Address by Dr Jean Swanson-Jacobs at the Trialogue Making Corporate Social Investment (CSI) Matter Conference

Godfrey Mokate, CEO of the National Development Agency
Robin Woolley, Director: Ownership Solutions
Nomsa Masuku, Head: CSI, Standard Bank
Sam Mensah, Director: Public Sector, Intel
Roger Matlock, General Manger, GM South Africa Foundation
Ramesh Chhagan, Manager: Corporate Sustainable Development, Exxaro
Setlogano Manchidi, Head: CSI, Investec
Sizwe Nxasana, CEO FirstRand Group
Nick Ockenden, Research Officer, Institute of Volunteering Research, UK
Elkanah Odembo, Director: Ufadhili - The Centre for Philanthropy and Social Responsibility, Kenya
Lunga Mangcu, Marketing and Communications Executive, NDA
Kate Miszewski, Head: Old Mutual Foundation
Margie Keeton, CEO: Tshikululu Social Investments
Gail Campbell, CEO: Zenex Foundation
Invited guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am honoured to open South Africa's first and long overdue conference on Corporate Social Investment. I bring you warm and hearty greetings from the Minister for Social Development, Dr Zola Skweyiya, Members of the Executive Council for Social Development in the provinces, the Heads of Social Development, Senior Managers and the entire staff of Social Development, in their various formations, branches Chief Directorates and programmes, wherever they are to be found, across the length and breadth of our country

It gives me great pleasure to join you all in marking the tenth publication of the CSI Handbook. The Handbook plays an important role in the development arena, bringing the corporate sector closer to both civil society and government with the latest developments in the sector, highlighting opportunities to work together in partnership as well as sharing valuable lessons, experiences and best practices with each other.

Our Constitution enshrines the rights of all people in our country to dignity, equality before the law, freedom and security. It affirms out rights to freedom of religion, expression, culture, association and movement, as well as our political, labour and property rights. The Constitution commits government to take reasonable measures, within its available resources, to ensure that all South Africans have access to adequate housing, healthcare, education, food, water and social security.

The reality in our cities, towns and rural areas is far from this ideal. Many of our communities are still divided. Millions of our people live in dire poverty, isolated from services and opportunities. Long-standing patterns of inequity and unmet human needs still prevail. However, last year the Grant Thornton International Business Owners Survey reported that 80% of South Africa's business owners are optimistic about the year ahead, making them the third most optimistic internationally. At the same time First National Bank and the Bureau for Economic Research reported that the consumer confidence index was at its highest in 25 years. There is no doubt that democracy has been good for business. Yet we are still a country of 'two nations' - the 'haves' and the 'have-nots.'

It was our former President Nelson Mandela who stated that:

"We must appreciate that all over the world, right down the centuries, there have been great religions that have encouraged the idea of giving - of fighting poverty and of promoting the equality of human beings - whatever their background, whatever their political beliefs. That spirit has lived not only in the world but in South Africa as well."

It is this spirit of corporate giving that has manifested itself in the Corporate Social Investment initiatives of today. A great deal of resources continues to flow into communities and to individuals as a form of empowerment and support - be it the imparting of skills, the provision of bursaries and amenities, or even donations.

These are contributions that companies, foundations and NGOs have been making in supplementing governmental efforts for many years in combating poverty and illiteracy, and providing health care and welfare. Corporate social investment has evolved over these years.

Today many individuals and communities in rural and urban areas who have been trapped in abject poverty are gradually being drawn into the mainstream of economic activity. This is evident in the proliferation of community multi-purpose centres that house and provide grassroots access to new information and communication technologies such as public information terminals, e-mail and the Internet.

Craftsmen and women who were confined to their immediate locales in selling curios and artefacts are now entering the import-export industry - an economic activity previously regarded as the preserve of established entrepreneurs. However, a spin-off of these unfolding opportunities is to put South Africa on the world map as a tourist attraction.

The plight of the elderly is receiving attention from the authorities and welfare organisations. A number of homes are mushrooming around the country to cater for terminally ill Aids patients. Private and non-profit organisations have taken the initiative to supplement public programmes in various ways.

The annual Arbour Day campaigns are beginning to bear fruit, a concerted effort to green the townships with trees and vegetable gardens is under way, not just for landscaping and environmental purposes but for food security as well.

Nevertheless, the CSI environment in South Africa is faced with a number of challenges.

An area of dire need is the provision of infrastructure for people with disabilities. Architectural designs and broadcasting services have been very visible in this regard. Other areas that are still lagging include transport and telecommunications. A public telephone terminal accessible to the disabled would also be handy to children, given the high rate of child abuse.

In the South African context, partly on account of apartheid spatial planning, poverty is distributed unevenly amongst the nine provinces of our country, with Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and, more recently, Free State being by far the hardest hit in terms of high poverty rates. Even within provinces themselves, poverty is highly stratified either spatially, that is specific pockets of extreme poverty or by target group with women, children, people with disabilities, elderly and other vulnerable groups being more likely to be poor.

As of 2003/04, CSI funds have gone predominantly to education and training (46 percent) and health and social development (24 percent), with the remainder going to a combination of job creation, sports, environment, arts and culture, safety and security, and housing (in descending order of size of contribution).

Over the past four years, with companies recognizing the impact of HIV/AIDS, there has been a significant increase in funding for health and social development. One example is provided by Anglo American's programme, principally directed towards its 13 900 employees. Initially focused on education and prevention, this has now grown to include voluntary testing and counselling as well as anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy,

Relatively few CSI initiatives advocate major policy reform or fund organizations that provide a voice for those who are usually outside the arena of policy formation. CSI has not tended to promote public debate on issues such as economic policy and the development of a social safety net that could result in greater attention to social justice. Nor has it paid much attention to rural areas or the needs of women.

Most companies are urban-based and their development efforts reflect this. In 2003, two-thirds of CSI spending was targeted towards urban and peri-urban areas, with only 34 percent targeted towards rural communities. Given the high levels of poverty in rural areas, this funding pattern is in almost inverse proportion to need.

Fifteen percent of funds from CSI programmes focus on company employees and their families and another 49 percent on the communities in which the companies operate. While this may seem logical, it also means that those people and communities who have little or no connection to corporate South Africa, as employees or customers, are badly underserved. CSI is not reaching those who are most marginalized and with the least access to resources and information. There is also a lack of active involvement from corporate employees in socio-economic upliftment.

Ladies and gentlemen, in response to poverty, inequality and destitution, government has focused its efforts on expanding the social assistance safety net over the past decade. The number of beneficiaries of social assistance has increased from about 3,5 million in 1999 to 12 million today. Over eight million children now have access to social assistance. These include 7,9 million children benefiting from the child support grant, close on 412 000 benefiting from foster care grant and over 98 000 benefiting from the care dependency grant. More than 2,1 million elderly people receive the old age grant and 1.4 million people receive the disability grant. Expenditure on social security increased from R36,9 billion in 2003/04, that was 2,9 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to a projected R73 billion in 2009/10, constituting 3,1 percent of GDP).

Nevertheless much still needs to be done, particularly in building partnerships between the public, private and non-governmental sectors to coordinate empowerment efforts to deserving individuals and communities. The notion of partnership is central to Government's CSI agenda. Strategic partnerships can bring the complementary skills and inputs of the public sector, the private sector, and civil society in tackling complex social and environmental problems. In their partnership role, public sector bodies may act as participants, convenors, or facilitators. The Department of Social Development is engaged in a number of efforts aimed at transforming the socio-economic landscape of our country. We have shifted from being merely a welfare organization to one that is involved in the development of communities and individuals. We are no longer merely interested in offering a handout, but a hand up. To this end we are busy with a number of projects that are crying out for the involvement of CSI-type initiatives.

South Africa has its own success story in the Ke Moja Drug Awareness Campaign - one of the initiatives that is aimed at reducing the demand for drugs among the youth, by empowering them to make responsible choices and resist being pressured into taking illicit drugs by increasing their awareness and understanding of drugs and substance abuse. During 2002, drug awareness campaign entitled "Ke Moja" - No Thanks I'm Fine was developed and piloted in Tshwane under the sponsorship of the UNODC. The evaluation of the pilot showed that as a brand, Ke Moja was recognized, recalled, liked and associated with the right messages.

The Ke Moja campaign has recently been enhanced by our exploration of the use of Hip Hop as a transformative tool and ways in which hip hop competitions can effectively be utilized to galvanise the interest of youth and act as an incentive to capture youth, the media, and popular interest at the local, provincial and national level in the bid to combat the scourge of drug and alcohol abuse that threatens the physical, social and economic well being of our young people and families. The Hip Hop campaign is vital as it speaks to the youth in their own language and there are various beneficial opportunities for the corporate sector to reach an important market, while at the same time contributing to the fight against drugs.

A cornerstone of our work this year has been the launch of the Early Childhood Development registration campaign. The Department of Social Development has the responsibility to register all places of care (ECD sites) where more than 6 children are cared for away from their parents or caregivers. We chose to raise awareness because we understand that the maximisation of livelihood of the human life cycle requires a heavy investment in the early childhood phase. Such an investment is more likely to ensure a better start in life which can translate to improved health, proper nutrition and early learning. This wellbeing of children does, to an extent, depend on the ability of families to function effectively. Children need to grow up in a nurturing and secure family environment that can facilitate for their development, protection, survival and participation in society. From an environmental perspective it means safe water, basic sanitation, and protection from violence, abuse, exploitation and discrimination. These are imperatives that work best together and lay the foundation for life.

However, the Department's role is not only limited to monitoring and evaluation of ECD centres, but also to providing assistance to those centres that do not meet the requirements for registration, to bring their facilities up to standard. In this regard, at least 1 500 additional ECD sites have been registered in the period from April 2006 to March 2007. An additional 1 774 sites will be registered in the current year. 369 new sites have already been registered since April 2007. This brought the number to over 314 thousand children from poor households who receive subsidies from the Department in the past financial year. An additional 435 000 children are targeted to receive subsidies in the current financial year. It is in this context that the private sector can lend a hand in improving the standard of such facilities in order to facilitate such registration.

HIV and AIDS is one of the key challenges facing South Africa today. One of the key priorities stated in the Strategic Plan on HIV and AIDS is to lessen the impact of AIDS and to create an enabling social environment for care, treatment and support. Included in the deliverables is the need to strengthen the implementation of the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) programmes, and the expansion of Home Community Based Care. Children headed households form a core element of OVCs as they assume the role of primary caregivers, looking after sick parents and/or younger siblings, with limited or no resources, especially in families affected by AIDS.

Government has various programmes in place to assist OVCs. The anti-child poverty interventions provided include access to treatment, food, skills training and psycho-social support. It also involves access to social grants, free education and healthcare, as well as statutory services such as alternative care and urgent assistance in cases of child abuse, neglect and exploitation. 206 889 children benefited from this programme during the last financial year with 102 723 receiving cooked meals via various community multi-purpose centres. 155 754 food parcels and 47 607 school uniforms were distributed. This also resulted in 750 non-governmental, faith-based and community organizations being funded. It is herein that once again the private sector can step up to play an important role in addressing some of the challenges facing our nation.

Another challenge facing the development sector is the shortage of social workers. The Department has undertaken to fund the studies of a number of social service professionals with a view to alleviating this scarcity and a similar response from the corporate sector will go a long way to addressing this need.

Ladies and gentlemen, for as long as South Africa remains underdeveloped and deeply affected by poverty, disease, illiteracy and unemployment, among other maladies, a definitive spectrum of social upliftment and economic development programmes is essential. The main objective of CSI programmes should be to contribute to the creation of a stable and prosperous society by making a difference to the lives of as many people as possible and supporting projects that contribute to a stable society and empower a nation for greater prosperity.

South Africa has a bright future. In the next few years government's aggressive spending plans will transform the infrastructure that turns the wheels of the economy. There will be many positive outcomes. Nevertheless there is a dire need to improve service delivery to all South Africans. Corporate Social Investment is about creating this better life for all. It is about silencing want and hunger in our land. It is about ordinary South Africans once again doing extraordinary things for us to be a great nation. It is about making the promises of 2010 a reality for all. It is about ensuring that the dream of a new South Africa is not deferred. It is about delivering the dream.

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Social Development
20 November 2007