Date: 08/09/2005
Source: Department of Education
Title: Pandor: Monitoring and Evaluation media briefing, September 2005
Social Cluster Media Briefing, by Minister of Education, N Pandor, Cape Town
Good morning ladies and gentlemen
We will report progress on a range of issues this morning, including:
* The Country report on the Millennium Development Goals
* Comprehensive Social Security
* Promotion of National Identity and Social Cohesion
* Comprehensive Health Care
* Meeting the challenges of housing and human settlement
* Integrated food security and nutrition programme
* Second economy interventions including the EPWP and ISRDP/URP
* Broadening access to and improving the quality of education
* Policy implications of the macro-social analysis
1. The Country report on the Millennium Development Goals
As you may know we drafted a country report on the MDGs which is intended for discussion at the UN Summit commencing on the 14 September. The purpose of this report is to review progress against the targets set by the UN in 2000.
As Government, we are confident that South Africa will meet the targets set for 2015. We shared the results of our assessment with civil society stakeholders last Friday and there was general agreement with the approach that we are taking in reporting to the UN. While the report includes specific information on the progress made thus far, the approach we have adopted is to focus on the context in which we need to view the MDGs – that of poverty, under-development and issues of unfair trade practices and socio-economic inequities between the North and the South. The report focuses on issues of peace and democracy and the need for sustainable development in the world.
As a country, we are also focusing on targets that go beyond the millennium goals where possible. For example, besides looking at indicators on communicable diseases, like TB and HIV and AIDS, as reflected in the MDGs, we are also looking at indicators and targets on non-communicable diseases and trauma
Many developing countries will also struggle to report because of lack of baseline data and effective information systems. We have a particular challenge given that the baseline year for the report is 1990 and you will know that our information system was heavily biased and unreliable during the apartheid period. Another challenge is that national averages hide inter and intra-provincial variation. For instance, our national immunisation coverage is at 82% but we know that there are some areas in the country where the coverage is lower than this.
2. Comprehensive Social Security
On the Comprehensive Social Security, let me start with the extension of the child support grant. Two and a half million children are now registered for the child support grant. Of these 1.1 million are aged between 7 and 8 years, just under 1 million aged between 9 and 10 and 430 000 between 11 and 14 years. More than 78% of the targeted children have been registered and we are confident of reaching the target of 3.2 million children by 2006.
With respect to the establishment of the National Social Security Agency – staff are currently being employed in the national office. Over 5000 existing social security staff in provinces are awaiting transfer to the agency by 1 April 2006. The IT infrastructure is being installed.
You will recall that government was concerned with the rapid increase in the number of disability grantees. As a result of reviews by provinces a 100 000 cases of temporary disabilities have been reviewed and terminated, saving the state more than R200m. We are also in the process of piloting a new assessment tool using a new definition that was agreed upon by government.
3. Promotion of National Identity and Social Cohesion
Since the July lekgotla, additional work has been done on the policy implications of the macro-social analysis and will be considered by Cabinet soon.
The policy implications revolve around the following strategic themes:
* Improving social/material conditions;
* Strengthening social cohesion;
* And pursuit of an effective social compact.
We also need to increase the number of economically active people; strengthen entrepreneurship and improve provision of basic services. Cabinet is continuing to consider this matter.
4. Comprehensive Health Care
As we have stated previously, prevention is the best cure! We have therefore embarked on a range of health promotion activities. In this regard I need to mention that September is Heart Month – physical activity and proper nutrition are critical for a healthy heart. We will be intensifying our physical activity campaign – Vuka South Africa, Move for Health culminating in physical activity workshop on the 28th of September where the Minister of Health will be joined by Dr Victor Matsudo. Dr Matsudo initiated the mass physical activity in Brazil which was later adopted by the World Health Organisation.
With respect to the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan for the Management, Care and Treatment of HIV and AIDS, I need to point out that at the recent WHO/AFRO agreed that 2006 should be declared the "Year for Acceleration of HIV Prevention in Africa". This means that we need to intensify our prevention efforts through the Khomanani campaign because after all, there is still no cure for HIV and AIDS.
We now have 178 sites spread across all the 53 districts and in about 60% of the sub-districts. We are also extending the nutritional interventions by providing nutritional supplement and vitamin supplementation.
We will soon be launching the council for traditional health practitioners which will assist in regulating this important area of health practice. Traditional health practitioners play an important role in our efforts to curbing the spread of HIV infection and reducing the impact of AIDS.
Progress is also being made in the development of the Health Charter which aims to strengthen collective efforts within the health system to improve access to affordable and quality health care.
We are also making progress in developing Human Resources Plan for Health. We are expecting all stakeholders to submit their input on this matter by the 15th of September. With regard to nursing in particular, the Minister of Health had a meeting with retired nurses where these nurses committed themselves to supporting efforts to promote a caring ethos within the nursing profession. The Minister also had a meeting with SA nurses working in Britain last weekend where many of them expressed their desire to return to the South African public health sector. The Ministry is finalising arrangements to assist those who would like to return.
5. Meeting the challenges of housing and human settlement
We are streaming ahead with the implementation of the new comprehensive human settlement Plan “Breaking new Ground”. We are happy with progress in the implementation of the Plan. We are now giving priority to rental stock to ensure that the poor have access to accommodation close to place of work and other economic activities.
In line with this focus, the President of the country recently launched Brickfields in Newton, Johannesburg. Other pilot projects like N2 Gateway and Cosmo City are also progressing well.
Our spending partners across all provinces have improved. However we are concern of the capacity of municipalities to deliver. We are assisting them to unblock all blocked projects.
On 22 – 23 September 2005, we will host a Housing Indaba at the ICC here in Cape Town. This Indaba is a follow up to meetings and interactions held between ourselves and various housing sector’s role players on how we can implement the Plan and fast track delivery.
At the end of the Indaba, we will concretise discussions held and agreements reached through the signing of a Housing Social Contract with invited role players from various sectors like developers, contractors, financial institutions, non-governmental organisations and other government institutions.
6. Integrated food security and nutrition programme
More than 22 000 people, ranging from young people, to unemployed women, have been recruited nation-wide and have been provided with work opportunities to prepare and serve school meals, thus enabling them to gain income through stipends. The scheme has also supported the emergence of a number of SMMEs and co-operatives, which render various services in support thereof. In addition, a number of schools in the National School Nutrition Programme have established vegetable gardens to enrich the nutritional value of the meals served in schools.
As part of the strategy to strengthen food security the Department of Land Affairs has settled 62 127 claims as at 30 June 2005.
7. Second economy interventions including the EPWP and ISRDP/URP
The Departments of Health and Social Development have adopted a common approach to care givers at community level. A community care-giver skills development programme has been finalised and learning materials should be finalised by December 2005.
As we have indicated before, the EPWP is on course to reach its target of 1 million job opportunities in five years. Some 223 400 gross work opportunities have been created from 3400 EPWP projects nationwide in the first year of the EPWP, yielding at least R823m in total wages paid. Of those who benefited from these projects in the first year of the programme, 38% were women, 41% youth, and 0.5% disabled.
The EPWP focuses on ensuring that labour-intensive methods are used in government service delivery programmes in the infrastructure, environmental and culture, social and economic sectors.
The sector breakdown of the number of work opportunities point to the highest number of opportunities being created in the infrastructure sector, at least 158 000 gross opportunities followed by the environment and culture sector was next, with almost 58 800 work opportunities created
8. Broadening access to and improving the quality of education
Three provinces unfortunately still report that children are forced to learn under trees because of lack of sufficient classrooms – these are KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. A total of 1 757 classrooms have been completed at existing schools and a total of 4 031 classrooms are currently under construction to deal with the backlog.
Progress is also being made to provide all schools with water and sanitation. Since February this year, 87 schools have been provided with water and sanitation and work is underway to extend this to an additional 240 schools.
Tenders have been awarded for the audit of programmes at the 50 Further Education and Training colleges and the audit of the infrastructure of the 206 Further Education and Training sites. In addition, recapitalisation plans for all 50 Further Education and Training colleges have been drafted.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can say that significant progress has been made in a number of areas. Clearly there are challenges in some areas but the sector is functioning effectively in addressing these. We have not doubt that we will be able to deliver on the targets set for us in the State of the Nation address and by Cabinet.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Education
8 September 2005
Source: Department of Education
Title: Pandor: Monitoring and Evaluation media briefing, September 2005
Social Cluster Media Briefing, by Minister of Education, N Pandor, Cape Town
Good morning ladies and gentlemen
We will report progress on a range of issues this morning, including:
* The Country report on the Millennium Development Goals
* Comprehensive Social Security
* Promotion of National Identity and Social Cohesion
* Comprehensive Health Care
* Meeting the challenges of housing and human settlement
* Integrated food security and nutrition programme
* Second economy interventions including the EPWP and ISRDP/URP
* Broadening access to and improving the quality of education
* Policy implications of the macro-social analysis
1. The Country report on the Millennium Development Goals
As you may know we drafted a country report on the MDGs which is intended for discussion at the UN Summit commencing on the 14 September. The purpose of this report is to review progress against the targets set by the UN in 2000.
As Government, we are confident that South Africa will meet the targets set for 2015. We shared the results of our assessment with civil society stakeholders last Friday and there was general agreement with the approach that we are taking in reporting to the UN. While the report includes specific information on the progress made thus far, the approach we have adopted is to focus on the context in which we need to view the MDGs – that of poverty, under-development and issues of unfair trade practices and socio-economic inequities between the North and the South. The report focuses on issues of peace and democracy and the need for sustainable development in the world.
As a country, we are also focusing on targets that go beyond the millennium goals where possible. For example, besides looking at indicators on communicable diseases, like TB and HIV and AIDS, as reflected in the MDGs, we are also looking at indicators and targets on non-communicable diseases and trauma
Many developing countries will also struggle to report because of lack of baseline data and effective information systems. We have a particular challenge given that the baseline year for the report is 1990 and you will know that our information system was heavily biased and unreliable during the apartheid period. Another challenge is that national averages hide inter and intra-provincial variation. For instance, our national immunisation coverage is at 82% but we know that there are some areas in the country where the coverage is lower than this.
2. Comprehensive Social Security
On the Comprehensive Social Security, let me start with the extension of the child support grant. Two and a half million children are now registered for the child support grant. Of these 1.1 million are aged between 7 and 8 years, just under 1 million aged between 9 and 10 and 430 000 between 11 and 14 years. More than 78% of the targeted children have been registered and we are confident of reaching the target of 3.2 million children by 2006.
With respect to the establishment of the National Social Security Agency – staff are currently being employed in the national office. Over 5000 existing social security staff in provinces are awaiting transfer to the agency by 1 April 2006. The IT infrastructure is being installed.
You will recall that government was concerned with the rapid increase in the number of disability grantees. As a result of reviews by provinces a 100 000 cases of temporary disabilities have been reviewed and terminated, saving the state more than R200m. We are also in the process of piloting a new assessment tool using a new definition that was agreed upon by government.
3. Promotion of National Identity and Social Cohesion
Since the July lekgotla, additional work has been done on the policy implications of the macro-social analysis and will be considered by Cabinet soon.
The policy implications revolve around the following strategic themes:
* Improving social/material conditions;
* Strengthening social cohesion;
* And pursuit of an effective social compact.
We also need to increase the number of economically active people; strengthen entrepreneurship and improve provision of basic services. Cabinet is continuing to consider this matter.
4. Comprehensive Health Care
As we have stated previously, prevention is the best cure! We have therefore embarked on a range of health promotion activities. In this regard I need to mention that September is Heart Month – physical activity and proper nutrition are critical for a healthy heart. We will be intensifying our physical activity campaign – Vuka South Africa, Move for Health culminating in physical activity workshop on the 28th of September where the Minister of Health will be joined by Dr Victor Matsudo. Dr Matsudo initiated the mass physical activity in Brazil which was later adopted by the World Health Organisation.
With respect to the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan for the Management, Care and Treatment of HIV and AIDS, I need to point out that at the recent WHO/AFRO agreed that 2006 should be declared the "Year for Acceleration of HIV Prevention in Africa". This means that we need to intensify our prevention efforts through the Khomanani campaign because after all, there is still no cure for HIV and AIDS.
We now have 178 sites spread across all the 53 districts and in about 60% of the sub-districts. We are also extending the nutritional interventions by providing nutritional supplement and vitamin supplementation.
We will soon be launching the council for traditional health practitioners which will assist in regulating this important area of health practice. Traditional health practitioners play an important role in our efforts to curbing the spread of HIV infection and reducing the impact of AIDS.
Progress is also being made in the development of the Health Charter which aims to strengthen collective efforts within the health system to improve access to affordable and quality health care.
We are also making progress in developing Human Resources Plan for Health. We are expecting all stakeholders to submit their input on this matter by the 15th of September. With regard to nursing in particular, the Minister of Health had a meeting with retired nurses where these nurses committed themselves to supporting efforts to promote a caring ethos within the nursing profession. The Minister also had a meeting with SA nurses working in Britain last weekend where many of them expressed their desire to return to the South African public health sector. The Ministry is finalising arrangements to assist those who would like to return.
5. Meeting the challenges of housing and human settlement
We are streaming ahead with the implementation of the new comprehensive human settlement Plan “Breaking new Ground”. We are happy with progress in the implementation of the Plan. We are now giving priority to rental stock to ensure that the poor have access to accommodation close to place of work and other economic activities.
In line with this focus, the President of the country recently launched Brickfields in Newton, Johannesburg. Other pilot projects like N2 Gateway and Cosmo City are also progressing well.
Our spending partners across all provinces have improved. However we are concern of the capacity of municipalities to deliver. We are assisting them to unblock all blocked projects.
On 22 – 23 September 2005, we will host a Housing Indaba at the ICC here in Cape Town. This Indaba is a follow up to meetings and interactions held between ourselves and various housing sector’s role players on how we can implement the Plan and fast track delivery.
At the end of the Indaba, we will concretise discussions held and agreements reached through the signing of a Housing Social Contract with invited role players from various sectors like developers, contractors, financial institutions, non-governmental organisations and other government institutions.
6. Integrated food security and nutrition programme
More than 22 000 people, ranging from young people, to unemployed women, have been recruited nation-wide and have been provided with work opportunities to prepare and serve school meals, thus enabling them to gain income through stipends. The scheme has also supported the emergence of a number of SMMEs and co-operatives, which render various services in support thereof. In addition, a number of schools in the National School Nutrition Programme have established vegetable gardens to enrich the nutritional value of the meals served in schools.
As part of the strategy to strengthen food security the Department of Land Affairs has settled 62 127 claims as at 30 June 2005.
7. Second economy interventions including the EPWP and ISRDP/URP
The Departments of Health and Social Development have adopted a common approach to care givers at community level. A community care-giver skills development programme has been finalised and learning materials should be finalised by December 2005.
As we have indicated before, the EPWP is on course to reach its target of 1 million job opportunities in five years. Some 223 400 gross work opportunities have been created from 3400 EPWP projects nationwide in the first year of the EPWP, yielding at least R823m in total wages paid. Of those who benefited from these projects in the first year of the programme, 38% were women, 41% youth, and 0.5% disabled.
The EPWP focuses on ensuring that labour-intensive methods are used in government service delivery programmes in the infrastructure, environmental and culture, social and economic sectors.
The sector breakdown of the number of work opportunities point to the highest number of opportunities being created in the infrastructure sector, at least 158 000 gross opportunities followed by the environment and culture sector was next, with almost 58 800 work opportunities created
8. Broadening access to and improving the quality of education
Three provinces unfortunately still report that children are forced to learn under trees because of lack of sufficient classrooms – these are KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. A total of 1 757 classrooms have been completed at existing schools and a total of 4 031 classrooms are currently under construction to deal with the backlog.
Progress is also being made to provide all schools with water and sanitation. Since February this year, 87 schools have been provided with water and sanitation and work is underway to extend this to an additional 240 schools.
Tenders have been awarded for the audit of programmes at the 50 Further Education and Training colleges and the audit of the infrastructure of the 206 Further Education and Training sites. In addition, recapitalisation plans for all 50 Further Education and Training colleges have been drafted.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can say that significant progress has been made in a number of areas. Clearly there are challenges in some areas but the sector is functioning effectively in addressing these. We have not doubt that we will be able to deliver on the targets set for us in the State of the Nation address and by Cabinet.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Education
8 September 2005
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