| Gauteng Forum APRIL UPDATE |
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 MEETING WITH BHEKI SIBEKO, DIVISIONAL HEAD: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTProgress on the Welfare Summit Agenda for Action has stalled in recent months due to a lack of involvement from the Department's senior management level. This has rendered the relevant Task Teams unable to move forward on key issues. The process of merging the Departments of Health and Social Development, with its enormous demands on those concerned, has no doubt been a contributing factor. On 30 March the Forum's representatives on the Welfare Summit Steering Committee met with Mr Bheki Sibeko to discuss ways to get the process back on track. The meeting was very constructive, and the upshot is that all Task Teams must consolidate their records, and clearly identify the snags they have encountered and the actions that need to be taken. Early in May a high-level meeting will be held at which all current blockages will be tackled and, we hope, overcome. It seems unlikely that there will be another Summit this year, but what is important is that we tackle the identified issues in the areas of transformation, financing, partnership, human resources and capacity-building, the Gauteng Social Audit, planning, information management and M&E. Mr Sibeko's new title is "Divisional Head: Social Development". The HOD in the new combined Health and Social Development structure is Dr Kamy Chetty, a medical doctor who hails from the national Department of Health. Ms Shoki Tshabalala is now Chief of Operations for Social Development. Action required: Welfare Summit Task Team convenors, please join with your counterparts in the Department to convene the necessary meetings, assemble your minutes and other documentation, and get your ducks in a row for the meeting next month. REDRAFTING OF THE POLICY ON FINANCIAL AWARDS TO SERVICE PROVIDERS In the February 2010 Activity Report http://www.forum.org.za/Activity-Report-February-2010 – we brought you an update about the hugely problematic Policy on Financial Awards to Service Providers (PFASP) and requested your inputs to the DoSD. This six year long battle with DoSD has finally yielded some results as Jackie Loffell outlines below: On Monday 29 March the Joint Strategic Committee (JSC) - comprising representatives of the NWSSDF and NACOSS - met with senior officials in the national Department of Social Development. This was part of a programme of scheduled meetings to address key challenges in the partnership between national government and NPOs in our sector. Good news is that the Department is acknowledging the dissatifaction of NPOs with the Financial Awards Policy and is committed to the development of a new policy document, this time with the full involvement of the Forum and NACOSS, whose inputs were ignored last time. We have made it clear that we are unhappy even with the title of the policy, which we regard as patronising, suggesting "prizes" for good behaviour rather than partnership in service. We have also stated that we regard the policy document as seriously misdirected, and as being very unfair and misleading in the picture it paints of NPOs. In addition, central issues are missing, notably (1) a clear exposition of the mandate of our sector (government and NPOs combined) as set out in the Bill of Rights and numerous laws and policies, and (2) a clear statement as to how this mandate is to be funded. The policy represents an attempt to shift the bulk of responsibility for a transformed service system to NPOs, when in fact this rests in the first place with the Department. While NPOs are willing and able to assist, they can only do so within the limits of available resources, including the portion that can be raised from outside government. We have strongly recommended a national audit of social needs and of the capacity available to meet these, to serve as a basis for a new financing policy and for the national DSD's annual bid to Treasury. You can read more and comment on the PFASP here: http://www.forum.org.za/pfasp/12010 http://www.forum.org.za/images/stories/document%20pdfs/stay%20up%20to%20date/activity_report_feb10.pdf STRATEGY MEETING On 9 March, members of the Mass Action Planning Committee and representatives of some of our field-of-service clusters met with Professor Leila Patel of the Centre for Social Development in Africa to brainstorm ways for the GWSSDF to move forward with its campaign for a new deal for social welfare services. Points raised at this workshop will be integrated with those arising from our Forum's recent Mass Meeting, and a draft strategy document will be circulated for comment within the next few weeks. A key issue identified was the need to draw attention to the role of NPOs when the report on the budget of the Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development is presented in the Legislature. This will be an opportunity to raise our profile and strengthen our lobby. It has been suggested that we pack the gallery and get some media attention lined up. We have learned that the Portfolio Committee's budget report will be presented in the Legislature on 21 May 2010. Please reserve the day in your diary and have your Forum T-shirt ready! Meanwhile, this event will be preceded by the normal public participation meeting at which our clusters will have an opportunity to comment on the budget's implications for their services. No date has yet been set for this meeting, and the Committee is in recess until 12 April. It is likely that we will be invited to make presentations on a date around the end of April or the beginning of May. Action required: Cluster convenors please call organisations in your field of service together, study the Budget which was circulated to you recently, and beginning preparing your presentations. CAPACITY-BUILDING PROGRAMME This year's capacity-building programme for CBOs is on the theme of fundraising and is being presented by seasoned trainer, consultant and fundraiser Sandra Millar. You can check out her website at www.sandramillar.co.za <http://www.sandramillar.co.za> . The programme got off to a great start with a two-day workshop at the JISS Centre in Mayfair on 10-11 March, with CBOs from all five regions participating enthusiastically. The next stage will be a one-day workshop to which participants will be asked to bring their own fundraising proposals for mentoring purposes. Later in the year a further workshop will be held to help equip CBOs to respond to the Lotto's next call for applications. This will be open to additional organisations as well as those who are already participating. MEETING WITH PREMIER A number of Forum members managed at extremely short notice to attend Premier Nomvula Mokonyane's consultative engagement with NPOs at Wembley on 24 March. It later turned out that the invitation was in fact intended to be a follow-up to a previous engagement with community development workers, and was targeted at organisations employing such workers. Anyway, it provided the Forum with the opportunity to raise some of its concerns with the Premier, including the chronic funding problems of NPOs and the ongoing loss of staff to the Department. It turns out that she is anxious to have an audit conducted to determine the "footprint" of our sector. We welcomed this and emphasised the importance of including a needs audit as well as a capacity audit, explaining that such an exercise had in fact been started but not completed. (If the Gauteng Social Audit can be finalised we will at long last have a proper basis for funding in the province - so political backing for this intiative is of great importance.) It seems that the Premier may hold consultations with the sector on a twice-yearly basis. Assuming that we will have more time to prepare in future, these may be valuable opportunities for us to get issues on the agenda at the highest level. Until next time - greetings to all our stakeholders! Enquiries: Jackie Loffell, Coordinator: 082-454-0991 Elsie Dlomo, Secretary: 011-334-6638 (Mon, Wed, Fri mornings) Bookmark this article:          |
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