Presentation by Alliance for Children's Entitlement to Social Security (ACESS) on its campaign in the uMkhanyakude District

Meeting report

ACESS Presentation: Enabling Documents and Comprehensive Social Security for Children
Mr Kevin Roussel, Managing Director, Alliance for Children’s Entitlement to Social Security, said that the presentation would firstly introduce ACESS, and secondly report on the organisation’s Enabling Documents Campaign.

Ms Sanja Bornman, Policy and Development Officer, ACESS, presented an introduction to ACESS.  ACESS was formed in 2002 as an alliance of over 1300 children’ sector organisations drawn from all nine provinces.  The Secretariat is based in Cape Town, but the member organisations are based both in rural and urban areas throughout the country.  The overarching vision of ACESS is to realise a comprehensive social security package which respects the dignity of all and delivers on all children’s rights.  ACESS aims to realise this vision through two main objectives: facilitating coordinated models of service delivery, and advocating improved policies/laws and service delivery.  The former has lead to the Enabling Documents Campaign being embarked upon, and the latter has been achieved mainly through regular submissions to parliament. 
ACESS also assist member organisation in achieving their own objectives through regular consultation with and on behalf of these entities.  As such, Ms Bornman reiterated that ACESS is a coordinating body.  With specific regard to their vision, ACESS has identified that working towards a comprehensive social security package for children requires an integrated approach.  The example that Ms Bornman used to illustrate this point depicted a situation in which education is inter-related with the issue of feeding children as children cannot learn on empty stomachs.  To support this integrated approach, ACESS also aims to widen the reach of social assistance, challenge barriers to social security, and promote access to education and development.
ACESS engaged with government on behalf of civil society to achieve their aims and also facilitates civil society-government interaction in order to fulfil their vision.  Ms Bornman concluded by reiterating that an integrated approach to fulfilling their vision meant that aspects not considered in Section 28 of the constitution cannot be ignored.  For example, transport, whilst not implicit in this section, is a paramount area of concern for ACESS as without the right to transport, certain implicit rights would not be possible.

Mr Roussel presented on the Enabling Document Campaign (EDC).  He said that ACESS had identified that a lack of enabling documents was a fundamental barrier to children’s enjoyment of their rights.  These documents include birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates and identity documents.  Mr Roussel stressed that no rights can be enjoyed by a child if he/she does not have a birth certificate.  This is due to the fact that without such a document, children cannot access services designed to be their life lines nor engage in economic activities that can potentially end the cycle of poverty.
The degree of difficulty in obtaining enabling documents from DHA is greatest in disadvantaged and vulnerable communities in marginalised rural areas, and in cases where children are made more vulnerable by the context of HIV/AIDS.  Mr Roussel noted that the primary causes of the lack of access to enabling documents were numerous, but that the biggest cause was lack of knowledge, not so much of the availability of the right in question, but how to navigate the documentation requirements and application procedures.  Other problems include: challenges related to cultural practices; historical marginalisation; close proximity to the borders of South Africa; lack of access to paralegal and legal support; and, lack of physical access to the sites of service delivery in question.

Ms Bukelwa Voko, Communication and Media Officer, ACESS, presented the pilot project being conducted in light of the problems associated with obtaining enabling documents.  The EDC pilot project is currently being run in the uMkhanyakude District in KwaZulu Natal and was chosen in order to focus on targeting a rural disadvantaged district marked by high numbers of children and caregivers not accessing their enabling documents.

The EDC programme is conducted through a partnership with all levels of government, local paralegal and community providers.  It is designed to address poor access to enabling documents, as well as grants.  It is the view of ACESS that if this project succeeds in uMkhanyakude, its success can be replicated anywhere in the country.

The EDC pilot programme set up a task team in 2009 with the responsibility of creating a framework within which to coordinate the involvement of organisations who want to improve access to enabling documents.  In uMkhanyakude the a campaign include municipal accounts letters to carry messages detailing information of how to obtain enabling documents and the involvement of community development workers in assisting the community.  The campaign includes a community outreach programme, the establishment of networked sites of support and service delivery, and the creation of a strong communication strategy within the community advising of the importance of enabling documents.  Through reaching out to the community, Ms Voko said, ACESS believes the resulting interaction is the best approach to responding to the challenges that prevent people from obtaining enabling documents.

ACESS hopes to engage DHA in an integrated approach that takes into consideration DHA National Population Registration programme (NPR).  Ms Voko reiterated that ACESS did not want to contradict the efforts of the NPR and said that ACESS are supplementing the message delivered by DHA through the organisation’s use of community radio, newspapers, comic strips, messaging on popular brand products  and posters at key contact points.

Ms Voko then addressed the progress of the pilot EDC campaign to date and reported that considerable success had been achieved.  Specifically, ten enabling documents training workshops have been hosted in total and the number of people trained in the first level of training has been 310.  The presentation concluded by stating that ACESS would like to continue and extend the working relationship with not only the DHA but also other relevant departments.

Discussion
Ms H N Makuba (IFP) said that she values the work of ACESS, especially considering that she had experienced these issues in Kwazulu Natal herself.  She also mentioned that working with all the stake-holders was indeed a good approach and that enabling documents seem to be the greatest barrier to grant collection.  Ms Makuba asked how a person in the community reaches ACESS, and specifically where they are based.

Mr Roussel responded by saying that ACESS could be contacted via the organisation’s hotline number- 021 7610117.  He said that ACESS is based in Cape Town, where the secretariat sits, but that tasks teams were stationed across the country.  He endeavoured to supply the committee with the Kwazulu Natal hotline number.

Ms Bornman added that the hotline is very valuable and that ACESS is hoping to set up a toll-free number.

Ms Makuba asked whether ACESS was working with other departments besides DHA.

Mr Roussel said that ACESS has taken is integrated approach and has worked with the departments of health and education.  He also said that the organisation attempts to engage private sector stakeholders as well.

Ms M M Mathebe (ANC) said that she was concerned about three specific groups of children, namely: children abused by farmers, disabled children and street kids.  She asked about the role ACESS plays with respect to these groups of children.

Mr Roussel responded by saying that ACESS works with all children through various programmes, of which EDC is one. All these groups require enabling documents in order to access social support.  In this way, these groups are being considered by ACESS as vulnerable groups and action taken in the EDC reflects this.

Mr J Mcgluwa (ID) asked where exactly the 1300 organisations that made up ACESS where based.

Mr Roussel responded that these organisations were located all over the country.  They are broad-based and membership is free and voluntary.

Mr Mcgluwa questioned whether the financial reports were qualified or unqualified.

Mr Roussel said that the audit was qualified.  He said that this was due to the fact that the auditors could not say with certainty that all small donations were accounted for.  He did, however, mention that all large sums were adequately audited.

Mr Mcgluwa questioned the surplus that was reflected in the financial documents of ACESS.

Mr Roussel responded that the surplus was due to NGO funding from overseas that was not reflected in the previous year’s financial statements.  He said that due to the nature of auditing, certain overlaps would occur and that this surplus merely represents such an overlap.

Mr Mcgluwa mentioned that the report presented lacked numerical figures and said that these were of special importance for the portfolio committee.  He asked that such figures be included in future reports.

Mr Roussel responded that it was hard to report on numbers affected by the EDC.  This, he said, was due to the fact that, by its very nature, the work involved those who are not recognised by the government.  He said that approximately 32% of those born in Kwazulu Natal are unregistered.  This figure refers to the current young generation as the older generation is harder to account for.  He said that the figure goals of the EDC include a 40% increase in birth registration in Kwazulu Natal as a result of the EDC, as well as the target of registering everybody over the age of fifteen by the end of the year.

Mr Mcgluwa asked for the education hotline number.

Mr Roussel responded that he would get back to the portfolio committee with the correct number for the education hotline.

Ms P Maduna (ANC) asked whether there was any monitoring or evaluation with regard to disabled persons and their access to enabling documents.

Mr Roussel responded that there was a strong emphasis on monitoring and evaluation as a result of the foreign interest in the EDC.  He said that although this did not take into specific consideration the disabled, the programme does regard vulnerable children as one of the important groups to monitor and evaluate.

Ms Maduna asked how many women were being trained to work within the EDC.

Ms Voko responded that those trained were mostly women, mainly because those who are trained are often caregivers predominantly made up of women.

Ms Mathebe expressed concern about the media image of South African schools.  She asked what role ACESS played in the schooling system.

Mr Roussel responded that the major problem in the education system is the use of international benchmarks, which are limited to how many students are enrolled.  These figures, however, do not reflect the high dropout rate and poor attendance record in South Africa.  As such, the poor media image is correct.  ACESS has always endeavoured to help DHA with this problem.

Mr Mcgluwa asked whether ACESS has done anything to shorten waiting periods for enabling documents.

Mr Roussel responded that ACESS aims to help inform civil society so that waiting time can be shortened.  DHA administrative waiting time is hard to change but ACESS assists in establishing complaint mechanisms to challenge the department.  ACESS also aims to inform the public about how to go about the process to obtain an enabling document in order to make the process smoother.

The Chairperson mentioned that members of DHA were present and asked what they thought about the presentation and what role DHA should play in light of the presentation?

Ms T Kgasi, Director: Equity and Gender, DHA, responded that the DHA were present because of their interest in ACESS.  She said that DHA also wanted to make sure that the NPR did not contradict the EDC.  She also said that DHA wanted to find out how they would assist ACESS.

The Chairperson asked for a more opinionated response from DHA.  He asked if perhaps DHA was in the same position as the portfolio committee with regard to their knowledge of the work of ACESS.

Ms Kgasi responded that the NPR campaign has identified the same challenges as the EDC has, the difference being that the EDC is child-specific.  She said that DHA mandate was to listen to the committee’s responses to the presentation and allay these to DHA as a whole.  She said that all points had been noted.

The Chairperson asked whether the person responsible for campaigns from DHA could speak about what happens practically with these campaigns.

Mr M Sibiya, Head: National Population Registration Campaign, DHA, responded that a memorandum of understanding with ACESS did not exist but talks had taken place between the two entities.  He said that the main challenge that the NRC has encountered was access to rural areas.

Mr T Sigama, Director: Births, Marriages and Deaths, DHA, added that the experience on the ground pointed to the fact that enabling documents are essential.  He reiterated the challenge of gaining access to rural areas and said that another challenge was that people did not collect their processed documents.  He said that a memorandum of understanding had been completed with other department and that DHA was continually working with civil society to help South African citizens.

The Chairperson thanked DHA for a clearer picture about their involvement, as well as ACESS for their good work in the community.  He also mentioned that although dialogue about all relevant issues will never be exhausted, those present have a responsibility to the citizens of the country to engage these issues in order to improve their standard of living.

The meeting was adjourned.