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Stay up to date Forum Reports Activity Report - September 2010
Stay up to date Forum Reports Activity Report - September 2010 | Activity Report - September 2010 |
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Making Policy Work Policy on Financial Awards to Service Providers The KwaZulu Natal Welfare Forum and Network of Directors joined forces last year to plan the “Equal Pay for Equal Work” march that took place in August 2009 where memorandums were handed to representatives of the Provincial Departments of Social Development and Finance. No acknowledgement of receipt were received or responses to the memorandums or to subsequent letters to the DSD on issues of provincial concern to the NGO sector. Letters were also sent to the Chairpersons of the KZN and National Portfolio Committees on Social Development highlighting the concerns of the NGO sector in the province. Due to this lack of response, the Forum and the Network met with Dr Willem Botha from NAWONGO on the 16 September, to hear how the Free State took the DSD in the Free State to court and to seek advice on how to proceed in KZN if it was deemed necessary to take similar action. Resulting from this meeting, press releases were issued to the main newspapers in Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Coverage on the plight of the NGO sector for KZN was received in the Natal Witness and the Daily News and the Mail and Guardian ran a short piece on NGO subsidy issues for provinces in general. Eastern Cape Joint Steering Committee The Nelson Mandela District Forum meeting on 01 September discussed the relevance and implications of the Free State court case and that the National JSC had offered to work with National DoSD on a new funding policy. Corne Erasmus reported that the Legal Resource Centre have studied the court case and have advised the Eastern Cape to let the process take its course. They recommended that members include the court case summary as an attachment to their application letter with the business plan. It was proposed that a request go to the National JSC to request DoSD to implement provincial JSCs. On 23 September, John Allen and Ivan Siyila attended a meeting where the Eastern Cape Joint Strategic Committee (ECJSC) met with the Acting HOD and Programme Managers of the Department of Social Development (DoSD) to present the MOU and budget. John reported that the meeting was a disappointment as the department did not prepare themselves regarding the MOU. The agenda was not well developed and only focused on issues of the department, and little time was allocated to the issues that were important to the ECJSC. The meeting was taken up by presentations from Programme Managers detailing their budget for the next financial year. The ECJSC was told that the department could not consider their budget proposal as they had no funds. They were encouraged to make presentations to the Standing Committee and Department of Finance. Gauteng The Gauteng Welfare Forum circulated a notice of and attended a stakeholder building workshop held by the Portfolio Committee. The Forum used the opportunity to voice concerns about the marginalisation of the sector since the merger of the Department of Health and Social Development. A draft JSC policy framework for the financing of the social welfare sector was circulated for comment. Rights and Responsibilities Western Cape - the ICESCR and MDGs On 15 September 2010 civil society organisations and human rights institutions participated in a seminar to discuss South Africa’s 2010 Draft Report on the status of its progress towards achieving the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The seminar took place against the backdrop of the MDG Review Summit that will take place at the United Nations in New York from 20-22 September 2010. Dr. Lilian Chenwi (Community Law Centre) expressed that the ICESCR and the MDGs are mutually reinforcing. The MDGs lack mechanisms of accountability as provided by international human rights instruments. NGOs noted challenges to promoting awareness and understanding of the MDGs within local communities which affect implementation of the MDGs. There were concerns over the absence of a comprehensive government social policy incorporating the implementation of the MDGs; and the quality of civil society engagement in the development of the South African report on MDGs 2010. Recommendations included a call for South Africa to ratify the ICESCR and OP-ICESCR, establish a streamlined and efficient MDG monitoring process, by identifying government offices to oversee the process, improving communication consultation and engagement between civil society and government, qualitative assessments that reflect local conditions; and increasing support of local government to provide localised awareness and realisation of human rights and the MDGs at district and community levels. To read the full report click here. Human Rights with Black Sash On Friday, 17 September 2010, a workshop on Social Assistance and MDGs was held in Mpumalanga, Nelspruit, hosted by the National Welfare Forum (NWF) and Mpumalanga Welfare Forum (MWF) in partnership with Amnesty International South Africa, Black Sash Gauteng and Lucabantu Productions with approximately 30 participants. The first part of the workshop was facilitated by Ms Jabu Tugwana from Amnesty International South Africa, on the Millennium Development Goals. She gave a background of what the MDGs are, their origin and why they exist. She went on to explain each MDG and made participants do activities on each MDG, demonstrating how they relate in people’s every day’s living. The argument was that can a person survive with R7 x 30 days =R210 per month? The answer was no because a household cannot buy healthy meals, pay rent/mortgage, travel to and from work, etc. with that much money per month. Participants were very much enlightened about the MDG information and grateful to be part of the event. Mr Buntu Tembani from Lucabantu Productions told a story in relation to some of the MDGs. The story was followed by songs of hope and encouragement and dance. The second part of the workshop was facilitated by Mr Wellington Ntamo from Black Sash Gauteng, on the available Social Assistance in South Africa (grants). He explained various grants for children and adults, who qualifies to get grants, where and how to apply for the grants. The participants were very pleased to hear about this kind of assistance from government as they had not heard of the other grants such as the Social Relief of Distress and the War Veteran Grants. They however felt that the War Veteran Grant was unnecessary because there is hardly anybody still alive who was involved in the World Wars or Korean War. They felt that the government should rather increase the child support grant or the old age grant and do away with the War Veteran’s Grant. In the closing of the workshop, participants were asked to sing a song compiled by Buntu, as a signal of Stand Up And Take Action against poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and Make A Noise thereof. Gauteng A meeting of cluster leaders held on 20 September to give guidance on preparation for the meeting with Portfolio Committee and for ongoing data collection in each field to provide a basis for advocacy and awareness-raising via the media. Working together to make Mzansi better Eastern Cape Ivan Siyila attended a Board meeting at Empilweni Home to discuss the planning of the Annual General Meeting. The AGM took place on 30 September and Ivan represented the home as the interim Chairperson and presented the report to the Board of Directors. He also assisted 5 other CBOs with NPO registrations again this month. 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