I. Background and Context

1983 – Apartheid government adopts a new constitution establishing the “Tricameral Parliament” and accordingly restructures the welfare system, which reaches new levels of fragmentation.

1985 – Government publishes a “Report on an Investigation into the Present Welfare Policy in the Republic of South Africa”, reflecting extreme forms of apartheid thinking and proposing to “privatise social welfare to the highest possible degree”.

Late 1980s - The report and the somewhat watered-down policy document which follows it, “Social Welfare Policies and Structures of the republic of South Africa” (1988) provides a rallying point for an unprecedented level of resistance within the sector.

The welfare sector begins to organise itself into regional and sectorial formations and pressure groups to oppose these policies and to lobby for an alternative welfare system based on human dignity, equality and freedom.

May 1989 - All these structures convene a major national conference with the theme “Towards a Democratic Welfare System” in Johannesburg. The conference focuses both on the need to dismantle the old welfare order and on the development of a vision for a just, equitable and democratic post-apartheid welfare system.

1992 – The idea of a representative national structure to organise and mobilise the welfare sector on evolving an alternative welfare policy and participating in the process of transformation is mooted.

Among the primary reasons for this move is the belief within the welfare sector that it is marginalised from the political process and the evolving development agenda. The welfare sector is the most fragmented and least organised due to apartheid welfare policies, yet it serves the most marginalised sectors of the population.

1993 - An initial structure in the form of the Ad Hoc Facilitating Committee for a Welfare Forum is formed to address critical issues facing the welfare sector in the transition to a democratic South Africa. This is subsequently replaced by the Ad Hoc Committee for a Welfare Summit. Representation is from the formal welfare sector, religious organisations, private welfare organisations, professional social workers and non-governmental organisations.

6th November 1993 - A National Welfare Summit, convened at the World Trade Centre in Johannesburg and attended by 700 delegates nationally, mandates the Ad Hoc Committee to mobilise, educate and organise all stakeholders towards the formation of a welfare forum.

A three-phased strategy is identified, including: the setting up of regional structures/ forums to ensure broader participation by stakeholders throughout the country and to concretize the principle of inclusiveness; developing a founding document; broadening the Ad Hoc Committee to make it more representative. In particular efforts were made to get more representation from the CBO sector.

II. Launch of The Forum

22-23 October, 1994 – Launch of The National Welfare Social Service and Development Forum and adoption of the ‘National Founding Document and Constitution’, with the aims to: 

• contribute to the ongoing improvement of the social welfare of the people of South Africa within a developmental framework; 
• develop consensus in any decisions regarding the reconstruction of the social welfare system in South Africa; 
• identify priority welfare development areas, taking into account especially communities which have historically not had access to welfare care facilities, and to promote increased community participation in the social welfare care sector; and 
• ensure that the process of change is transparent.

The Forum’s Constitution was revised in 1997, and again in 2004.

11th November, 1994 – The national Ministry of Welfare and Provincial Welfare MECs recognise The Forum as the legitimate, representative structure of civil society

III. The work of The Forum in the 1990s 

Restructuring social welfare
In its earliest days, The Forum focused on facilitating the restructuring of social welfare under the new government. The process of developing an alternative welfare policy and system was a complex and demanding one. It gave the welfare sector an opportunity to reflect on its status and future. The White Paper process, in particular, was a national experience on policy analysis and policy formulation.

This policy process required efficient management and administrative systems. To address this need, The Forum set up a national office with one full-time National Coordinator and an administrative secretary. With limited financial resources, however, The Forum was sustained and kept going mainly through the voluntary efforts of members of the different committees, working groups and provincial structures.

1996-1998 A Shift in Focus Towards Poverty Eradication
At its 1996 AGM, The Forum revisited its mandate and began a process of re-aligning its approach with a changing welfare context and the perceptions of its stakeholders. It was agreed that The Forum needed to include the Eradication of Poverty and Transformation in its Vision and Mission Statements. This meant refocusing The Forum’s resources and energies on transforming Welfare to be part of Social Development, and marked the beginning of work to move welfare recipients from dependence to self reliance.

WSSD
In 1996, The Forum was mandated by the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) to lead follow-up activities to the 1995 World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) in South Africa in line with the ICSW Memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on this issue.

18th-19th May 1998 - The Forum organises a National Conference on Follow Up to the World Summit for Social Development in Johannebsurg to develop a programme of action for fulfilling the 10 commitments on poverty eradication made in the Copenhagen Declaration – the National Social Development Strategy.

At the National Conference, The Forum established the SA Committee on Social Development to replace the Interim Committee and to pursue the implementation of the National Social Development Strategy.

3rd-4th November, 1999 – The Forum organises a second National Conference on Follow Up to the World Summit for Social Development in Johannesburg to assess progress made towards the implementation of the Copenhagen Commitments, and to develop an Implementation Strategy as well as a Draft Statement of Intent for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) around the Social Summit.

During the 1990s, The Forum participates in the following key policy, legislative and service processes:

• Ithuba grant applications
• Training government and non-profit sector representatives on new legislation impacting on the welfare sector
• IMC on young people at risk document
• National Interim Consultative Committee
• NPA for Children
• Lund Committee
• Welfare Reprioritisation Committee
• Green Paper on Public Service Delivery
• Process to establish the National Development Agency (legally constituted on 18th August 1999)
• National Volunteer Programme
• Population Policy
• National Poverty Forum
• Ministerial task team on the Eastern Cape Welfare Crisis
• Policy on financing of Welfare Services
• Legislation:
• Social Assistance Act
• Non Profit Act
• Social Work Act
• Care Dependency Grant
• Lotteries Bill
• Child Care Amendment Act
• Powers of natural fathers Bill
• Welfare Laws Amendment Act
• Katz Commission Report on Taxation
• National Development Agency Bill
• Non-Profit Organisations Act
• Social Work Amendment Act
• Social Assistance Amendment Act
• National Population Policy
• National Interim Consultative Committee Bill
• National Development Agency Act
• Lotteries Act
• Income Tax Act
• Value Added Tax Act
• Special Investigations Unit and Special Tribunals Act

1999 - The Forum institutes a new programme in response to “the lack of sufficient skills and information amongst governmental and non-governmental colleagues to implement new policies, as well as the lack of information about the impact of new policies on the poor, and the absence of regular and organised advocacy initiatives on behalf o the poor and vulnerable.”

To achieve the programme’s aim to “improve the capability of the developmental welfare sector to implement policies, deliver programmes, deepen transformation and protect the interests of beneficiaries”, it was designed to contain the following components:

• Programme One: Human Rights Advocacy on behalf of the poor, marginalised and vulnerable in South Africa;
• Programme Two: Training and Education of Governmental and Non-Governmental Service Providers; and
• Programme Three: Promoting and Monitoring Developmental Welfare Policy Implementation.

June 1999 - The Forum makes a submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission regarding the role played by welfare organisations, academic institutions and professional associations in the development, maintenance and implementation of the apartheid welfare system.

Engagement in international policy processes
The Forum’s membership to the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) as its South African National Committee Member results in its participation in the following ICSW events:

• European Symposium on Basic Social Values in Changing World, Copenhagen, Denmark, October 1997
• Africa workshop on Information and Dissemination Skills, Accra, Ghana, September 1997
• 28th International Conference, Jerusalem, Israel, July 1998
• 29th International Conference, Cape Town, November 2000

The Forum also secures membership with the World Alliance for Citizen Participation (Civicus) in 1997. This relationship involves The Forum in the following global events:

• Africa regional consultation, Johannesburg, April 1997. Forum Chairperson Fikile Mazibuko presented the opening address to this meeting.
• Civicus World Assembly, Budapest, Hungary, September 1997
• Civicus Africa task team meetings, Mauritius, March 1998

The Forum also represents South Africa at the United Nations Commission for Social Development meeting in New York, USA, and at the Economic Commission for Africa meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in March 1999.

22nd-27th October 2000 – The Forum hosts the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW)’s 29th International Conference on Social Welfare held in Cape Town on the theme “Social Welfare, Social Justice and Social Development in the 21st Century to explore strategies to address the challenges of continuing global poverty, HIV/AIDS, human rights abuses and social injustice.

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