tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/child-support-grants-38660/articlesChild Support Grants – The Conversation2021-08-19T14:31:31Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1661862021-08-19T14:31:31Z2021-08-19T14:31:31ZBook review: Sindiwe Magona’s devastating, uplifting story of South African women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416571/original/file-20210817-14-bac34a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Reading South African author <a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-from-the-story-of-pioneering-south-african-writer-sindiwe-magona-155670">Sindiwe Magona</a>’s latest novel <em><a href="https://www.panmacmillan.co.za/blogs/news/author-q-a-when-the-village-sleeps-a-new-novel-from-the-legendary-dr-sindiwe-magona">When the Village Sleeps</a></em> reminded me of my time researching and teaching in the country’s Eastern Cape province a decade ago. While involved in community engagement for Rhodes University I heard stories of young people who would deliberately contract HIV in order to receive government <a href="https://socialprotection.org/discover/publications/south-africa-universal-disability-grant">disability grants</a>. </p>
<p><em>When the Village Sleeps</em> spans three generations of women in one family and the central role of ancestral belief and ancient custom – or a lack of it – in their lives. It initially focuses on Busi, a promising young student who benefits from an education at a good school due to the hard work and friendship of her grandmother with her former white employer. </p>
<p>It reveals the devastating motivation behind Busi’s teenage pregnancy orchestrated to produce a financial reward in the form of a <a href="https://www.westerncape.gov.za/service/sassa-child-support-grant">child support grant</a> from the state.</p>
<p>The shocking story at the centre of Magona’s latest novel is as heartbreaking as it is cruel – and yet the character of Busi’s daughter Mandlakazi (or Mandla) completely overturns the notion that her birth is a tragedy. She becomes the heroine who unites her family. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A book cover showing the title 'When the Village Sleeps' inside an illustration of a giant moon, trees and lands in the foreground and the name of the author, Sindiwe Magona." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pan Macmillan/Picador Africa</span></span>
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<p>Magona is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-from-the-story-of-pioneering-south-african-writer-sindiwe-magona-155670">pioneering</a> writer who, with this new novel, continues to feature challenging contemporary issues in her work, with incisive commentaries on power, masculinity and the role of women. </p>
<h2>The old and the new</h2>
<p>Mandla’s great grandmother, Khulu, who takes baby Mandla to the rural Eastern Cape to recuperate from birth disabilities and strengthen her, is central to the story and it is her unending devotion that seems to bring about such a significant change in the “broken bundle” she brings home to Sidwadweni. </p>
<p>Referencing the poetry and teachings of celebrated isiXhosa-language author and historian <a href="https://sala.org.za/2010-2/s-e-k-mqhayi/">S.E.K. Mqhayi</a>, the narration frequently shifts into poetry to enable the voice of Mandla to articulate her nascent consciousness which seems fused with her ancestors, “the Old”. From her earliest moments she would:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>fall asleep to the ministrations</p>
<p>of her hands infused with care</p>
<p>and into that sleep</p>
<p>the lyrics of songs pouring from an ancient throat</p>
<p>sink deep into my mind</p>
<p>into my brain, my heart, my limbs.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>No wonder Mandla is so transformed by the years she spends under Khulu’s care. She returns to Kwanele township in Cape Town with a divine gift that enables her to access the ancestral realm, and predict the future.</p>
<p>Central to the novel is <em>abenzakalise</em> (those who have harmed) and the consequences of their actions. On a personal level this relates to Busi’s strained relationship with her mother Phyllis and her estranged father, and then, as a teenager, the alcohol and the street drug <a href="https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/tik-meth-in-cape-town.html">tik</a> she imbibes in order to deform her baby and receive the state’s <a href="https://www.gov.za/services/services-residents/parenting/child-care/care-dependency-grant">disability allowance</a>. </p>
<p>However, all of these characters are shown to be capable of <a href="https://www.grocotts.co.za/2021/06/12/hope-inspiration-in-a-time-of-plague/">redemption and change</a>, as long as they adhere to Khulu’s wisdom – which is by no means a fixed regurgitation of “tradition” but a practical, living faith. So the resilience and strength of all the female characters shines through, as it does in Magona’s <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=lEwaBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16&dq=beauty%27s+gift+lizzy+attree+review&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvzLavsbfyAhU4RUEAHeMBBoQQ6AEwAHoECAoQAg#v=onepage&q=beauty's%20gift%20lizzy%20attree%20review&f=false">celebrated 2008 novel</a> <em><a href="https://readinglist.click/sub/new-edition-of-sindiwe-magonas-classic-novel-beautys-gift-out-now-with-a-new-essay-by-the-author/">Beauty’s Gift</a></em>. </p>
<h2>A devastating critique</h2>
<p>On a wider allegorical level the novel reads as a critique of South Africa itself, the impact of colonialism and the ruling African National Congress (ANC), who have harmed the people through corruption and a failure to tackle inequality, stunting the growth of a healthy, prosperous nation.</p>
<p>Explicit critique of the government and particularly government handouts which do nothing to really alleviate poverty, but just entrench feelings of helplessness, is evident throughout the novel. </p>
<p>Magona makes incisive judgements, through her characters – especially the elder Khulu and young Mandla – and offers possible solutions, which include honouring the earth and returning to self-sufficiency. This idealism can feel naïve at times but there’s something very seductive and straightforward about the self-care, and self-respect that comes from citizens helping themselves and transforming their communities from within.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-from-the-story-of-pioneering-south-african-writer-sindiwe-magona-155670">Learning from the story of pioneering South African writer Sindiwe Magona</a>
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<p>Towards the end, the book tips into a kind of disabled girls’ manifesto or set of instructions for how to set up community-based support for disabled and marginalised young people. However Magona expertly shifts the narrative at that point back to a dialogue with the ancestors and manages to transform the didactic elements of the tale into wisdom that reaches up to the present day and the threat of COVID-19. </p>
<p>Very recent commentary on the difficulties of enforcing social distancing in communities which rely on food parcels during the pandemic, forcing locals to gather together to collect much needed help, is painful to read. The mistakes are so preventable and obvious and yet are made time and again.</p>
<h2>The prophecy</h2>
<p>Most interesting to me is the way in which the novel manages to balance the re-introduction of neglected female initiation rites alongside the magic realism of Mandla’s prediction of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike the 15-year-old Xhosa prophetess <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/nongqawuse">Nongqawuse</a>’s 19th century prophecy – which led to a millennial movement that culminated in the cattle-killing and famine of 1856-7 – Mandla’s foretelling that “the world will die”, comes true, although perhaps not on the scale the “voices” decreed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The ground will not be able to swallow all the dead!</p>
<p>O-oh! The multitudinous dead!</p>
<p>There will be none left to bury the dead.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In many respects this prediction blurs, in my mind, with the scale of the <a href="https://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/sub-saharan-africa/south-africa">HIV/AIDS pandemic</a> that killed more than 2 million South Africans, with 7.7 million currently infected with HIV. Magona has written searingly on this topic before. </p>
<p>Once again excoriating the corruption and failures of government, the Fields of Hope project, which young Mandla initiates to grow food for the township, shines like a beacon when “what government help does for the poor is cement them in poverty… Here comes help that is real!” </p>
<p>Ending on a shockingly blunt and abrupt note, Magona leaves us, as always, with a lot to think about.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166186/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lizzy Attree does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The shocking story at the centre of When the Village Sleeps is as heartbreaking as it is - ultimately - full of hope.Lizzy Attree, Adjunct Professor, Richmond American International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1645812021-07-21T13:12:19Z2021-07-21T13:12:19ZCOVID-19 pandemic has triggered a rise in hunger in South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411638/original/file-20210716-17-1o313pn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Dino Lloyd/Gallo Images via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recent <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-07-14-fighting-to-stay-alive-in-a-broken-country-no-jobs-no-food-breed-contempt-for-the-law/">political and social unrest</a> across parts of South Africa has again brought to the fore the <a href="https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/530481521735906534/overcoming-poverty-and-inequality-in-south-africa-an-assessment-of-drivers-constraints-and-opportunities">deep structural problems</a> faced by the nation. These include high levels of poverty for an upper-middle income country, largely due to extreme income inequality, which means that a large segment of the population is much poorer than the average, and massive unemployment.</p>
<p>Hunger is another feature of South Africa’s inequality that has become pertinent in the current socio-political climate. Hunger is of course subjective, but questions on hunger are widely used in short surveys to measure respondents’ food situation. Many commentators have <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-07-14-fighting-to-stay-alive-in-a-broken-country-no-jobs-no-food-breed-contempt-for-the-law/">pointed to this</a> as one of the underlying causes of the unrest. We do not propose that hunger is the cause of the current social upheaval. But, taken along with other deep-rooted structural inequalities, it provides additional fuel for socio-political conflagration.</p>
<p>We have recently <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-faces-mass-hunger-if-efforts-to-offset-impact-of-covid-19-are-eased-143143">investigated hunger</a> in the time of COVID-19 as part of the National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (<a href="https://cramsurvey.org/">NIDS-CRAM</a>). This nationally representative panel survey of 7,000 South Africans aimed to provide rapid data on key outcomes such as unemployment, household income, child hunger and access to government grants. </p>
<p><a href="https://cramsurvey.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/13.-Van-der-Berg-S.-Patel-L-and-Bridgeman-G.-2021-Food-insecurity-in-South-Africa-%E2%80%93-Evidence-from-NIDS-CRAM-Wave-5.pdf">Our research</a> appeared as a working paper based on the survey released in early July. Our findings suggest that <a href="https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-health/interventions-resources/food-insecurity#1">hunger and food insecurity</a> – the disruption of food intake or eating patterns because of lack of money and other resources – have increased in South Africa due to the pandemic. In 2019, just before the outbreak, a <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0318/P03182019.pdf">national household survey</a> found that 11% of households had gone hungry in the past year. The most recent NIDS-CRAM survey showed that 15% of respondents experienced this in the week before they were interviewed. </p>
<p>This increase followed a period of nearly 20 years during which hunger levels declined. The introduction of the child support grant <a href="https://www.sassa.gov.za/Pages/Child-Support-Grant.aspx">in 1998</a> was a major reason why South Africa made progress. <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0318/P03182019.pdf">Data</a> for the period 2002 to 2019 showed a halving of hunger among <a href="https://cramsurvey.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Van-der-Berg-Coronavirus-Lockdown-and-Children-1.pdf">children</a> as well as adults.</p>
<p>But while hunger had declined, food quality remained a major problem. This is evident from the fact that <a href="https://cramsurvey.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Van-der-Berg-Coronavirus-Lockdown-and-Children-1.pdf">stunting remained higher</a>. </p>
<p>While the rollout of the child support grant and moderate economic growth caused the decline in hunger in the early 2000s, this decline slowed after the 2008 financial recession. </p>
<p>The economic shock caused by the pandemic and lockdowns changed the situation dramatically and reversed the decline. Moreover, the NIDS-CRAM surveys showed that hunger now appears to have stabilised at new levels. </p>
<h2>Tracking impact</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://cramsurvey.org/">NIDS-CRAM</a> study was introduced to meet the need for nationally representative data on South Africans’ socio-economic situation. It was done telephonically in all <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/chp01.html">11 of the country’s official languages</a>, with a broadly nationally representative sample that was interviewed five times. </p>
<p>This gave researchers a perspective on changing circumstances at a time of great volatility. The survey filled a specific need for up-to-date and nationally representative data to inform the policy process, at a time of crisis. </p>
<p>The panel survey attempted to reach the same respondents on five occasions. The <a href="https://cramsurvey.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Wills-household-resource-flows-and-food-poverty-during-South-Africa%E2%80%99s-lockdown-2.pdf">first</a> set of interviews was in May and June 2020, shortly after a <a href="https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/president-ramaphosa-announces-nationwide-lockdown">hard lockdown</a> was implemented. </p>
<p>Respondents in each of the series of interviews were asked questions about hunger in the seven days before the interviews, as well whether they had had enough money for food in the month before the interviews. This allowed us to get a perspective on how the situation of respondents and their households was changing.</p>
<p>In all five surveys, we found levels of hunger to be higher than before the first lockdown.</p>
<p>Initially, during the first set of interview, many respondents indicated that they had run out of money for food, yet hunger affected fewer households. This may indicate that some households managed to make ends meet in some way, at least to ease hunger. We found some improvement in the second period of data collection in July and August, after the first hard lockdown had ended. This was because of the partial economic recovery, top-ups of existing social grants, and the introduction of the new <a href="https://www.gov.za/services/social-benefits/social-relief-distress">Social Relief of Distress</a> grant and <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_documents/Covid%2019%20TERS%20Easy%20Aid.pdf">Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme</a>. </p>
<p>Food support by government, NGOs and faith-based and community organisations also helped. </p>
<p>But these positive effects did not last. </p>
<h2>High hunger levels</h2>
<p>As the figure below shows, food insecurity in terms of not having enough money for food has declined since the first lockdown. It was considerably lower in March 2021 than in April 2020. The initial strong decline was also mirrored in both household and child hunger.</p>
<p>This was likely the effect of some improvement in the economy, and also government’s decision to top up the grants, the introduction of new grants and other measures to provide support.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411460/original/file-20210715-13-pemy51.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411460/original/file-20210715-13-pemy51.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411460/original/file-20210715-13-pemy51.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411460/original/file-20210715-13-pemy51.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411460/original/file-20210715-13-pemy51.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411460/original/file-20210715-13-pemy51.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411460/original/file-20210715-13-pemy51.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Authors' own calculations from NIDS-CRAM data.</span></span>
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<p>In more recent interviews of our study, there has been a decline in households running out of money for food – but no decline in hunger levels. </p>
<h2>Underlying factors</h2>
<p>In an attempt to manage government debt as well as the need to prioritise public health spending, the government began the staggered phasing out of emergency social assistance and social insurance from October 2020.</p>
<p>By the end of April 2021, <a href="https://cramsurvey.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/13.-Van-der-Berg-S.-Patel-L-and-Bridgeman-G.-2021-Food-insecurity-in-South-Africa-%E2%80%93-Evidence-from-NIDS-CRAM-Wave-5.pdf">all forms of emergency assistance had ceased</a>. Social grant increases that were below inflation in April 2021 also eroded their value. This was coupled with declining levels of food relief for poor households provided by government, NGOs and community support systems. </p>
<p>The National School Nutrition Programme has <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-07-06-a-year-later-and-pupils-are-still-going-hungry-despite-court-order-to-reinstate-national-school-nutrition-programme/">not been operational</a> in many parts of the country. This weakened the safety net. Millions of people were left destitute while <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/Media%20release%20QLFS%20Q1%202021.pdf">unemployment was rising</a>. </p>
<p>Despite the small monetary value of the Social Relief of Distress grant (R350 or about US$24 a month), it expanded temporary access to close to 6 million unemployed people who were not eligible for unemployment benefits and the Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme. These benefits ceased at the end of April 2021.</p>
<p>Researchers <a href="http://www.dpru.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/images/36/News_articles/DPRU%20WP%20202108.pdf">estimate</a> that without the special distress relief grant over the past 12 months, poverty would have been 5% higher among the poorest households and income inequality would have been between 1.3% and 6.3% higher. Moreover, the grant <a href="http://www.dpru.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/image_tool/images/36/News_articles/DPRU%20WP%20202108.pdf">increased the likelihood</a> of searching for a job by 25 percentage points.</p>
<p>These underlying factors might explain much of the frustration that is being expressed in communities across the country. It also shows that social protection and emergency assistance can have important stabilising effects on families and communities.</p>
<p>Without these measures, hunger would undoubtedly have been worse, with potential long-term consequences for children’s development and for social cohesion.</p>
<p><em>Grace Bridgman, a PhD candidate at Stellenbosch University focusing on spatial inequality, child hunger and development economics, was part of the research team.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164581/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Servaas van der Berg receives funding from the National Research Foundation and undertakes research for various government departments.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leila Patel receives funding from the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation for her Chair in Welfare and Social Development. </span></em></p>Hunger is not the cause of the current social upheaval. But, taken along with other deep-rooted structural inequalities, it provides additional fuel for socio-political conflagration.Servaas van der Berg, Professor of Economics and South African Research Chair in the Economics of Social Policy, Stellenbosch UniversityLeila Patel, Professor of Social Development Studies, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1575372021-03-29T14:44:08Z2021-03-29T14:44:08ZLandmark study shows how child grants empower women in Brazil and South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391480/original/file-20210324-13-9o4x3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C458%2C2955%2C1535&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Grants were found to help improve the health, including mental health, of women</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE-EPA/Aaron Ufumeli</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the mid-1990s, new approaches to poverty reduction have been introduced in countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Some have involved income transfer programmes that target poorer citizens based on various means tests. Most have targeted female caregivers, primarily mothers.</p>
<p>The most expansive child and family grants are in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and South Africa, which has put in place the biggest social provision net in <a href="https://www.unicef.org/french/files/Social_Protection_for_Children_and_their_Families_-_A_Global_Overview.pdf">Africa</a>. </p>
<p>The focus of our study was on Brazil and South Africa, two of the countries that have the largest programmes globally. The programmes were all designed to enhance child welfare. But as academics who have studied social policy in these countries, we felt it was important to assess the impact of income transfer programmes that move beyond a focus on child well-being only. In particular, we set out to examine if such transfers also elevated women in their homes, societies and political systems.</p>
<p>We set <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1468018120981421">out to compare</a> South Africa’s <a href="https://www.sassa.gov.za/Pages/Child-Support-Grant.aspx">child support grant</a> and Brazil’s <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---sro-new_delhi/documents/presentation/wcms_175274.pdf">Bolsa Família</a>. </p>
<p>Bolsa Família was launched in 2003 and is the largest cash transfer programme for children and families in the world, reaching more than <a href="https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/case-study/bolsa-familia-in-brazil">46 million people a year</a> in Brazil. The country has a population of <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/brazil-population/">212 million people</a>. </p>
<p>South Africa’s child support grant system was launched in 1998. It makes monthly disbursements to 12.8 million children of a total population of <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/south-africa-population/">59.6 million people</a>. </p>
<p>Though they have different population sizes, Brazil and South Africa have a great deal in common. They have similar economic profiles and demographic characteristics. For example, among other similarities, they have the highest <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/">levels of income inequality</a>. </p>
<p>We conducted fieldwork in Doornkop, <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/place/soweto">Soweto</a>, a large, densely populated black urban settlement which comprises one third of Johannesburg’s population. We also looked at three municipalities across two states of Northeast Brazil. </p>
<p>We <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1468018120981421">found</a> that regular income assistance boosted the self-esteem and agency of women recipients in both countries. Our findings also underscored the added benefits of Brazil’s cash transfer programme because it is embedded in a stronger public health and social service network than is the case in South Africa. </p>
<p>The broader lesson we took from our findings was that income transfer programmes must operate in deliberate coordination with ancillary social service institutions to deliver the maximum benefits for women’s empowerment.</p>
<h2>Three dimensions of empowerment</h2>
<p>Our analysis centred on the impact of child and family cash transfers on three dimensions of empowerment. </p>
<p>First, whether adult women beneficiaries experienced heightened independence in financial decision making; second, whether they experienced enhanced control over their bodies; and, finally, whether they experienced psycho-social growth. </p>
<p>This was a departure from the way in which empowerment is usually conceptualised in academic research where the focus tends to be on how and whether gendered norms are changing. Instead, inspired by economist and philosopher <a href="http://heterodoxnews.com/ajes/readings/Sen1999-intro.pdf">Amartya Sen</a>, we viewed empowerment as the expansion of assets and capabilities that give women more control over their lives, enhancing agency to eliminate inequities and to unleash greater freedoms.</p>
<p>We listened closely to the voices of women recipients, in focus groups, individual conversations and surveys. </p>
<p>In the case of Bolsa Família, we also set out to understand the broader context in which the child support grant system connected with other social services. Brazil attaches conditions to its child support grants. These include children having to attend school regularly, children under five receiving standard immunisations and prenatal care for pregnant women. </p>
<p>To cover all these bases we interviewed teachers and principals, social workers and primary health care officials. </p>
<p>In South Africa, grant receipt is largely unconditional, except that a child should attend school. We assessed the impact of the child support grant on a range of social and economic indicators such as school attendance, access to health and other services, food security, income and livelihoods and women’s empowerment. </p>
<h2>Enhancing women’s status</h2>
<p>Our findings suggest the social grants triggered positive dynamics for women’s empowerment in both countries, even though the programmes were not intended for this purpose. </p>
<p>For example, the cash transfers contributed to advancing the standing of women beneficiaries. We found that:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>women were more able to meet basic needs, which reduced stress because they were better able to cope with the precariousness of living in poverty;</p></li>
<li><p>most women recipients experienced heightened financial control and decision making vis-à-vis their partners. They withdrew the money themselves and exercised control over spending decisions; </p></li>
<li><p>the grants helped boost self esteem and agency. Beneficiaries in both countries reported an increased sense of status in their communities.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In both countries the grants helped reduce poverty levels, particularly among the lower quintile of earners. Both systems helped reduce the depth of poverty among female versus male-headed households.</p>
<p>But it was also clear that Bolsa Família went further than the child support grant in some key areas. For example, it induced beneficiaries to get basic identity documents, which <a href="https://www.unicef.org/southafrica/media/1226/file/ZAF-removing-barriers-to-accessing-child-grants-2016.pdf">improved access to a wider system of health and social work services</a>. Having documents also meant that women could better navigate bureaucracies and gave them a sense of social recognition and hope. </p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>The findings suggest that social grants can unleash positive dynamics for women’s empowerment even though the programmes were not intended for this purpose. Cash transfers don’t in and of themselves transform gender roles. Nevertheless, they help improve the standing of women beneficiaries in important ways. These include increasing social recognition, reducing levels of poverty and increasing financial control, decision making and agency. </p>
<p>But there are areas in which both Brazil and South Africa could improve. Cash transfers need to be combined with active labour market policies that boost job creation, livelihoods support and social services to enhance the economic inclusion of women. </p>
<p>There need to be skills and training programmes, as well as the provision of childcare and transportation.</p>
<p>Finally, our findings point to the need for South Africa to emulate Brazil by getting other government ministries and agencies on board to coordinate the delivery of other social services alongside the grants to boost results.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157537/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leila Patel receives funding from the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation for her Chair in Welfare and Social Development.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natasha Borges Sugiyama and Wendy Hunter do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Findings show that income transfer programmes must operate in deliberate coordination with ancillary social service institutions to deliver the maximum benefits for women’s empowerment.Leila Patel, Professor of Social Development Studies, University of JohannesburgNatasha Borges Sugiyama, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-MilwaukeeWendy Hunter, Professor of Government, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1352222020-03-31T13:17:12Z2020-03-31T13:17:12ZSouth Africa can – and should – top up child support grants to avoid a humanitarian crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324246/original/file-20200331-65495-ytcf9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Millions of poor South Africans rely on social grants, including the child support grant, just to survive.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa’s COVID-19 <a href="https://theconversation.com/reality-of-exponential-growth-of-covid-19-shows-south-africas-lockdown-is-right-134572">lockdown</a> is likely to have a devastating impact on the incomes of workers and their dependants. There is broad agreement that the lockdown is a necessary public health response. But the economic damage that it will do to the poor needs to be addressed urgently. </p>
<p>We project that, in the absence of an intervention targeted at <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/03-19-05/03-19-052018.pdf">vulnerable</a> households, the extreme poverty rate among these <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0318/P03182018.pdf">households</a> will almost triple.</p>
<p>Fortunately, the South African state has access to a vast <a href="https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/social-grants-increased">social grant infrastructure</a> that allows it to immediately reach most of the poorest households. The country already distributes <a href="https://www.sassa.gov.za/annual%20reports/Documents/SASSA%20Annual%20Report%202018-2019.pdf">18 million grants every month</a> and 12.5 million of these are child support grants.</p>
<p>To support precarious households that are unable to access existing relief during this lockdown and its aftermath, the South African government should implement a temporary increase – a “top-up” – in the value of the existing <a href="https://www.gov.za/services/child-care-social-benefits/child-support-grant">child support grant</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-escalation-measures-combat-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-23-mar">relief measures</a> announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa are mostly aimed at supporting South African households by expanding unemployment insurance via the Unemployment Insurance Fund, and by offering relief to tax-registered businesses. </p>
<p>However, based on our own calculations we estimate that about 45% of South African workers are not eligible for relief from the fund. Under existing measures, nearly 8 million workers, and the 13 million additional household members whom they support, will be left without relief. </p>
<p>Across the world governments have taken extraordinary actions to support workers and households during the COVID-19 pandemic. They have done so because they recognise that these actions are necessary to prevent an even more catastrophic economic and humanitarian crisis. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-one-size-fits-all-approach-to-covid-19-could-have-lethal-consequences-134252">Why a one-size-fits-all approach to COVID-19 could have lethal consequences</a>
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<p>Some <a href="http://www.ugogentilini.net/">84 countries</a> have implemented social protection programmes, a third of which rely on cash grants. They include Brazil and China. </p>
<p>South Africa should use its own existing social grant infrastructure to similarly protect vulnerable households. Supporting informal workers directly through unemployment benefits or new targeted grants would be extremely difficult. These workers are unregistered, untaxed and undocumented. A substantial top-up of the child support grant would put money directly into the hands of the hardest-hit households. It could do so immediately. </p>
<h2>Who would benefit from a top-up</h2>
<p>The child support grant reaches households that are not covered by existing relief. Using household survey data from the <a href="https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/dataportal/index.php/catalog/712">2017 National Income Dynamics Study</a>, we show in the graphic below (Figure 1) the percentage of individuals who are in a household that:</p>
<p>1) has a child support grant recipient but no informal workers (green bars), </p>
<p>2) has both a child support grant recipient and an informal worker (red bars), </p>
<p>3) has an informal worker but no child support grant recipient (blue bars) and </p>
<p>4) has neither a child support grant recipient nor an informal worker (grey bars). </p>
<p>Each bar then shows these percentages by income decile, with the poorest individuals on the left and the richest on the right. </p>
<p>The figure shows that in the poorest half of the population, the child support grant reaches 80% of individuals who are in informal worker households (the red bars are much bigger than the blue bars). </p>
<p>Additionally, the child grant benefits poor individuals the most and is well targeted to the most vulnerable. Of course the grant does not reach all informal-worker households. Many people who are on the <a href="https://www.econ3x3.org/article/socio-economic-class-south-africa-playing-snakes-and-ladders-loaded-dice">edge of poverty</a> are not covered by the grant and remain vulnerable.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324283/original/file-20200331-65514-1u55ct8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324283/original/file-20200331-65514-1u55ct8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324283/original/file-20200331-65514-1u55ct8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324283/original/file-20200331-65514-1u55ct8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324283/original/file-20200331-65514-1u55ct8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324283/original/file-20200331-65514-1u55ct8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324283/original/file-20200331-65514-1u55ct8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Calculated using NIDS 2017 by Bassier, Budlender, Leibbrandt, Ranchhod and Zizzamia.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We can also directly see how topping up the child grant will help those worst affected by the lockdown. Since the lockdown will last for an initial three weeks, we assume that workers who are not eligible for Unemployment Insurance Fund benefits will lose 75% of their monthly income. </p>
<p>The graphic below (Figure 2) shows the percentage changes in shared household incomes under various scenarios, but only for individuals who are in households that contain an informal worker. The red line shows the loss in income compared with the pre-lockdown scenario (black line). As can be seen from the figure, for the bottom six deciles we project about a 33% loss in per-person household incomes as informal incomes collapse. </p>
<p>An increase to the child grant will partially compensate the most vulnerable for this loss in income (green lines). For example, for the poorest 10% of individuals, we estimate that per-person household income will decrease by 45%. If a child grant top-up of R500 is implemented, this fall in incomes is much less – now only 10% less than pre-lockdown incomes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324284/original/file-20200331-65522-16p5snj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324284/original/file-20200331-65522-16p5snj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324284/original/file-20200331-65522-16p5snj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324284/original/file-20200331-65522-16p5snj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324284/original/file-20200331-65522-16p5snj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324284/original/file-20200331-65522-16p5snj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324284/original/file-20200331-65522-16p5snj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Calculated using NIDS 2017 by Bassier, Budlender, Leibbrandt, Ranchhod and Zizzamia.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Without a top-up, the projected loss in income will result in a devastating increase in poverty and food insecurity. </p>
<p>The last graphic (Figure 3) shows the projected changes in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-current-measures-underestimate-the-level-of-poverty-in-south-africa-46704">rate of extreme poverty</a> – the percentage of individuals with per person household income less than R580 per month – depending on what interventions are imposed. The four bars on the left of Figure 3 show the extreme poverty rate when looking at all South Africans. The four bars on the right show extreme poverty among individuals who have an informal worker in their households, in total, 21 million people.</p>
<p>The first two columns of Figure 3 show that the lockdown could lead to a 50% increase in the national rate of extreme poverty (seven percentage points). This means that an additional four million South Africans will be unable to afford enough food. For individuals in households that rely on income from informal work, the rate of extreme poverty will almost triple, from 10% to 26%. But as the green bars in Figure 3 show, a temporary top-up to the child support grant would immediately mitigate the impact on extreme poverty, with larger top-ups working better. </p>
<p>A top-up of R500 per month would reduce the national extreme poverty rate compared to pre-lockdown levels, while for those in informal-worker households the extreme poverty rate increases by just six percentage points, rather than 16 percentage points. A top-up of R250 per month, while certainly an improvement over the status quo, is not nearly as effective for informal-worker households.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324285/original/file-20200331-65514-1ranrh2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324285/original/file-20200331-65514-1ranrh2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324285/original/file-20200331-65514-1ranrh2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324285/original/file-20200331-65514-1ranrh2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324285/original/file-20200331-65514-1ranrh2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324285/original/file-20200331-65514-1ranrh2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324285/original/file-20200331-65514-1ranrh2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Calculated using NIDS 2017 by Bassier, Budlender, Leibbrandt, Ranchhod and Zizzamia.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Throughout this analysis we have assumed that the incomes of workers registered under the Unemployment Insurance Fund will not decrease during the lockdown. But with millions of workers likely to apply simultaneously, we might expect delays in payouts and other gaps in coverage. Any gaps only strengthen the case for topping up the child grant because it is well targeted to vulnerable households.</p>
<h2>Action is imperative</h2>
<p>While the lockdown may be a necessary measure, the South African government should use the tools that it has to mitigate the immense human suffering that the associated economic deprivation will cause. We estimate that increasing the child grant by R500 (per month) will cost the fiscus approximately R6.2 billion per month, which is certainly not a prohibitive cost. </p>
<p>An increase in the child grant would reach those especially vulnerable to the effects of the lockdown. It can be implemented immediately with the sophisticated infrastructure that already exists. And it would disproportionately benefit the poorest households. It would be a tragedy if the South African government chose to ignore such an achievable and effective policy option.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135222/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Josh Budlender receives funding from the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Murray Leibbrandt receives funding from the National Research Foundation, the United National University's World Institute for Development Economics Research, the Agence Française de Développement, UK Research and Innovation and the International Inequalities Institute of the London School of Economics. He is affiliated with the United National University's World Institute for Development Economics Research and the IZA-Institute for Labor Economics. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vimal Ranchhod receives funding from the Agence Française de Développement and the UK Research and Innovation fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ihsaan Bassier and Rocco Zizzamia do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To support precarious households that can’t access existing relief during lockdown and its aftermath, the government should implement a temporary increase in the value of the child support grant.Ihsaan Bassier, Phd candidate in Economics, UMass AmherstJoshua Budlender, PhD candidate in Economics, UMass AmherstMurray Leibbrandt, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Poverty and Inequality; NRF Chair in Poverty and Inequality Research; and Director of the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape TownRocco Zizzamia, DPhil candidate, International Development, University of OxfordVimal Ranchhod, Professor, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/784142017-06-06T14:53:37Z2017-06-06T14:53:37ZHow South Africa can fix the fact that one in four of its children go hungry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172430/original/file-20170606-3677-iy7w6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/PR84/PR84.pdf">most recent data</a> shows that 27.4% of South African children under the age of five are too short for their age or suffer from stunting. </p>
<p>Children are stunted when they don’t grow at an adequate rate. The <a href="http://www.who.int/childgrowth/en/">World Health Organisation</a> has height standards for various age cohorts and defines stunting as a “height for age” value which is less than two notches below the norm.</p>
<p>Stunting is a measure of chronic hunger and is a long-term indicator of under-nutrition. The survey shows that one in four children go hungry. It reflects the cumulative effects of poor socioeconomic, environmental, health and nutritional conditions.</p>
<p>Nutritional status is important for children both as they develop in their mother’s womb and during the first two years of their life. This is known as the “unique window of opportunity” for their later development. If deprived in this time the damage from this lack of growth is irreversible. </p>
<p>South Africa’s 2016 <a href="http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/PR84/PR84.pdf">Demographic and Health Survey</a> shows that stunting remains a national concern. At 27.4%, the stunting rate has remained the same since the last survey done in 2003. These are the highest recorded levels in the country.</p>
<p>In the intervening 13 years it was assumed that stunting was on the decline. This was based on other nutrition surveys which showed a drop in the rate. But the demographic survey suggests this is not the case. It shows that child hunger is not improving and may in fact be on the rise again.</p>
<p>We believe that there are two main reasons for the rise in stunting: poverty and malnutrition, which includes the fact that few mothers breastfeed their babies for six months as <a href="http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/exclusive_breastfeeding/en/">recommended</a> by the World Health Organisation as well the fact that the food they eat offers little nutrition. </p>
<p>Unless these two issues are tackled, South Africa’s stunting rates will continue to rise.</p>
<h2>The problem of poverty</h2>
<p>The demographic health survey confirms the connection between poverty and hunger. Children are stunted because their families do not have enough money to buy them enough healthy food. According to the study, 36% of children in the poorest 20% of households are stunted, compared to 13% of children in the richest 20% of households. </p>
<p>It’s no coincidence that country’s <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=9561">unemployment rate is 27%</a>. Unemployed adults cannot feed their hungry children.</p>
<p>To address the issue of poverty and hunger, the South African government introduced a social grant system – which included a child support grant – in 1996. </p>
<p>The grants have had a <a href="https://www.unicef.org/evaldatabase/index_69960.html">positive impact</a> on the lives of poor people. Most poor people spend their additional income on basic needs, starting with food. </p>
<p>The child support grant reaches 12 million children. But the monthly payout of R380 per child is not sufficient to meet nutritional needs. </p>
<p>Research by the <a href="http://foodsecurity.ac.za/working-papers">Centre of Excellence in Food Security</a> has found that grants are put to number of different “uses”, including food, groceries, clothing, education and transport. There are also many “users” including unemployed family members, who do not receive any social assistance from the state. </p>
<p>For the child support grant to have a greater impact on the health of young children, policies that target resources to other members of the household will need to be considered. These include universal grants such as the long proposed <a href="https://theconversation.com/basic-income-for-all-could-lift-millions-out-of-poverty-and-change-how-we-think-about-inequality-53030">Basic Income Grant</a>, or family grants such as Brazil’s <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/opinion/2013/11/04/bolsa-familia-Brazil-quiet-revolution">Bolsa Familia</a>. </p>
<h2>Malnutrition</h2>
<p>There are other drivers of malnutrition. One is poor childcare practices, such as not breastfeeding infants exclusively for the first six months. </p>
<p>Until recently South Africa had one of the world’s lowest rates of exclusive breastfeeding. The demographic health survey reported that this figure has risen from fourfold, from 8% in 2003 to 32% in 2016. This is extremely encouraging. </p>
<p>But the fact that the nutrition status of children hasn’t improved suggests that other factors are driving South Africa’s malnutrition rates.</p>
<p>Other options may be poor sanitation in dense settlements which result in frequent diarrhoea, or simply not getting sufficient nourishing food both during pregnancy and after being born. </p>
<p>The country can help improve the nutritional quality of food. It produces sufficient food and has adequate scientific knowledge to produce, process and distribute safe and healthy food. </p>
<p>Options already introduced in South Africa include <a href="http://www.foodfacts.org.za/Articles/FoodFortification.asp">food fortification</a> by adding vitamins and minerals, and dietary supplements. Food fortification improves the nutritional quality of the food supply and provides a public health benefit with minimal risk to health.</p>
<p>About 90% of wheat flour and 70% of maize meal on the market is fortified with vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine, folic acid, iron and zinc. </p>
<p>In addition, children can also get a Vitamin A <a href="http://www.adsa.org.za/Portals/14/Documents/DOH/Vit%20A%20policy%20guidelines%20OF%20S%20A%20-%20recent_1.pdf">supplement syrup</a> at the clinic every six months until they are five-years-old.</p>
<p>But the effect of these interventions isn’t being fully realised because many of these programmes have been <a href="http://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/661/ZP_Resources/fsp-research-paper-sa-case-study-22-august-2016.zp96264.pdf">poorly designed and implemented</a>.</p>
<h2>Getting the basics right</h2>
<p>Ultimately children living in poor households need to be supported by adults with jobs. They need caregivers who are not trying to stretch a comparatively small grant over the multiple needs of their families. And they need environments in which food can be safely prepared and consumed.</p>
<p>Bringing food to the mouths of children in South Africa requires action by all parts of society: its elected representatives, employers and food activists.</p>
<p>A convergence of science and policy is what is really needed, along with better cohesion, and better coordination at all levels of government.</p>
<p>The fact that one in every four children in South Africa go hungry should indeed be of national concern. The reality is that if nothing is done about it, it will only get worse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78414/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian May receives funding from the South African National Research Foundation and the World Bank</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Devereux receives funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa and the Newton Fund through the British Council.</span></em></p>Tackling the challenge of stunting in South Africa needs a convergence of science and policy along with better coordination at all levels of government.Julian May, Director DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security, University of the Western CapeStephen Devereux, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/775052017-05-17T19:26:20Z2017-05-17T19:26:20ZKids on social grants are less likely to be obese. They also go to school earlier<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169129/original/file-20170512-3652-3q45ld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Enrolling children in in pre-school is essential for their development.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cusd/8208379556/">Flickr</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Children whose parents or caregivers receive South Africa’s child support grant are less likely to be overweight or suffer from obesity. They’re also more likely to attend pre-school than those whose households don’t get a grant. </p>
<p>These are the key findings from our study, which looked at how children who received the child support grant fared with those who didn’t receive the grant. The study focused on children aged five to 14 years old.</p>
<p>Health, education and an adequate standard of living is central to <a href="https://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf">a child’s development</a>, enabling them to become productive members of society in later years of life.</p>
<p>South Africa’s child support grant is the country’s <a href="https://www.unicef.org/southafrica/SAF_resources_csg2012book.pdf">most successful</a> poverty alleviating intervention. Almost <a href="http://www.childrencount.org.za/indicator.php?id=2&indicator=10">12 million children</a> live with caregivers who receive R380 a month to meet basic needs. These include access to health care, education and an adequate standard of living.</p>
<p>South Africa’s social security system is one of the most advanced and wide reaching in the developing world, similar in range and impact to Brazil’s cash transfer programme. </p>
<p>A large body of evidence has shown the positive effects of South Africa’s social grants. To determine them, our study looked at two measures among children whose caregivers received the grant: their health in the form of their Body Mass Index (BMI), and their enrolment in education. BMI is the measure of body fat based on weight in relation to height. It can be used as an indicator of obesity – <a href="https://www.gems.gov.za/default.aspx?jHVyCDsvs4U4gesx1Tp6ww==">a growing problem</a> in many parts of the world, including South Africa. </p>
<p>We found that children whose caregivers received the grant were more likely to have a normal BMI than those who didn’t and therefore less likely to be overweight or obese. And their caregivers were more likely to enrol them in pre-primary schools than those not receiving the grant.</p>
<p>This adds to the body of knowledge showing that the grant <a href="http://www.ci.org.za/depts/ci/pubs/pdf/general/gauge2016/Child_Gauge_2016-children_count_income_poverty_unemployment.pdf">enables</a> caregivers to make healthier food choices and provides them with the means to send their children to school earlier. </p>
<h2>Disadvantaged children</h2>
<p>Early enrolment in education and obesity are both big challenges in South Africa. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/in-south-africa-childhood-hunger-and-obesity-live-side-by-side-43805">Obesity</a> is not only the manifestation of overeating. It can also be caused by eating food that has poor nutritional value and is high in fats and sugar. </p>
<p>Overweight children have a <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-south-africa-childhood-hunger-and-obesity-live-side-by-side-43805">greater risk</a> of developing lifestyle diseases such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease later in life. In South Africa childhood obesity is increasing. More than a quarter of children between the ages of two and 14 years are obese. In our study, 9% of children who received the child support grant were obese compared to 12% who did not. </p>
<p>At the same time, <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-05-17-suffer-the-children-sas-inequality-strikes-hardest-where-it-hurts-the-most/">63% of children</a> younger than 18 live below the poverty line. And <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-child-malnutrition-is-still-a-problem-in-south-africa-22-years-into-democracy-60224">close to 30%</a> of children younger than three are stunted. Stunting is a result of under-nutrition, which in turn hampers the way a child’s brain develops.</p>
<p>Research shows that children living in poverty and who are stunted <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(16)30266-2/fulltext">go to school later</a>. Our findings show that children whose caregivers received the child support grant were more likely to enrol in early childhood development programmes. </p>
<p>It also found that the impact of the grant on child health and education was evident despite household circumstances such as income poverty and limited access to basic services. </p>
<p>We analysed data collected as part of the <a href="http://www.nids.uct.ac.za/">National Income Dynamics Survey</a>. a government funded study that’s repeated every two to three years. </p>
<p>The findings showed that in addition to the child support grant, other factors also influenced children’s development. For example, basic services such as water and electricity were also linked to the early educational enrolment and better child health. This confirms previous <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/departments/education-and-skills-development/timsssa">research</a>. </p>
<p>Our findings are also in line with studies in Latin America about the benefit of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-brazil-can-teach-the-world-about-tackling-child-malnutrition-64652">Brazilian Bolsa Familia</a> – a conditional cash transfer programme that requires families to comply with certain health and education conditions before getting the grant. </p>
<h2>Added services are a must</h2>
<p>The South African government has highlighted the importance of access to quality early stimulation, education and care for all children. Our research shows that this is becoming a reality for children who receive the child support grant, with likely positive long-term benefits.</p>
<p>On top of this there’s growing evidence that grants reduce poverty and inequality. This is because they enable money to be spent on higher quality food and school related expenses. This means that children stay in school.</p>
<p>Our study also confirms <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-brazil-can-teach-the-world-about-tackling-child-malnutrition-64652">global evidence</a> that social grants need to be accompanied by basic services to ensure that all children are given the opportunity to develop optimally.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77505/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Child support grants are an income resource that enables caregivers to make healthier food choices and provide the means to send their children to school earlier.Jenita Chiba, Researcher, University of JohannesburgJacqueline Moodley, Researcher, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.