social grants
16 May 2006
The Minister of Social Development, Dr Zola Skweyiya, will on Friday, 19 May
2006, launch a landmark pilot project aimed at providing and promoting an exit
strategy for child support grant beneficiaries and to promote sustainable
livelihoods.
The launch of the Dutyini Sustainable Livelihood Project on âLinking Grants
to Livelihoods and Co-operativesâ will take place at Dutyini in Mt Ayliff,
Eastern Cape.
The project is being developed against the background of governmentâs
growing concern regarding the growing demand for social assistance as a result
of lack of employment opportunities and income, as well as the persistence of
systemic poverty, unemployment and under-employment.
The promotion of sustainable livelihoods is to facilitate accumulation and
strengthening of existing livelihood assets of communities, in particular the
beneficiaries of social grants. The exclusive objective and justifying mission
of this pilot project is to restore clients or participants as quickly as
possible to self-reliance through linking their grants to livelihoods and
co-operatives.
While the purpose of the social grants is to contribute towards the
reduction of poverty and to cushion beneficiaries against vulnerability, grants
alone cannot eradicate poverty.
Minister Skweyiya said, âWithout other complementary measures, social grants
are bound to lead to dependency and stigmatisation. Those affected must be
empowered through greater access to assets, resources and opportunities. The
exclusive objective and justifying mission of the sustainable livelihoods
programme is to develop, document and replicate a development approach that can
promote the restoration of grant beneficiaries as quickly as possible to self
reliance. This can be achieved through effective linkage of grants to the
livelihoods strategies of beneficiaries and co-operatives.â
Background
Like many rural communities in South Africa, Dutyini in the Eastern Cape is
desperately poor and has very little infrastructure and resources. Through the
project, community members will be empowered with relevant skills to establish
a viable co-operative, in line with identified projects and business
opportunities targeting the local market.
The main principle tested during the implementation of this pilot project to
promote sustainability and ensure ownership by the beneficiaries is the âSweat
Equity Principle.â The sweat equity principle is founded on African idiomatic
expressions that are motivational in nature such as:
* mokoduo go tsoswa o itsosang
* letsema le thata ka mong wa lona
* monna o phela ka mofufutso wa phatla ya gagwe
* umuntu uphila ngezithukuthuku zakhe.
Beneficiaries are expected to contribute âin kindâ towards their own project
such as their labour. Their contribution will then be equated to a percentage
of the funds required for the project, for example 25 percent of the total
project. Government would then support the beneficiaries with additional funds
required.
The application of the principle included activities such as the greening
and fencing of the local community school, the Dutyini Junior Primary School.
The Department intends to replicate the project in other parts of the country
as an incremental way of creating self-reliant communities.
Launch details:
Date: Friday, 19 May 2006
Time: 09h00
Venue: Dutyini Junior Primary School, Mt Ayliff, Eastern Cape
For more information contact:
Lakela Kaunda
Tel: (012) 312 7653
Cell: 082 782 2575
E-mail: Lakela.Kaunda@socdev.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Social Development
16 May 2006
