Benjamin, Social Work Indaba, Burgers Park Hotel, Pretoria
3 April 2006
Programme Director
Members of the Portfolio Committee for Social Development
Senior managers from departments
Representatives from Institutions of higher learning
Organised Labour
Representatives from the South African Council for Social Service
Professions
Representatives from the Health & Welfare Sector Education and Training
Authority (HWSETA)
Distinguished guests
It is a great pleasure and an honour for me to be part of this auspicious
occasion, in which stakeholders converge to pursue one of the most critical
challenges facing the country today. It is inspiring to have academics and
practitioners gathered in one room, with the intention of sharing views and
addressing issues of common concern.
This occasion comes at a critical time in the history of our country, the
10th anniversary of our Constitution, which ushered in a truly democratic
society, in which human rights are respected and upheld. As we celebrate the
10th anniversary of our Constitution, we need to reflect on the extent to which
we have translated the values as espoused in our Constitution into reality for
the people we serve, in particular those that are vulnerable and poor.
Our country is facing critical socio economic challenges. These require a
concerted effort and a commitment by all, to meet the basic needs and improve
the livelihoods of those who are affected, through interventions that have
sustainable outcomes. In his budget speech on 28 March 2006, the Minister for
Social Development called for co-operation amongst all sectors to ensure that
as a collective, we address the challenges of poverty, unemployment, the
scourge of HIV and AIDS and burden of other diseases, vulnerable and orphaned
children, older persons and those who are victims of abuse, violence and crime.
To address these challenges, the country needs a cadre of skilled
professionals, key amongst which are social workers. The Minister, however,
also acknowledged that there is a critical shortage of social workers in the
country.
In fact, as a result of various processes of research and investigation,
Social Work was declared a scarce skill by the Minister for Public Service and
Administration. This led to the development of the Scarce Skills Framework in
the Public Service and social work was included among other professions,
addressed in this framework. Through the processes embarked upon by the Health
and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSETA) social work was
once more registered with the Department of Labour, as a critical and scarce
skill.
This led to departmental initiatives such as the Recruitment and Retention
Strategy for Social Work, which will be presented to you today. Whilst this
strategy has not been finalised yet, a number of projects derived there from
have been implemented. To name but a few:
1. The new generic job descriptions, which provide opportunities for career
pathing and also define areas of specialisation for social workers; these job
descriptions are now used in all government departments;
2. The improvement of the remuneration package for social workers in
government, with due recognition for specialisation within social work field up
to the level of Deputy Director;
3. The provision of 190 scholarships for social workers to the tune of R2.8m
(which is over and above the normal bursaries allocated by government at
provincial and national level); and
4. The first phase of the capacity building programme for social service
professionals, which was conducted in all the provinces in 2005. A total of
1869 social service professionals, from both the government and the
non-governmental organisation (NGO) sector, were trained. The trainees were
predominantly social workers.
Whilst these initiatives are commendable, I must emphasise that they are not
enough, a lot of challenges still remain. It is obvious that in order to
provide developmental social services to vulnerable groups, adequate and
trained human resources are critical. There is a serious crisis regarding the
availability social workers. Social workers seem to be in demand within the
country, in the social services sector, other departments, in the private
sector, and internationally, in countries such as New Zealand, the United
Kingdom, Canada, etc. The country cannot meet this demand, which in itself is a
problem; yet even if we do, as things currently stand we will not be able to
retain these social workers within the sector and in the country.
Your being here is an acknowledgement that government cannot resolve these
challenges alone; it needs a think-tank of experts to address the problem. We
need the cooperation of institutions of higher learning to re-look at the way
the training is provided in this country and devise mean to accelerate the
training of social workers to meet the demand for services. For example, in
terms of the Childrenâs Bill, 16 000 social workers are needed to implement
services that children are entitled to in this country over the next three
years. However, universities produce only about 300 per annum. There are
numerous reasons for this, and to this end, the forum must explore workable and
realistic solutions.
Although our state subsidised universities and institutions of higher
learning produce an excellent quality of social workers and social service
professionals, we have not been able to produce these professionals at the rate
and pace of demands placed by our needy communities, various local sectors and
international markets. It is important to note that South Africa has an open
economy and as with other countries, cannot escape the impact of globalisation.
We therefore cannot stop social workers going abroad, but need to create
conducive climate for them to remain in the country.
The ultimate test of our collaboration will be the extent to which it
assists us in rooting out poverty, social disintegration and unemployment in
our society. In addition, we need to come up with creative ways of ensuring
that as we attempt to meet the demand for social workers, we concurrently
ensure that we deliver to the masses of our people that expect us to provide a
service. Our communities, through the efforts of government and in pursuance of
a rights based culture, have become more aware of services that they can expect
to get from government and will demand such services. We need to ensure that we
deliver these services.
In view of responding effectively to the current country scenario, we have
sought to explore with you, the communal outlook in line with the Cuban model,
which seeks to integrate the family and its needs, as illustrated to us by our
Cuban colleagues. This outlook requires us to strengthen the capacity to manage
family and individual needs through the training and deployment of social
workers and social service professionals at a local level.
In South Africa, there is a definite over reliance on social work to render
social welfare services. There is a plethora of other new social service
professionals and workers that albeit with varied and diverse levels of
training, are available to render social services. It would seem that these
workers are not utilised maximally in their own right or to support the work
done by social workers. Given the realities regarding social workers, the
Recruitment and Retention Strategy requires that the sector should come up with
a ten-year human plan for the utilisation of such professionals and worker.
Adequate and proper utilisation of human resource capacity will result in
effective, efficient and a good quality service.
It is in this context that we intend continuing collaboration with the
peoples of Cuba and this region. Such collaboration will, no doubt, deepen our
quest to identify common challenges and strategies in the developing world. We
had hoped our Cuban counterparts would have been here, to share their model and
experiences with us. However, all is not lost as they are still willing to
visit our shores in the near future.
Programme Director, with respect to the transformation and provision of
social welfare services, the Minister, in his budget vote speech mentioned that
with the establishment of South African Social Service Agency (SASSA), the
national and provincial departments of Social Development can now focus more on
social welfare services, which were not previously given adequate attention and
resources. The Integrated Service Delivery Model, launched in November last
year defines the nature, scope and level of service delivery, as well as roles
that are to be played by all spheres of government and organisations of civil
society in social service delivery.
The model also provides a framework for service integration between
different components of the Department of Social Development in order to
promote sustainable livelihoods in communities. This integration will be
implemented properly if the requisite human resource capacity is provided.
There is enough room for social workers, development practitioners and other
cadres of workers in this country. The challenge is to ensure:
1. That they have the right orientation and are well trained to meet the
demands of our country;
2. That they are placed appropriately according to their knowledge, skills and
expertise;
3. That there is a seamless service to individuals, families and
communities;
4. That the service is integrated so that all derive maximum benefit there
from.
The extent to which we are able to provide quality social welfare services
is fundamentally influenced by compliance with these conditions.
Programme Director, it is our intention that the opportunity created by the
creation of SASSA is utilised to improve social welfare services. The
initiative taken by the Department of Social Development, in response to the
Minister, the Portfolio Committee and the sectorâs call to this indaba is
highly commendable.
Your invaluable efforts in consistently creating an opportunity for relevant
role players to join the department in developing appropriate strategies for
the crisis facing the country are always appreciated. These efforts will
certainly benefit the masses of our people in responding to their needs. It is
our hope that more collaborations of this nature will still be witnessed.
Ladies and gentlemen, in looking at the education and training institutional
arrangements in this country, as individuals, and collectively, we should be
asking ourselves these fundamental questions:
1. Do we have the appropriate and relevant capacity and capability to
address the crises of skill shortages?
2. Is the current education and training supply commensurate to the needs of
the communities?
3. Is articulation of education in the world of work improved?
4. What mechanisms can we put in place to retain the social work skill in the
country?
5. How can we forge links as strategic partners to address the challenges we
are facing as a country?
At the end of tomorrow, when we depart from this place, it should be clear
to all of us, as strategic partners as to what needs to be done, how and
when.
Your invaluable support, commitment and dedication to this process is
acknowledged and appreciated.
I thank you.
Enquiries:
Lakela Kaunda
Tel: (012) 312 7653
Cell: 082 782 2575
E-mail: Lakela.Kaunda@socdev.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Social Development
3 April 2006
