Deputy Minister Bogopane-Zulu opens a community care centre for vulnerable children and safe space for men in Bergville, Kwa-Zulu Natal Province
The Deputy Minister of Social Development, Mrs Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, will on Tuesday, 10 March 2020, officially open Bethany Community Care Centre in Bergville, KZN Province. The Centre will provide psychosocial care and support services and skills development to orphans and vulnerable children and youth.
With financial support from KfW (German-state owned development bank) to the tune of 9, 9 Million euros, the Department has built 17 Community Care Centres that are at various phases of construction in the three provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and North West. Upon completion, the community care centres will also serve as service points to bring government services on the doorstep of rural communities. This will include services rendered by the Departments of Social Development, Home Affairs, Health and public entities such as the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and National Development Agency (NDA) amongst others.
The goal of building community care centres in rural communities is to enhance the quality of services to orphans and vulnerable children within their own communities of origin and to complement existing child protection interventions and services such as Home Community Based Care, drop-in centres, Isibindi, child care forums and early childhood development.
This approach seeks to strengthen families and communities as the first line of response as guided by South Africa’s National Strategic Plan (NSP) for Human Immuno Virus (HIV), Tuberculosis (TB) and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) 2017-2022.
The mandate of the Department of Social Development is to implement Goal 4 of the NSP, which seeks to address the social and structural drivers of HIV, TB and STIs as well as to reduce the impact of the epidemics on orphans and vulnerable children, child-headed households and youth.
Framed within the broader development context of the National Development Plan (Vision 2030) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the NSP serves as a roadmap for the next stage of South Africa’s journey towards drastically reducing the burden of diseases of HIV, TB and STIs on public health, with specific focus on geographic areas and populations most severely affected by the epidemics.
Under the Home Community Based Care programme, the Department renders early identification, psychosocial support and referrals for orphans and vulnerable children as well as capacity building programmes for community caregiver groups and facilitation of support groups.
The Safe Space for Men, dubbed ‘The Lounge’, gives men and boys an opportunity to hold each other accountable and to play a more active role in the Department’s national effort to combat the scourge of gender-based violence, femicide, HIV, alcohol and substance abuse and many other social ills confronting communities in South Africa.
The Lounge will provide men and boys of all ages, a safe space to engage in open, non-judgmental conversations, where they can be “vulnerable” in the presence of their peers. It will also serve as a space where men and boys can access services such as HIV testing and psychosocial support services. Research shows that most men are reluctant to seek treatment or services in public facilities as compared to women. Young boys will be paired with positive male role models in their communities to mentor and guide them towards positive masculinities and healthy lifestyles.
The concept is also premised from the recognition that national efforts and campaigns to prevent and end all forms of violence against women and girls, including gender-based violence and femicide as well as the prevention of new HIV infections which disproportionately affect women and girls, will not succeed without men and boys playing their part in the solution.
Members of the media are invited to attend and cover the official opening of Bethany Community Care Centre arranged as follows:
Date: Tuesday, 10 March 2020
Time: 10h00-14h00
Venue: Bethany Village, Bergville – KZN Province
Media can RSVP by contacting:
Makhosazana Mavuso
Cell: 072 732 9381
E-mail: makhosazanama@dsd.gov.za
Nomfundo Xulu-Lentsoane
Cell: 066 480 6845
E-mail: NomfundoLe@dsd.gov.za
Media enquiries:
Lumka Oliphant
Cell: 083 484 8067
E-mail: LumkaO@dsd.gov.za
