Children@20 yearsAn overview of child related policy development in the 20 year review

Mastoera Sadan National Planning Commission, The

Presidency

Overview

• Demographics• Household

Characteristics and living arrangements

• Child Poverty• Basic Services• Child Support Grant• Early Childhood

Development

Data Sources• Trends in respect of children between 1993 and

2011• Data large-scale national household surveys• Two at the beginning of period and two at the

end of the period• PSLSD – Project for Statistics on Living Standards

and Development (1993)• NIDS – National Income Dynamics Study (2008)• October Household Survey (1995)• General Household Survey (2011)

Journey since 1994

• The advent of democracy in 1994 presented the democratic government with the opportunity to change the trajectory of all children South Africa

• The Bill of Rights in the Constitution (1996) signalled the primacy of the rights of children in Section 28

• The South African government ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1995 and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in 2000

• Initial period law reform key feature of policy process• Numerous policy and programme interventions

Child share of the population by province, 1993-2011 (%)

1993 1995 2008 2011Eastern Cape 48.7 47.3 44.7 40.4

Free State 39.8 38.7 37.9 36.2

Gauteng 32.1 30.4 29.8 30.5

KwaZulu-Natal 47.0 43.0 43.0 39.6

Limpopo 50.6 51.0 44.4 42.6

Mpumalanga 43.0 43.6 39.4 40.2

Northern Cape 44.7 40.4 34.7 37.5

North West 39.6 40.9 35.5 36.6

Western Cape 34.2 35.4 30.2 32.6

Total 42.5 41.2 37.9 36.8

Household characteristics and living arrangements

Distribution of children by household type, 1993-2011 (%)

Source: PSLSD, OHS, NIDS, GHS

Child and adult distribution by area type

Source: NIDS 2008

Parental co-residence with children, 1993-2011

Source: PSLSD, OHS, NIDS, GHS

Child Poverty

Child Poverty rates 1993-20111993 poverty rates 2011 poverty rates

Adults Children Adults ChildrenPOVERTY LINE % % % %

H &Ö Upper bound 65.3 82.3 56.5 75.0

H &Ö Lower bound 48.3 67.9 37.7 56.4

StatsSA Upper bound 49.7 69.0 38.9 58.2

StatsSA Lower bound 40.1 59.5 28.3 44.4

$2-a-day 34.1 52.6 16.9 27.1$1.25-a-day 21.6 35.9 7.7 12.2

CHILD POPULATION: 16 137 000 18 541 000

Source: PSLSD, GHS

Child poverty rates by province, 1993-2011 (using Stats SA lower bound line)

Source: PSLSD, NIDS, GHS

Basic Services: Living environment

Percentage of children with access to piped water on dwelling site by province, 1993-2011 (%)

Source: PSLSD, OHS, NIDS, GHS

23

33

93

31

12

54

86

34

95

43

30

76

95

3436

66

90

48

93

54

38

93 94

47

41

76

87

66

90

63

32

92 92

51

43

6770

62

94

64

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

EC FS GT KZN LM MP NC NW WC RSA

1993 1995 2008 2011

Percentage of children with access to flush toilet on dwelling site by province, 1995-2011 (%)

18

25

84

27

6

15

79

22

88

33

19

36

91

27

10

30

61

23

83

37

26

65

92

17

11

46

75

42

90

45

28

69

88

28

13

30

62

40

91

47

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

EC FS GT KZN LM MP NC NW WC RSA

1993 1995 2008 2011

Source: PSLSD, OHS, NIDS, GHS

Child Support Grant

• Introduced in 1998• Paid to caregiver• Intended to form a

contribution to the costs of caring for young children

• Significant policy reform since introduction

Child grants

Total Number Of Child Grants For The Period 1997-2012Grant type 96/97 98/99 00/01 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12

Foster Child 42 999 46 496 66 967 83 574 120 571 195 454 317 434 400 503 454 199 474 759 510 760 512 874 536 747

Care Dependency

2 707 16 835 33 574 42 355 76 494 86 917 90 112 98 631 102 292 107 065 110 731 112 185 114 993

Child Support 21 997 1 111 612 1 998 936 2 996 723 4 165 545 7 075 266 7 863 841 8 189 975 8 765 354 9 570 287 10 371 950 10 927 731

Total 45 706 85 328 1212153 2124865 3314359 4447916 7800246 8362975 8746466 9347178 10191778 10997009 11579471

Source: Department of Social Development Socpen system

Policy issues CSG

• ensure children access the grant from birth, work with the Department of Health and Home Affairs to develop a system that is linked to birth registration

• improve take-rates for older children• examine the implementation process of the

CSG and learn the lessons from its successful implementation

Early Childhood Development

Early Childhood Development

• Increase in coverage over period, off a low base

• Increase in subsidy rate• Increase in number of children who access

ECD centres• However current model has limitations

Attendance at ECD service of children under six years by monthly household expenditure, 2011

(%)22

30

35

37

40

41

44

47

56

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Less than R200

R200-R399

R400-R799

R800-R1 199

R1 200-R1 799

R1 800-R2 499

R2 500-R4 999

R5 000-R9 999

10 000 or more

Policy and programme issues

• policy reform required to reconfigure the delivery model, the current model focuses on older children 3-5 years;

• develop options for interventions in the early years;

• develop a human resource strategy;• additional resources are required.

Conclusion• Significant progress, challenges remainInstitutional level• Improved intersectoral collaboration across

programmes;• Improved integrated service provision;• Improved collaboration across spheres of

government;• Improved collaboration with civil society;• A research strategy that focuses on children

across sectors;

Programme level

Child Support Grant • a system whereby children are registered at birth automatically qualify for CSG receipt;•Take-up rates for older children must be improved; Early Childhood Development •a suite of interventions must be developed to increase coverage, in particular for young children 0-3 years, with a focus on children in rural areas and those who live in informal settlements in urban areas;•the funding envelope must be increased over time;•a human resource strategy must be developed;