Address by the MEC for the Department of Health and Social Development the Honourable Mr Seaparo Sekoati on the Occasion of the NGO Indaba

Date: 13 October 2006
Venue: Oasis Hotel, Polokwane

Programme Director
Members of the NGO Community
Senior Officials of the Department
Private Sector
Ladies and Gentlemen

Today we are holding an indaba regarding partnership between government and civil society, which covers the services rendered by the Department of Health & Social Development in Limpopo. We are doing this within the context of social Development month which require of us to make self assessment and introspection with regard to what we are supposed to be doing.

The migration of the social grants to SASSA has created an opportunity for the department to gear itself on a clear and focused programme of social development with the intention to empower communities for self-reliance, which requires us to improve on the service we are rendering and even expand on those services.

Social grants are not meant to eradicate poverty but to alleviate it. Without any complementary income generating activities it might lead to dependency and stigmatisation. Therefore it is imperative for us as government and other change agents to ensure creation of greater access to opportunities, resources and even assets as we broaden services and linking them to grant beneficiaries.

The World Bank defines NGO’s as private, not for profit organizations that pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor, protect the environment, or undertake community development.

The transition to democracy entailed a different approach by every stakeholder. The NGO’s as well had the challenge to adjust to the new era political environment, learn to work collaboratively with Government, whilst maintaining autonomy and the capacity to advocate for changes in policies.

Non-Governmental Organisations are agents of change and are suppose to be transformative in nature. The intention of the ANC government is to transform society through its service delivery and therefore need transformation organisation to work closely with government to achieve this goal.

In his address to the 51st ANC National Conference, President Thabo Mbeki referring to the challenges of reconstruction and development said, “This requires that we do everything in our power to rebuild the mass democratic movement and revitalise our links especially with the community based organisations that are focusing on community development and improvement of the lives of our people”.

In the Social Development branch, the department render broad services in three programmes, Social Security, Social Welfare and Community Development. These programmes should be integrated and enable the target groups to deal effectively with all social issues, such as psychological stress, chronic poverty, food insecurity and other adverse social conditions.

The social development approach aims at collective empowerment, facilitating processes that help the poor, vulnerable and marginalised to regain control over their lives. This approach to service delivery is developmental and it means that it depends or it is based on the strength of individual, group or community by recognising their capacity for growth and development.

The service must redress past imbalances and promote the goals of sustainable development. The desired outcome of this approach is the implementation of a comprehensive, efficient and effective and quality service delivery system, a system that lead to a self-reliant society based on the principle of Batho Pele.

Our approach as department in all the health and Social Development programmes is that we should work in partnership with the people we serve and with other stakeholders .

In our department and as government we strive to work closely with NGOs, FBO and other civil society organisations that are transparent, honest and selfless in making a contribution to the goals of pushing back the frontiers of poverty and expanding access to a better life for all.

In supporting this partnership, the department has increased social workers salaries, crèches, protective workshop for people with disability, children’s homes, old age homes, service centre for elderly and disabled, victim empowerment shelters, shelters for street children and stimulation centres for disabled children. The increases are a way of ensuring value added services for our communities.

Another important value is that in the department we always strive to be transparent and accountable for its decisions, actions and performance and we expect our stakeholders, including NGOs or NPOs to do the same.

Allow me to highlight the key principles for a developmental approach relevant to our context in Limpopo:

• Participation: People should be fully engaged in their own process of learning, growth and change, starting from where they are and moving at their own pace.
• Self-reliance: People should be connected to each other and with their environment in ways that make them more effective in their individual and collective efforts towards a better life.
• Empowerment: Power relations should shift towards people achieving greater control and influence over decisions and resources that impact on their lives through increasingly interdependent relationships.
• Universal access: Social development services should be available to all vulnerable groups.
• Equity: The disbursement of resources should be based on need, priorities and historical imbalances.
• Transparency: There should be access to information, and openness regarding administrative and management procedures.
• Appropriateness: There should be responsiveness to social, economic, cultural and political conditions.
• Accountability: All legislation, policy and regulations should be complied with.
• Accessibility: Accessibility in terms of physical and geographical conditions, time, language and need should be ensured.
• Efficiency and effectiveness: Objective should be achieved in the most cost-effective manner.
• Partnership: It is the collective responsibility of government, civil society and the business sector to deliver services.
• Social integration: Policies and programmes should promote social justice.
• Sustainability: Long-term maintenance of desired goals should be possible.

We all have a responsibility to deliver efficient and effective service to the people of this province. Every single government employee and members of NGOs are expected to ensure that goals we set ourselves are achieved and avoid procrastination and self-serving tendencies.

Programme Director, let me take this opportunity to highlight some of the contemporary challenges we are all faced with:

Institutional Management capacity-Most NPO’s that are funded by the Department, they do not have clear Organisational structure, a strong board of management to govern the Organisation,strategic and business planning ability, sound management practices and well functioning administrative systems. The information management is not available and there are no marketing skills to be able to expand the services.

There are also challenge to make sure the NGO/NPO services are linked with the Departmental services within the District Health system. Linkages with Governance structures like Ward committees, Clinic committees. A pension committee, Local and District AIDS Councils, District Health Councils, Traditional Leaders is still a challenge by most of the Organisations. Accountability to communities they serve is also a worrying aspect as most members in the community are not aware of the services rendered because report back meetings are not facilitated and also annual general meeting to report to citizens about services and Audited financial statements.

Financial Sustainability-Most of The Organisations are not sustaining because there is no long term contract with the funders. Treasury requirements is that NGO’s/NPO’s are also regulated by the Public Finance Management Act and to follow procurement procedures as long as they are funded by Government . Most of the Organisations do not have the capacity to manage the funds as expected and as such funding is terminated.

Most Organisations are depending on Government or other donors and if funds are terminated, they lose staff and service capacity. The staff salaries are often poor and it impact on staff motivation and they usually seek better employment opportunities somewhere.

Technical Capacity- Most of the NGO’s/NPO’s do not comprehend Government programmes and it becomes difficult to provide services that are in line with the needs in the communities. There is a need for technical capacity in most Organisations to make sure they deliver quality services, have clinical norms, standards, protocols and other quality assurance measures to make sure that services they deliver have impact on the majority of the people in the community.

The need in the community is no more charity, but is to provide services to the poor and the vulnerable group’s e.g operating a day care centre for the aged, one need to understand the activities to be provided to make sure they meet the demands of the elderly people physically, socially and psychologically.

Public sector capacity-There is still challenges in Government sector to manage NGO/NPO contract both technically and administratively. There is a need to continue build and enhance capacity among government officials in the management of NGO/NPO’s.

POSSIBLE INTERVENTIONS

• Develop partnership policy guidelines between Non profit Ogranisations and the Department
• Develop service packages, reporting indicators, protocols for different programmes,norms and standards for NPO service delivery
• Capacitated NPO’s on Organisational and Financial management and it should include human resource management, planning.
• Capacitate NPO’s on technical knowledge, Departmental programmes, Millennium goals indicators, Quality assurance and information management
• Clarify Governance of NPO’s within the District Health and Social Development system
• Create a platform for peer review amongst amongst social providers
• Integrate NPO services into the strategic plan of the Department and into the MTEF budget to ensure sustainability
• Regulate NPO area of operation in geographical location, looking at the population and disease profile of the area to avoid mushrooming and overlapping of services
• Develop capacity in the Department on Management and Partnership with NPO’s
• Create coordination forums at local, district and ensure close linkages with those sphere of government.

Lastly, let us recommit ourselves as partners in delivering an excellent service that we transform society. We cannot afford to work in isolation of each other. We should look back in the future, to say ‘without the other we could not have succeeded’.

I wish you successful debate and hope that the decision we arrive at will assist us in accelerating the pace of change in the development of our communities and creation of better life for all.

I thank you.

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