S Sekoati: Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Indaba

13 October 2006

Programme Director
Members of the NGO Community
Senior officials of the department
Private sector
Ladies and gentlemen

Today we are holding an indaba regarding partnership between government and
civil society, which covers the services rendered by the Department of Health
and Social Development in Limpopo. We are doing this within the context of
social Development month which require of us to make self-assessment and
introspection with regard to what we are supposed to be doing.

The migration of the social grants to South African Social Security Agency
(SASSA) has created an opportunity for the department to gear itself on a clear
and focused programme of social development with the intention to empower
communities for self-reliance, which requires us to improve on the service we
are rendering and even expand on those services.

Social grants are not meant to eradicate poverty but to alleviate it.
Without any complementary income generating activities it might lead to
dependency and stigmatisation. Therefore it is imperative for us as government
and other change agents to ensure creation of greater access to opportunities,
resources and even assets as we broaden services and linking them to grant
beneficiaries.

The World Bank defines NGOs as private, not for profit organisations that
pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the interests of the poor,
protect the environment, or undertake community development. The transition to
democracy entailed a different approach by every stakeholder. The NGOs as well
had the challenge to adjust to the new era political environment, learn to work
collaboratively with government, whilst maintaining autonomy and the capacity
to advocate for changes in policies.

Non-governmental organisations are agents of change and are suppose to be
transformative in nature. The intention of the ANC government is to transform
society through its service delivery and therefore need transformation
organisation to work closely with government to achieve this goal. In his
address to the 51st ANC National Conference, President Thabo Mbeki referring to
the challenges of reconstruction and development said, "This requires that we
do everything in our power to rebuild the mass democratic movement and
revitalise our links especially with the community based organisations that are
focusing on community development and improvement of the lives of our
people."

In the Social Development branch, the department render broad services in
three programmes, Social Security, Social Welfare and Community Development.
These programmes should be integrated and enable the target groups to deal
effectively with all social issues, such as psychological stress, chronic
poverty, food insecurity and other adverse social conditions.

The social development approach aims at collective empowerment, facilitating
processes that help the poor, vulnerable and marginalised to regain control
over their lives. This approach to service delivery is developmental and it
means that it depends or it is based on the strength of individual, group or
community by recognising their capacity for growth and development.

The service must redress past imbalances and promote the goals of
sustainable development. The desired outcome of this approach is the
implementation of a comprehensive, efficient and effective and quality service
delivery system, a system that lead to a self-reliant society based on the
principle of Batho Pele. Our approach as department in all the health and
Social Development programmes is that we should work in partnership with the
people we serve and with other stakeholders.

In our department and as government we strive to work closely with NGOs,
faith-based organisations (FBOs) and other civil society organisations that are
transparent, honest and selfless in making a contribution to the goals of
pushing back the frontiers of poverty and expanding access to a better life for
all.

In supporting this partnership, the department has increased social workers'
salaries, crèches, protective workshop for people with disability, children’s
homes, old age homes, service centres for elderly and disabled, victim
empowerment shelters, shelters for street children and stimulation centres for
disabled children. The increases are a way of ensuring value added services for
our communities.

Another important value is that in the department we always strive to be
transparent and accountable for its decisions, actions and performance and we
expect our stakeholders, including NGOs or non-profit organisations (NPOs) to
do the same. Allow me to highlight the key principles for a developmental
approach relevant to our context in Limpopo:

* Participation: People should be fully engaged in their own process of
learning, growth and change, starting from where they are and moving at their
own pace.
* Self-reliance: People should be connected to each other and with their
environment in ways that make them more effective in their individual and
collective efforts towards a better life.
* Empowerment: Power relations should shift towards people achieving greater
control and influence over decisions and resources that impact on their lives
through increasingly interdependent relationships.
* Universal access: Social development services should be available to all
vulnerable groups.
* Equity: The disbursement of resources should be based on need, priorities and
historical imbalances.
* Transparency: There should be access to information and openness regarding
administrative and management procedures.
* Appropriateness: There should be responsiveness to social, economic, cultural
and political conditions.
* Accountability: All legislation, policy and regulations should be complied
with.
* Accessibility: Accessibility in terms of physical and geographical
conditions, time, language and need should be ensured.
* Efficiency and effectiveness: Objective should be achieved in the most
cost-effective manner.
* Partnership: It is the collective responsibility of government, civil society
and the business sector to deliver services.
* Social integration: Policies and programmes should promote social
justice.
* Sustainability: Long-term maintenance of desired goals should be
possible.

We all have a responsibility to deliver efficient and effective service to
the people of this province. Every single government employee and members of
NGOs are expected to ensure that goals we set ourselves are achieved and avoid
procrastination and self-serving tendencies.

Programme Director, let me take this opportunity to highlight some of the
contemporary challenges we are all faced with:

Institutional management capacity: Most NPOs that are funded by the
department, they do not have clear organisational structure, a strong board of
management to govern the organisation, strategic and business planning ability,
sound management practices and well functioning administrative systems. The
information management is not available and there are no marketing skills to be
able to expand the services.

There are also challenges to make sure the NGO/NPO services are linked with
the departmental services within the District Health system. Linkages with
governance structures like Ward committees, Clinic committees. A pension
committee, Local and District AIDS councils, District Health Councils
Traditional leaders are still a challenge by most of the organisations.
accountability to communities they serve is also a worrying aspect as most
members in the community are not aware of the services rendered because report
back meetings are not facilitated and also annual general meeting to report to
citizens about services and audited financial statements.

Financial Sustainability: Most of the organisations are not sustaining
because there is no long-term contract with the funders. Treasury requirements
are that NGOs and NPOs are also regulated by the Public Finance Management Act
and to follow procurement procedures as long as they are funded by government.
Most of the organisations do not have the capacity to manage the funds as
expected and as such funding is terminated.

Most organisations are depending on government or other donors and if funds
are terminated, they lose staff and service capacity. The staff salaries are
often poor and it impact on staff motivation and they usually seek better
employment opportunities somewhere.

Technical Capacity: Most of the NGOs and NPOs do not comprehend government
programmes and it becomes difficult to provide services that are in line with
the needs in the communities. There is a need for technical capacity in most
organisations to make sure they deliver quality services, have clinical norms,
standards, protocols and other quality assurance measures to make sure that
services they deliver have impact on the majority of the people in the
community.

The need in the community is no more charity, but is to provide services to
the poor and the vulnerable group’s e g operating a day care centre for the
aged, one need to understand the activities to be provided to make sure they
meet the demands of the elderly people physically, socially and
psychologically.

Public sector capacity: There are still challenges in government sector to
manage NGO and NPO contract both technically and administratively. There is a
need to continue build and enhance capacity among government officials in the
management of NGOs and NPOs.

Possible interventions

* develop partnership policy guidelines between non profit organisations and
the Department
* develop service packages, reporting indicators, protocols for different
programmes, norms and standards for NPO service delivery
* capacitat NPOs on organisational and financial management and it should
include human resource management, planning
* capacitate NPOs on technical knowledge, Departmental programmes, Millennium
goals indicators, quality assurance and information management
* clarify governance of NPOs within the District Health and Social Development
system
* create a platform for peer review amongst social providers
* integrate NPO services into the strategic plan of the Department and into the
Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) budget to ensure sustainability
* regulate NPO area of operation in geographical location, looking at the
population and disease profile of the area to avoid mushrooming and overlapping
of services
* develop capacity in the Department on management and partnership with
NPOs
* create co-ordination forums at local, district and ensure close linkages with
those spheres of government.

Lastly, let us recommit ourselves as partners in delivering an excellent
service that we transform society. We cannot afford to work in isolation of
each other. We should look back in the future, to say ‘without the other we
could not have succeeded. I wish you successful debate and hope that the
decision we arrive at will assist us in accelerating the pace of change in the
development of our communities and creation of better life for all.

I thank you.

Issued by: Limpopo Provincial Government
13 October 2006
Source: Limpopo Provincial Government (http://www.limpopo.gov.za)