budget has been changing significantly over the years.

Table 2 Total Provincial Welfare Budget Allocations Per Province - (R1'000)

3 Welfare services

The Constitution stipulates that social welfare is a shared responsibility between the national and provincial spheres of government.

It is estimated that there are up to 10 000 organisations in civil society with a welfare and development focus. They are based in either the formal welfare sector receiving government financing or what is popularly referred to as the informal welfare sector, and are currently not government subsidised.

3.1 Case work - counseling

The total number of cases which were handled in the nine provinces for 1997/98 were 792 260.The most predominant problems in the country are supervision, failure to maintain children, family conflict, material need and legal aid. These problems are the consequences of socio-economic hardships experienced in the country.

3.2 Welfare facilities

These are facilities aimed at providing services to individuals, children, adults, aged, homeless, disabled and needy in the country. Table 11.2 indicates the number of beds provided for in welfare facilities.

Table 3 Welfare Facilities (Capacity)

There is a total number of 6503 Welfare facilities which caters for 306812 persons, of which the highest number is attached to crèches namely 196,817 followed by, 87 828 in homes for the aged, 39 194 in Service centres, 28 572 in Protective workshop and 13 010 in children=s homes

3.4 Welfare personnel

Table 4 indicates the distribution of personnel in the country according to the different personnel categories, racial gender and spacial distribution both in government and private organisations subsidised by the Department of Welfare.

The total number of personnel in the provincial welfare departments is 17 282. Of the total 6013 are females and 2661 are males. A large number of personnel are black 4 277, followed by white 1 774, coloured 1 299 and Asian 516.

There are 5 529 personnel in provincial welfare departments (combination of professional, administration and social security personnel) as compared to only 2 474 in private welfare organisations.

There are more personnel in private welfare facilities 7 585 than in government welfare facilities 1 694.

3.5 Social development and community work projects

Table 5 and 6 gives an overview of different community work and social development projects run by the government and private organisations in the country in an effort to combat problems experienced by the communities. The community projects focussed on income generation, capacity building, life skills, job creation and literacy.

*All 0 information is not available.

There is a total of 59 914 people who participated in community projects run by government welfare departments.

A large number of children 23 263 participate in community or social development projects aimed at dealing children=s problems. 11 690 people participate in projects addressing poverty and related issues. 6 349 youth participate in youth projects and 6 029 participates in projects dealing with issues affecting women.

*All 0 information is not available.

There is a total of 529 774 people who participated in the community projects in the private welfare organisations.

A large number of children 152 971 participate in projects for children in the private welfare organisations like in government sector. 78 767 participate in projects aimed at youth and related issues. There is also a large number of participants 78 635 in poverty projects. Participation is also high in projects for the disabled 55 006.

4. Financing policy

Welfare financing at present is based on a subsidy system in which government is considered to be a funder of services and not a purchaser of services. The current financing system is based on transfers to organisations who provide services to a particular client group (eg organisations dealing with substance abuse or providing services to older people) and is not aligned with new priorities to - inter alia - provide a wide range of services from a single point.

Problems and challenges for welfare partnerships include fragmentation, the duplication of services (and resulting inefficiencies), a lack of human resource capacity and physical infrastructure (which contributes to an inability to meet the range of society’s needs), and weak inter-sectoral communication and collaboration. In some instances there has been inadequate financial accountability and discipline.

Given the diversity of stakeholders in the welfare field, there is a wealth of knowledge, skills and resources which could and should be harnessed by government and its partners within a restructured welfare system.

2. Aims of financing policy

The financing policy aims to:

• meet government’s agenda to address and eliminate the current imbalances in services to citizens
• include service organisations previously excluded from receiving financial assistance from the state
• target financing to the highest strategic priorities
• promote equitable distribution of finances, services and infrastructure
• include flexible and varied financing options
• facilitate the emergence of a network of accessible services for all in need
• promote the capacity and sustainability of organisations

The following financing options will be applied in combination or on their own:

• financing of differentiated services
• financing in phases
• financing to support early development of a programme or project
• project financing
• transfer of lump sum
• linking social assistance
• outsourcing
• venture financing
• service purchasing

2. Types of services to be financed

The following types of services will be financed:

• Direct services
• Policy, management, co-ordination and monitoring of services
• Capacity building, research and advocacy services

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Last modified: April 06, 2000