The Department of Social Development and its entities, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and the National Development Agency (NDA), will on 17 October launch the Cooperative Shop Project – a project aimed at combating poverty by linking social grant beneficiaries (particularly the care-givers of children receiving child support grants) and other vulnerable groups) to meaningful socio-economic opportunities.
This is the first initiative in South Africa to link social grant beneficiaries with socio-economic opportunities.
The project is in line with the developmental agenda of government and can be seen as an addition to the grants that are provided. The primary intention is not to take people out of the grant system, but to provide opportunities for grant beneficiaries to supplement their income. However, if the project is a success, the members of the cooperatives may well earn enough to support themselves and their families and, thus, move out of the social security system.
The Department, SASSA and NDA will identify cooperatives that need support with the intention to develop the skills of the cooperative members to ensure they are able to produce goods of quality. Although the cooperatives may produce a range of goods, this project seeks to equip them with the skills to make school uniforms, which will then be bought by the parents of the children who attend the specific school that is contracted to the cooperative. In this way the cooperative will have a market for its goods.
The pilot project will be launched on International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
This year, the Government of South Africa, through the Department of Social Development, plans to highlight the need for more efficient, effective and adequate social protection programmes that promote the well-being of vulnerable groups such as children, youth, women, people with disabilities and older persons.
The initiative is launched under the banner of the Department’s Project Mikondzo - a service delivery improvement initiative aimed at improving access to the Department and its entities’ services in the poorest wards of the country.
In 1992, the United Nations General Assembly marked 17 October as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. On this day, governments and institutions across the globe host various activities to highlight progress made and challenges that remain in the fight against poverty eradication.
Minister for Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, will give a keynote address at the event, and will be joined by the MEC for Social Development in Free State, Ms Sisi Ntombela.
Media is invited to attend and cover the event, which will unfold as follows:
Date: 17 October 2013
Venue: QwaQwa, Bluegumbosch Stadium
Time: 10h00
Media RSVPs to: Jaconia Kobue on 073 026 1111 or Galaletsang Moncho on 083 274 1022
Media enquiries may be directed to:
Lumka Oliphant
Cell: 083 4848 067
