While the family unit is recognised as an essential building block for a well-functioning society, it has over the years faced serious challenges that have led to its deterioration and resulted in a number of social challenges we see in South Africa, and the world, today.
A Report by Statistics South Africa last year titled “South Africa’s young children: their family and home environment” paints a worrying picture about the state of the family in our country. The report states that while the majority of children aged below five years had both their biological parents alive, many of them did not live with their biological parents in the same households, and fathers appeared to be more absent in the households than mothers.
Project Mikondzo – the Department of Social Development’s flagship outreach programme targeting 1 700 poorest wards in the country – has also uncovered a growing number of orphans and vulnerable children, including child youth headed households, the neglect and abuse of people with disabilities as well as the elderly in families, increasing incidences of gender-based violence, separation of families due to economic migration, the struggle of families to fulfil their responsibilities as a result of poverty, among other challenges facing families today.
In an effort to find solutions to these challenges and many others, the Department of Social Development will convene a Summit on Families under the theme “Building stronger families to promote healthy family life and fight poverty.”
The Summit takes place at the beginning of Social Development Month (October). Social Development Month aims to increase access to and utilisation of social services through direct intervention by building effective service delivery partnerships between government, communities and other role players.
The Summit brings together social experts and practitioners, research and higher learning institutions, traditional leaders, government representatives, faith-based organisations and non-governmental organisations, to name a few, with the view finding evidence-based solutions to the problems facing families in South Africa. African Union country representatives and The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) will also participate, offering an international perspective.
Significantly, the Summit is also hosted on the 20th anniversary of the International Year of the Family and serves as a reminder that the further development of family focused policies should be an integral part of overall development efforts.
In June 2013, Cabinet approved the White Paper on Families which provides a policy framework on how South African families should be supported in order to flourish and function optimally. The White Paper defines the family as a societal group that is related by blood (kinship), adoption, foster care or the ties of marriage (civil, customary or religious), civil union or cohabitation, and go beyond a particular physical residence.
The White Paper views the family as a key development imperative and seeks to mainstream family issues into government-wide, policy-making initiatives in order to foster positive family well-being and overall socio-economic development in the country. It has three key objectives, namely:
- Enhance the socialising, caring, nurturing and supporting capabilities of families so that their members are able to contribute effectively to the overall development of the country;
- Empower families and their members by enabling them to identify, negotiate around, and maximize economic, labour market, and other opportunities available in the country; and
- Improve the capacities of families and their members to establish social interactions which make a meaningful contribution towards a sense of community, social cohesion and national solidarity.
The Summit will therefore conduct a comparative analysis of the best practice models from different stakeholders in addressing the challenges facing families as well as strengthened coordinated response for better outcomes for families.
Members of the media are invited to attend and cover the Summit, which will take place as follows:
Date: 1 to 3 October 2014
Time: 9h00 daily
Venue: Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre, Boksburg
Please direct media RSVPs to Mr Jaconia Kobue on 073 026 1111 or JaconiaK@dsd.gov.za.
Media inquiries:
Lindo Nkomonde
Cell: 082 790 6108
Email: lindokuhlen@dsd.gov.za
