Evaluating access to a child-oriented poverty alleviation intervention in rural South Africa1

Abstract

Background: In April 1998, the South African government introduced the child-support grant as a poverty-alleviation measure to support the income of poor households and enable them to care for the child. Aims: This research aimed to measure equity of access to applications for the child-support grant in an area characterized by poverty. Three questions were addressed: (i) How does socioeconomic status affect the probability of a household applying for a child-care grant? (ii) What household and caregiver characteristics are associated with child-care-grant application? (iii) What barriers to access are experienced by households that do not apply for the child-care grant? Methods: The study population of 6,725 households with at least one age-eligible child was drawn from the Agincourt field site, a rural sub-district of South Africa. Data used were obtained from health and demographic surveillance, a child-grant questionnaire, and a household-asset survey. Descriptive cross-tabulations and multivariate logistic regression were used in the analysis. Results: Although these grants are intended as a pro-poor intervention, the poorest households are less likely to apply for grants than those in higher socioeconomic bands. Households in lower socioeconomic bands experienced barriers in accessing grants; these related to lack of official documentation, education level of the caregiver and household head, and distance from government service offices. Conclusions: Enhancing access will require improved provision of birth certificates and identity documents, efficient coordination and service provision from a range of rural government offices, and creative methods of communication.

Keywords

Agincourt child support grant children demographic surveillance system equity inequalities poverty alleviation rural socioeconomic status South Africa

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Giese S.

Meintjes H.

Croke R.

Chamberlain R.

Health and social services to address the needs of orphans and other vulnerable children in the context of HIV/AIDS. Research Report and Recommendations , Cape Town: Children's Institute, University of Cape Town; 2003.

Ardington L.

Lund F.

Pensions and development: The social security system as a complementary track to programs of reconstruction and development . Durban: Centre for Social and Development Studies, University of Natal ; 1994.

Simkins C.

Facing South Africa's social security challenge. Paper presented at the Wits, Brown, Colorado Coloquium, January 2003, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2003.

Leatt A.

Income poverty in South Africa. In:

Monson J

Hall K

Smith C

Shung-King M

, editors. South African child gauge2006 . Cape Town : Children's Institute, University of Cape Town; 2006.

Department of Social Development.

Media Release. Speech by Dr Zola Skweyiya, Minister of Social Development, Ministerial Social Investment Tshifiwa and Update banquet, Sandton Sun and Towers, Johannesburg, 17 October 2003 .

Case A.

Hosegood V.

Lund F.

The reach of the South African child support grant: Evidence from Kwazulu Natal. Development Southern Africa2005;22:467—82.

Hall K.

Monson J.

Does the means justify the end? Targeting the child support grant . In:

Monson J

Hall K

Smith C

Shung-King M

, editors. South African child gauge 2006. Cape Town: Children's Institute, University of Cape Town; 2006.

Sogaula N.

van Niekerk R.

Noble M.

Waddell J.

Green C.

Sigala M.

Samson M.

Sanders D.

Jackson D.

Social security transfers, poverty and chronic illness in the Eastern Cape: An investigation of the relationship between social security grants, the alleviation of rural poverty and chronic illnesses (including those associated with HIV/AIDS). A Case Study of Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape, Oxford : Centre for the Analysis of South African Social Policy, University of Oxford; 2002.

Kola S.

Braehmer S.

Kanyane M.

Morake R.

Mkamanga H.

Phasing in the child support grant: A social impact study. Johannesburg: CASE; 1999.

10.

National guidelines for social services to children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Department of Social Development, South Africa; 1998.

11.

Budlender D.

Rosa S.

Hall K.

At all costs? Applying the means test for the child support grant. Cape Town: Children's Institute and the Centre for Actuarial Research, University of Cape Town; 2005.

12.

Statistics South Africa.

Measuring rural development on indicators of poverty in Bushbuckridge (formerly known as Eastern District); 2002.

13.

Hargreaves JR

Collinson MA

Kahn K.

Clark SJ

Tollman SM

Childhood mortality among former Mozambican refugees and their hosts in rural South Africa. Int J Epidemiol2004;33:1—8.

14.

Dolan C.

Repatriation from South Africa to Mozambique — undermining durable solutions? In:

Black Koser

, editor. The end of the refugee cycle? Refugee repatriation and reconstruction. New York and Oxford: Berghan Books; 1999 .

15.

Department of Social Development, South Africa.

Project plan for the extension of the child support grant (CSG). Chief Directorate, Grants Systems and Administration, with support from Process Innovation Management, Pretoria , 2003.

16.

Collinson MA

Mokoena O.

Mgiba N.

Kahn K.

Tollman SM

Garenne M.

Shackleton S.

Malomane E.

Agincourt Demographic Surveillance System (Agincourt DSS). In:

Sankoh O

Kahn K

Mwageni E

, et al., editors. Population and health in developing countries. Vol 1: Population, health and survival at INDEPTH sites, Ottawa : IDRC; 2002.

17.

Collinson MA

Wittenburg MW

Tollman SM

Kahn K.

Household dynamics in rural South Africa, 1993—2000. Working paper of the Agincourt Health and Population Unit , University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2000.

18.

Tollman SM

Herbst K.

Garenne M.

Gear JJ

Kahn K.

The Agincourt demographic and health study: Site description, baseline findings and implications. S Afr Med J1999;89:858—64.

19.

Kahn K.

Tollman SM

Collinson MA

Clark SJ

Twine R.

Clark BD

Shabangu M.

Gómez-Olivé FX

Mokoena O.

Garenne ML

Research into health, population and social transitions in rural South Africa: Data and methods of the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System. Scand

J Public Health2007;35(Suppl 69):8—20.

20.

Samson M.

Babson O.

Haarman C.

Haarman D.

Khathi G.

Mac Quene K.

van Niekerk I.

Research review on social security reform and the basic income grant for South Africa. International Labour Organisation and Economic Policy Research Unit; 2002.

21.

Van der Westhuizen C.

van Zyl A.

Obstacles to the delivery of social security grants. IDASA Budget Brief no. 100; 2002.

22.

Organization of African Unity (OAU).

African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/ 24.9/49 (1990), entered into force 29 November 1999.

23.

Kahn K.

Collinson M.

Hargreaves J.

Clark S.

Tollman S.

Socio-economic status and child mortality in a rural sub-district of South Africa. In:

de Savigny D

Debpuur C

Mwageni E

Nathan R

Razzaque A

Setel P

, editors. Measuring health equity in small areas: Findings from demographic surveillance sites. Aldershot: Ashgate; 2005. p 67—86.

24.

National Treasury.

The budget: A people's guide, 2002. Available online at: http://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/budget/2002/guide/guide.pdf

25.

Leatt A.

Facts about up-take of the Child Support Grant (January 2006 ). Cape Town: Children's Institute, University of Cape Town; 2006.