Changing Social Policy

The Child Support Grant in South Africa An important historical record of one part of post-apartheid South Africas policymaking, Changing Social Policy in South Africa charts the generation of the Report of the Lund Committee, which ultimately resulted in the establishment of the Child Support Grant (CSG) in post-apartheid South Africa.

HSRC Press

Product Information

Format:

148mm x 210mm (Soft Cover)

Pages:

168

ISBN-13:

978-07969-2200-7

Publish Year:

2008

Rights:

World Rights

Tables and figures
Foreword by Thandika Mkandawire
Preface and Acknowledgements
Abbreviations and acronyms
A note on terms

The Context
Poverty, inequality and the situation of children and families in South Africa
Engaging in policy reform at the time of transition
From apartheid welfare to developmental social welfare
Social assistance and the State Maintenance Grant

The Committee
Status
Composition
Mandate
Orientation
Method of work

Policy Alternatives
Reform of the private parental maintenance system
Increase in support for mainstream social welfare services
Support for the emerging development social welfare model: the Flagship Programme for Unemployed women with Children 0 5
Support for nutritional programmes for young children
Support for Early Childhood Development programmes
Support for Social Funds
A new cash transfer

The Child Support Grant
Design
Implementation
Performance

Compromises and Controversies
The phasing out of the State Maintenance Grant
A universal benefit or a means tested grant
Accepting a ‘fiscal constraint’
The participation of civil society in policy reform

The Road from Policy to Practice
The implementation task team
Piloting new reforms
Communicating about new reforms
Accounting for the passage of the reforms
Looking back

Appendices
References
Index

Professor Francie Lund works part-time at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where she specialises in social policy in the School of Development Studies. She works part-time for WIEGO Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising. Trained as a sociologist and social worker, she practised as a grassroots organiser and researcher in the fields of early childhood development, rural primary health care, and urban infrastructure. A longstanding research interest has been the impact of South Africas pensions and grants in mitigating poverty and redressing inequality. She is engaged locally and globally with WIEGO in research and policy advocacy around informal workers, especially regarding local and national policy intervention in the provision of social protection.