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One week ahead of President Thabo Mbeki’s State of the Nation address, the Children’s Institute launched the second edition of the South African Child Gauge. The timing could not have been more perfect: Not only does the South African Child Gauge 2006 give a clear picture of the state of the nation’s children, but the theme of children and poverty coincided with the government’s renewed emphasis on combating poverty in 2007. The launch of this publication generated much media coverage and public interest, and we were extremely pleased that the President, in his speech, alluded to a number of the concerns raised.
The South African Child Gauge has a very specific format that is repeated each year. The first part is an analysis of selected law reform developments related to child rights and the theme. Between 2005 and 2006, there have been significant developments in the areas of education, social security and health care services, but it was found that children 14 years and older continue to be neglected across a range of laws and policies.
The second part of the publication contains a series of essays on the 2006 theme of children and poverty, based on the three-year Means to Live research project of the Children’s Institute. These essays are invaluable for anyone wanting an overview of the extent of child poverty in South Africa and the effectiveness of six key government poverty alleviation programmes:
- The Child Support Grant, which reaches millions of children and has a positive impact on their lives – but still falls short of the commitments in the Constitution, leaving many poor children without income support.
- The School Fee Exemption policy, which in many cases has simply not been implemented for a variety of systemic reasons, and is now complemented by the No-fee Schools policy, launched nationally this year.
- Free basic health care, which is working as far as correct application of the no-fee policy is concerned; however children and their caregivers struggle to get to health services and, when they do, there are not always medicines available.
- The Housing Subsidy Scheme, which has delivered millions of houses to the poor but does not adequately consider children in its design or implementation.
- The Free Basic Water policy, which reaches more of the non-poor than the poor because the poor lack the infrastructure necessary for the delivery of water services.
The third part of the South African Child Gauge presents demographic and other data about children – much of which augments the policy reviews dealt with in the essays by providing statistically representative data by province, age group and race. The indicators that are tracked are broader than the annual theme and over time will allow monitoring of the progress being made toward the realisation of all children’s socio-economic rights. A poster-size map of South Africa is a special feature of the 2006 edition and gives quick provincial references to selected socio-economic indicators, allowing for easy comparison.
With the South African Child Gauge 2006, the Children’s Institute hopes to make an important contribution to the national dialogue on combating poverty as the publication is an invaluable resource for anyone working in the arena of poverty alleviation or with issues that affect children’s lives.
Contact Charmaine Smith for more information or click here to download the publication. For information on the Means to Live Project, contact Katharine Hall.
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