unicef south africa country programme and advocacy processes

UNICEF South Africa Country Programme and Advocacy processes

COUNTRY PROGRAMME: UNICEF SOUTH AFRICA

Introductory Remarks• Achievements of Social Development sector

– Promulgation of Children’s Act no 38 of 2005– More than 7 million CSG recipients– Establishment of SASSA

• The challenges to deal with Poverty, AIDS and Crime

• Importance of Parliament’s oversight role• UNICEFs commitment to provide ongoing

support and intention to have a full time presence at Parliament


SA economy is booming, wellbeing indicators are not

U5MR, MMR and e0

45

65

85

105

125

1998

2000

2002

2004

Year

Real GDP per capita in Rands

20,00020,50021,00021,50022,000

1998

2000

2002

Year

Source: MDG Report for South Africa, Stats SA: Gross Domestic Product (P0441); Mid-Year Population Estimates 2005

MMR

U5MR

e0


Programme Structure 2002-2006

• Basic Social Services

• HIV and AIDS

• Social Policy and Local Governance

• Communication, External Relations, and Partnerships


Health & Nutrition

ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN

Education & Adolescent

Development

Child Protection

Child Survival

Nutrition

Basic Education

Adolescent development

Protection against violence

Social Protection / Safety

Nets

Early Childhood

Development

External Relations

Advocacy & Strategic Leveraging

Advocacy for

Children’s Rights

Leveraging Funds

Monitoring for

Impact

Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation

Programme Communication


Child Survival and Nutrition


Morbidity and Mortality Profile of Children in South Africa

60% of all children are ill or are dying from preventable causes namely:

•diarrhoeal disease (10-15%),

•respiratory infections (7%),

•low birth weight (6%) and

•protein energy malnutrition (5 to 10%).

40% of all illnesses and death are attributable to HIV and AIDS.


Our response to address this:

• Accelerated implementation of community IMCI,

• Support health workers to identify and provide care for vulnerable neonates and support family care of these children post-discharge.

• Early detection of growth faltering at community level

• Implementation and scaling up of the Basic Antenatal Care Package,


Impact of HIV and AIDS in South Africa

• Approximately 5,7 million people infected• 3.3 million women and 104,863 babies infected• 29,5% infection rate among women visiting

antenatal clinics• Greatest killer of under 5 children = AIDS (40%)• Almost 300,000 babies born to HIV+ mothers a

year• Between 55,000 and 82,000 children in need of

ARV, only 5,000 receiving ARV


5 Key Strategies•Early diagnosis and testing of infants

•Streamlining health systems to maximise staff capacity to treat HIV+ infants

•Scaling up PMTCT+ to prevent children from contracting HIV

•Targeted infant care

•Supporting Safety Net Systems for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs)


Few newborn & older babies are being tested resulting in poor early diagnosis.

Laboratory tests during first 12-18 months of life are expensive, involve complex technology.

Plans for 2006:

Increase the number of infants tested for HIV from 30,000 to at least 120,000.

Early diagnosis & testing


Expanding access to ARVs for children• ART accredited treatment sites in all 53 health

districts of South Africa, relatively few of these provide care for infants and children

• Theoretical and practical training insufficient • Human resource constraints

Plans for 2006:• Double number of children receiving ARVs from

8,500 to 17,000


Child protection


Deaths in 20-45 age group tripled in 10 years1.8 million children lost a parent to AIDS, millions

more are living in households in which one or more person is ill, dying or deceased.

Child support grant up to age 14 anticipated to reach 11 million South Africans

Key results in 2005:• National Plan of Action for OVC 2006 – 2008• Development of database for OVC -research• Training manuals developed to create safety nets and

child care forums for OVC• ECD sites piloted as nodes of care and support for

village workers supporting OVC in Nkandla.

Care and support for OVC


We have to ensure that OVC have access to Education

Health services

Social Grants

Care and support

Care and support for OVC

Children – orphaned and vulnerable

Families: Training and Care

Communities: Child Care Forums

Municipalities: Plans and programmes for Children

Provincial: Budget allocations and services

National: Policies & legislation


Plans for 2006

• Support implementation of National Action Plan• Complete establishment of OVC database• Complete pilot study of ECD sites as nodes of

care and support• Scaling up of child care forums and safety

networks• Develop and finalise national primary caregiver

training programme


Violence against women and children

Latest SAPS Crime Statistics 2004/2005:• More than 360,000 women and children murdered,

raped, assaulted, sexually molested or abused• 40% of 55,114 rapes were against children• 47.7% (4,829) of all indecent assault cases were

children.• 31,607 children victims of common assault• 24,189 children victims of assault to commit

grievous bodily harm• Most rapes still go unreported


Plans for 2006• Drafting legal discussion paper on trafficking in

preparation for draft bill• Costing of National Policy Framework and Strategy for

the Prevention and Management of Child Abuse and Neglect and use it to advocate for resource allocation

• Study on violence against children under 12 years• Situation analysis of children living in streets, in

residential care, without rights and trafficked children.• Develop community-based systems to report and

monitor child protection abuses• Roll out child protection models in 3 municipalities• Train 3,000 health workers, social workers & police on

prevention & management of child abuse• Scale up services through Thuthuzela Care Centres


Education and Adolescent Development


Situation of children

• Primary net enrolment ratio (7 – 13 years) increased from 88% in 1996 to 96% in 2004

• Fundamental challenge – provision of quality education

• 1 million children out of school• School retention: only 65% reach Grade 5• Only 16 % (Birth to 5 years) have access to formal ECD

• Violence and insecurity major concern


Early Childhood DevelopmentKey results for 2005:• Support GoSA in development of operations plan for

implementing Integrated Plan on ECD• Technical advise on development of paper for

operationalisation of Plan to create 15,300 ECD learnerships

Planned for 2006:• Development & finalisation of national primary caregiver

training programme for babies & young children• Development of models of care for children under 5 and

their caregivers• Development of ECD centres as nodes of care and

support for OVC


A Child-friendly school:

• safe and protective environment for children• healthy spaces to learn and grow• access to clean water & sanitation • gender sensitive• strong links to the surrounding communities, and

• outreach services for orphans and other vulnerable children.


A Child-friendly school:

Provision of quality education for all children means

• Quality School buildings, structures and equipment

• Quality Teachers and teaching practices

• Quality Management and governance practices

• Supporting the establishment of an independent national M&E unit


Adolescent DevelopmentKey results 2005:• Capacity development on youth leadership continued

for youth, educators, school governing bodies, traditional leaders & community members

• Fatherhood project and reduction of gender-based violence

• 80 Educators in Eastern Cape & KZN trained on creative facilitation & participation for lifeskills education

Planned for 2006:• Strengthening implementation & evaluation of

lifeskills programmes for adolescents – national & provincial


Social Policy and Local Governance


Situation of children• More than 11 million children live in poverty – yet

annually in some departments millions are returned unspent

• Comprehensive policies & legislation: weak implementation & management result in poor service delivery

SPLG aims to strengthen Government’s ability to plan, budget and put systems in place to provide more equitable, effective and efficient services, with focus on the most vulnerable children and women.


Social Policy and Local GovernanceKey results 2005:• Technical support in finalising Children’s Bill and

National Child Abuse Strategy• Technical support in finalising Support 2 local

municipalities to develop and implement Local Plans of Action for Children (LPA)

• On line birth registration project taken over by GovSA rolled out to 68 hospitals

• Conceptual framework developed for Stats SA for stronger monitoring systems for birth registration.


THE CHALLENGE TO PARLIAMENT IN ADVOCACY AND ACTION FOR CHILDREN


Advocacy and action

• Liaising with the Justice Portfolio Committee to fast-track the finalization of the Child Justice Bill and Sexual Offences Bill

• Oversee allocations for services to children and related spending patterns

• A national system of identifying and tracking orphans and vulnerable children at local, district and provincial levels

• Advocate for the increased of access of children, particularly 3 and 4 year-olds, to formal ECD by targeting for example the EPWP sources

• Extending the child support grant to children aged 14-18 years


Analyzing State of Nation and Budget Speeches to advocate for children

Finalise Children’s Amendment Bill

Finalise Sexual Offences Bill

Review Social Assistance Act

Finalise Child Justice Bill

Advocacy Document to support the oversight responsibilities of parliamentarians

Advocacy forChildren inParliament

Advocacy and action


Plans for 2007•Plan to establish office in Cape Town by January 2007

•Want to be of support to SD Portfolio Committee – Members will have to indicate areas where support is required

•Resource leveraging: study to analyse use of government funds for children at national, provincial & local levels - recommendations for annual budget prioritisation and planning


Thank you

unicef south africa country programme and advocacy processes

Documents

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