Question NW1452 to the Minister of Social Development
07 January 2020 - NW1452
van der Merwe, Ms LL to ask the Minister of Social Development
What is her department’s plan to address the inconsistencies as well as delays in funding to shelters across provinces?
Reply:
The Department has embarked in process of developing a sector funding policy. The policy will provide guidelines to assist all Provinces to implement in a standardised way and address inconsistencies regarding funding. The draft sector funding policy was presented to MINMEC during the third quarter for consideration and approval. The MECs have not yet approved the policy and indicated the need for sufficient time to give the final inputs.
Furthermore, the Department developed the Victim Support Services (VSS) Policy and Bill which will be tabled to Cabinet during this financial year, 2019/20. The VSS Policy and Bill, amongst other elements, will be addressing the regulation of the provision of sheltering services.
The Department initiated a multi-year contracts approach to address the delays in funding of NGOs including shelters across provinces.