Employment creation through the provision of social development services: exploring the options

Abstract

The high unemployment rate in South Africa is a central concern of policy makers. Because there are only a few substantial labour intensive industries, led by the private sector, it has become essential to explore other less mainstream avenues for employment creation. The role of public works programmes has historically focused on the infrastructure sector, but the Expanded Public Works Programme includes the social sector. The government has at its disposal a strong policy instrument – the provision of a range of services to meet basic needs – and so could, in the medium term, create a large number of jobs through social development services, the demand for which vastly exceeds their provision. Basic social development needs programmes target a large number of unskilled unemployed and promise the possibility of affordable employment creation. Such programmes include Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Home and Community Based Care (HCBC) as identified by the Social Sector Plan. This article explores these options.

1. Introduction

A critical situation has developed in South Africa with regard to its high unemployment figures. The most recent Labour Force Survey (Statistics SA, 2005) estimates an unemployment rate of 26,2 per cent (4,1 million people) in terms of the ‘strict’ definition, and 41,2 per cent (8,1 million people) if the ‘expanded’ definition is used. This definition includes ‘discouraged workers’ – those who would like to work but have stopped looking for work, often because they have been unemployed for such a long time that they have given up. Although the ‘strict’ definition is the officially accepted measure internationally, discouragement has a substantial racial and rural bias in South Africa and so should not be ignored.

There is a distinct age dimension with regard to the 3,9 million discouraged work seekers included in the expanded definition of unemployment. More than two-thirds (71,7 per cent) are between the ages of 15 and 34 years. According to the strict definition, 73,9 per cent of the unemployed fall into this age category. Furthermore, three-quarters (75,9 per cent) of the people who indicated that they have never had access to a job opportunity in their life are between the ages of 15 and 30 years. In terms of attained education, the group most vulnerable to unemployment in the expanded unemployment definition is black women – more than a third (37 per cent) of the unemployed who hold a qualification lower than Grade 12 are black women. According to the strict definition, 29 per cent of black women as well as 29,2 per cent of black men hold a qualification lower than Grade 12.

Unemployment has economic, social and psychological consequences. The unemployed are not part of the structure that enables people to earn a living, feel productive and part of economic development, and experience positive feelings about being engaged in activities that they enjoy, i.e. living out vocational interests. Whether the causes of their unemployment are at the macro-economic (structural problems in an economy) or micro-economic (for example, individual lack of appropriate qualifications or skills) levels, it would be normal to expect that unemployment would affect not only households and societies in economic terms but also individuals' overall wellbeing.

As unemployment is a central contributing factor to household poverty and vulnerability, designing policy measures to create employment has become a central concern of government. The goal is to halve unemployment by 2014. When this target was set in 2003, the official unemployment rate was 28,5 per cent. The government has decided to base its target on the strict definition of unemployment, which yields a substantially smaller target than the expanded definition, including people who consider themselves to be unemployed but are not actively looking for jobs. While many are of the view that the expanded definition is a more accurate depiction of the extent of South Africa's unemployment crisis, nevertheless the strict definition is used by the government. Such a target would require an unemployment rate of about 14,3 per cent to be reached by 2014. To reach that goal, the economy needs to generate about five million new jobs between 2003 and 2014 – an average of about 450 000 new jobs every year. This should be weighed against an average of 120 000 jobs created annually between 1996 and 2002 (Altman, 2004).

The formal economy shows an escalating tendency towards capital intensity. It has few existing labour-intensive industries of a substantial size in which the private sector plays a leading role, so it is necessary to explore less orthodox channels for employment creation. The government is well placed to achieve its objective, because it has at its disposal a key policy tool which influences the nature and pace of employment creation in certain industries: the direct provision and procurement of a range of goods and services.

The impact of public works in creating immediate short-term job opportunities is often debated. It is now a given that public works will form an important element of the government's strategy for creating jobs. Another important tool for expanding output and employment is to meet the basic needs for social development services. In the context of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), the proposals in the Social Sector Plan 2004/5–2008/9 for the Departments of Social Development, Education and Health reflect this view (DSD, DoE & DoH, 2004). Yet at this stage there is no evidence that the government is trying to create jobs through social development services.

2. Public works programmes and employment: What the international evidence tells US

Public works programmes (PWPs) exist in both developed and developing countries. These programmes are a sign of the need to challenge and eliminate the causes of both poverty and unemployment. They were initially introduced as intervention strategies in crisis situations such as famine and drought. Indeed, in the United Kingdom they were commonly known as anti-famine programmes, because their main objective was to mitigate the consequences of famine. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, public works programmes were seen as key policy instruments for reviving and accelerating the recovery of the market-based and transition economies. The International Labour Organisation (ILO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank facilitated most of the public works programmes in the 1950s and 1960s. They used public works programmes as development strategies for dealing with both the adverse consequences of structural adjustment and the transition of centrally planned economies to market-based economies. Consequently, ILO and World Bank-sponsored public works programmes have been widely implemented as poverty alleviation measures in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan and Southern Africa.

Programmes vary from country to country. They are designed specifically for the uniqueness of the milieu, and the purpose, scope, content, design and implementation of programmes must be crafted to suit the particular milieu. In developed economies, the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in the labour market, namely the long-term unemployed, are targeted, and public works programmes are thus designed as tools to rectify the long-term unemployment malaise. In developing countries, however, the alleviation of poverty is the central theme of these programmes, and thus the creation of direct employment for the poor is the central goal (Gaude et al., 1984, 1987; Derjadin, 1996; Meager & Evans, 1998; Keddeman, 1998; Chapple, 1999; Pierre, 1999; Larsen, 2000; Chirwa et al., 2002).

In the 1970s, public works programmes in developing countries, particularly in Africa and Asia, were integrated into mainstream policy instruments. Specialised public works programmes created for and undertaken in the rural areas of developing countries included the implementation of labour-intensive employment projects such as soil conservation, road construction, road repair and maintenance, irrigation and water supply, and other social infrastructure (Gaude et al., 1984: 203).

In the late 1980s and mid-1990s developing countries in sub-Saharan and southern Africa, including Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi, Cape Verde, Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania, implemented many public works schemes such as those mentioned above. These were defined policy procedures introduced to alleviate poverty (Gaude et al., 1987; Keddeman, 1998; Pierre, 1999; McCutcheon, 2001; Chirwa et al., 2002; Adato & Haddad, 2002; McCord, 2003a).

The objectives of public works programmes are multifaceted, but the central goals are the creation of employment and the alleviation of poverty. These programmes ‘can act as a shock treatment, creating a substantial number of mainly unskilled jobs for the totally unemployed, or those underemployed for part of the year. These programmes help populations cope with emergency situations such as in times of disasters (floods, drought) and acute political and social crises’ (Derjadin, 1996: 2). They have four main objectives: job creation, poverty alleviation, skills formation and asset creation.

The immediate and core objective of public works programmes is direct employment. This is the case the world over. The only element which differs is the target group. Jobs are typically created through labour-intensive production techniques. Direct wage employment is the result of the direct job creation schemes of public works programmes, whereas labour-based employment creation is usually generated through the implementation of public works projects in, inter alia, the infrastructure and the environmental and agricultural sectors (Gaude et al., 1984; Derjadin, 1996). Derjadin argues that infrastructure is a major economic sector in less developed countries. Infrastructure is the recipient of large donor funding and government expenditure. This enhances the employment/income-generating or poverty-alleviating capacity and potential of labour-intensive public works projects.

The extent to which public works projects improve the standard of living of disadvantaged sectors of a population depends on many complex and varied factors arising from the objectives, design and implementation of the projects. This is evident from the international literature in which the outcomes of public works programmes have been evaluated.

3. South African context: History of public works programmes

Only since the 1980s has any literature which evaluates public works programmes in South Africa been published. Between 1980 and 1994, the efficacy of public works programmes in creating jobs and alleviating poverty was hindered by unsystematic and uncoordinated programme design and implementation. This also applies to the Community Based Public Works Programmes (CBPWPs) that followed after 1994: ‘Very little sustainable employment was created. The assets constructed were not cost-effective, were of doubtful value and were poorly maintained, and often the end results have disappeared’ (McCutcheon, 2001: 277).

The following have been identified as the main reasons for the failure of these programmes: national, provincial and local institutional capacity building was limited; internal planning, data collection, monitoring and control were severely lacking; independent evaluation was notable for its absence; much of the expenditure failed to reach the main target group, the poor; individual skills were not improved; and training, where given, was not appropriate or focused. Thus the results of these programmes were disappointing. There was a distinct lack of institutional and management capacity to design and implement them effectively.

The creation of labour-intensive employment in the 1990s was, however, firmly entrenched in the African National Congress's (ANC's) Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). This embraced participatory and sustainable development, which was designed to redress apartheid-created disparities. The role of the RDP was to link reconstruction and development through a coordinated and effective public works programme (Wohlmuth, 1996; McCutcheon, 2001; Bhorat et al., 2001; Adato & Haddad, 2002; McCord, 2003a).

Following the establishment of the National Economic Forum (NEF) in 1994, the National Public Works Programme (NPWP) set out the following objectives as key to combating structural unemployment and poverty in South Africa: reduce unemployment through the creation of productive labour-absorbing jobs and opportunities for local contractors through labour-intensive approaches; educate and train those on the programme as a means of economic empowerment; create, rehabilitate and maintain physical assets – clinics, schools, crèches and roads – which serve to meet the basic needs of poor communities and promote broader economic activity; build the capacity of communities to manage their own affairs; strengthen the local government and other institutions; and generate sustainable economic development (McCutcheon, 2001; Adato & Haddad, 2002; McCord, 2003a).

A number of special public works programmes (SPWPs) have been introduced since the mid-1990s and piloted in South Africa's poor rural communities. As set out under the Ministerial Determination of 2002 (Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997), these included the Working for Water, Coastal Care, Sustainable Rural Development, Land Care, Community Water and Sanitation, and Arts and Culture Poverty Relief projects, which were financially backed by the South African government and largely community-based. An impact case study of two PWPs in South Africa in 2003, the Gundo Lashu programme in Limpopo Province and the Zibambele programme in KwaZulu-Natal, found that the benefit was not sustained after the short-term period of employment (McCord, 2004). According to McCord (2003b), public works programmes offer temporary employment opportunities but do not draw partakers into the labour market.

4. The expanded public works programe (EPWP)

In 2002, following the ANC policy conference in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape Province, President Thabo Mbeki announced the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in his State of Nation Address in February 2003. The cabinet later approved the conceptual framework of the programme in November 2003 (Philips, 2003). Like other types of public works programmes, the EPWP is a short- to medium-term programme covering all spheres of government and state-owned enterprises. The government's medium- to long-term programmes that address unemployment include the following: increasing economic growth, improving skills through education and training, and improving the enabling environment for industry to flourish. The EPWP will continue to exist until these programmes are successful in reducing unemployment. Central to the programme is reorienting line function budgets and conditional grants in such a way that government expenditure will generate more work opportunities for disadvantaged groups – the unskilled and the poor (DSD, DoE & DoH, 2004: 10–11).

The EPWP targets unemployed, underskilled and underqualified people, especially women, youth and the disabled, and aims to: draw significant numbers of the unemployed into productive work to enable them to earn an income within the first five years of the programme; provide unemployed people with education and skills within the first five years of the programme; ensure that participants in the EPWP are able to translate the experience and either set up their own businesses or services or become employed; and use public sector budgets to reduce and alleviate unemployment. Precautions must be taken to ensure that the EPWP does not displace existing workers and contracts, as occurred with other active labour market policy measures in some of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.

The EPWP programme aims to create employment in four sectors: infrastructure, the environment, the social sector and the economic sector. Initially it focused mainly on infrastructure and environment-related work opportunities, but it is now being expanded to the social and economic sectors. The experience of similar programmes should be taken into account when designing and implementing various programmes comprising the EPWP. Evaluation studies conducted on the performance of community based public works programmes (CBPWPs) show that these programmes have to a large extent failed to generate sustainable labour-intensive jobs and to alleviate poverty because of the following constraints: poor institutional capacity and project management skills at government and community levels; lack of incentives for provincial ministries to use labour-intensive techniques; and lack of skills in the construction industry in labour-intensive techniques (McCutcheon, 2001; Adato & Haddad 2002; McCord, 2003a, b, 2004).

In the public sector and within communities, the specific key institutional constraints identified include the following: lack of project management; lack of norms for processes or procedures; inconsistencies between projects (wages, terms of employment, etc.); duplication of effort by different line ministries; lack of efficiencies of scale; lack of social development expertise; limited community participation; and the lack of credible Integrated Development Plans to guide asset selection (McCutcheon, 2001; Adato & Haddad, 2002; McCord, 2003a).

South Africa's EPWP will only be successful in the creation of sustainable jobs and poverty alleviation if the mistakes of the past are avoided, a substantially increased proportion of government expenditure is allocated to the programme, and the institutional constraints in both the public and private sectors are addressed (McCord, 2003a). The EPWP's ability to achieve its overall objectives will be evaluated as it is rolled out over the next five years.

5. Opportunities presented by public works programmes

In the historical context, public works programmes have focused primarily on the infrastructure sector, which has been an important channel for job creation because of its employment-generating potential and because the government has an important influence on its expansion or contraction. Nine direct jobs and eight indirect jobs can be created through an additional output of R1 million in the sector (Lewis, 2001). Few other sectors have this type of employment impact, especially in respect of semi-skilled and unskilled labour.

The South African situation is characterised by a variety of problems, including dramatic social and economic dislocation, weak community care for children, the aged, the disabled and HIV/AIDS sufferers, and a dearth of basic services in, among others, waste collection, education, health and welfare. It is thus easy to justify the expansion of community goods and services. Significantly, the highest employment multiplier of any industry has been social and personal services, where 47 jobs are generated for every R1 million invested. A large proportion of these jobs goes to low-skilled and semi-skilled workers (Lewis, 2001). Demand for social services greatly exceeds their provision, according to available evidence. This is largely because households cannot afford to pay for them, and state subsidies are inadequate to meet the unrealised demand. Poor households access these services mostly through NGOs and Community Based Organisations (CBOs) which rely on public subsidies and volunteers.

At the outset the EPWP focused primarily on infrastructure and environment-related issues, but this focus has been expanded to the social sector. Considerable work and effort is still required to design the actual EPWP social sector programmes if the training opportunities are to translate into subsequent employment opportunities. Large budgets and concomitant programmes have already been apportioned to the infrastructure and environmental projects. These programmes are ready to be implemented. They represent an opportunity for job creation if they are taken to scale, given the huge unmet demand for these services, but taking them to scale will require substantial investigation into programme design, the extent of the need for the services, their reception by the communities, appropriate financial arrangements, institutional accreditation mechanisms, and procurement difficulties. The expansion of social development services would not only generate much employment but also bridge a gap between first and second economies. The government's and society's ability to meet basic needs can be bolstered by social development services.

It is recognised that although the social security system is rolling out, the social welfare programmes to support households are still small relative to the need. Indirectly, the roll-out of these programmes could create a large number of low-skilled and medium-skilled jobs. The EPWP Social Sector Plan for 2004/5–2008/9, for example, has been developed and has proposed two areas in which there are immediate work and training opportunities: Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Home and Community Based Care (HCBC). The creation of a corps of community development workers and the school feeding programmes could potentially create jobs. Creating new social service jobs as well as improving the quality and security of existing jobs has important implications for gender equity and the empowerment of women. The social services sector, including the ECD and HCBC, could draw large numbers of unskilled and low-skilled black women into employment. Social development programmes need to be developed in a way that takes account of the distinct dynamics and needs in respective sectors. These services are often ‘undervalued’ because they are seen as ‘women's work’. Where these services are offered, it is often on the basis of ‘free’ domestic work or community volunteering. Thus issues such as skill and quality control are treated as unimportant. The common perception is that this is what mothers, aunts and grandmothers are for – these are tasks they perform naturally.

Funding for the ECD and HCBC, if available, would be on a discretionary basis from special public, church or community-led organisations. Yet the sustainability and quality of these programmes will require regular streams of funding, organisational development, quality accreditation and training, alignment to social services programmes (such as education and health) and grants, as well as strong monitoring and evaluation systems.

According to an ECD audit (DoE, 2001), programmes that relate to basic needs in social development services target a large number of unskilled unemployed, so affordable employment creation is therefore possible. Such programmes include ECD and HCBC, as identified by the Social Sector Plan. These programmes have received relatively less policy attention, but have high employment coefficients. If successfully implemented, they are likely to yield the highest number of employment opportunities per rand of expenditure of any public works programmes. Moreover, in contrast to the other sectors, if the programmes are taken to scale through the provision of additional government grants, the jobs created are likely to be sustainable because of the continuous demand.

6. Early childhood development (ECD) and home and community based care (HCBC)

Early Childhood Development refers to the programmes that are designed to advance the physical, cognitive, emotional and social development of children from birth to at least nine years. In the South African context ECD is regarded as an inclusive approach of policies, legislation and interventions which involve children, parents, caregivers and communities. The Departments of Social Development, Health and Education are the main providers of ECD.

According to an ECD audit conducted in 2001 by the National Department of Education together with the European Union (EU) Technical Support Project, less than one-sixth of the country's 6,4 million children aged between birth and seven years, and less than half of all those between five and six years, attended ECD centres in 2000. In terms of employment, a total of 6828 employees provided education and support to children in 3623 public ECD institutions in 2000. In private ECD institutions, a total of 47 675 employees worked in 19 859 institutions.

The most recent development in the field of ECD is the draft integrated plan for early childhood development in South Africa produced by the National Department of Education (DoE, 2004). The key aim of this plan is to bring greater synergy and coordination to current government programmes undertaken by various departments such as Education, Social Development and Health in the area of ECD. The plan emphasises the important approaches to developing young children, including government provision of a variety of services to children, training caregivers and educating parents, promoting community development, strengthening institutional resources and capacity, and building public awareness. The plan will target four million poor and vulnerable children, which is the projected number of poor children who will need such a service by 2009–10.

Currently about one million children between birth and five years already benefit from some centre-based early child development service provided by the Departments of Social Development and Education. The ECD proposals seek to strengthen current delivery within the centre-based models and then bolster the programme through home-based services, with roving community workers, to reach a further three million children. According to this plan, 70 000 people would be working on an ECD (0–5) programme by 2009/10, at an annual cost of R2,7 billion. This programme has sensibly been designed to reflect budget and capacity constraints. The ratio of staff to children in this centre-based model is 1:25. The home-based model assumes that adequate daytime home environments are available and proposes that two to four community workers per 10 000 households would be sufficient.

Another scenario has been proposed which lies at the other extreme. This scenario provides employment figures seen from the demand side of these services, based on population projections by the Bureau for Market Research (BMR, 2001) of children from birth to five years in 2011. It would promote only centre-based services, with staff-to-child ratios that vary from 1:10 for children between birth to four years to 1:30 for children aged five years.

Some of the major factors that would impact on the expansion of ECD are non-clarification of roles and responsibilities of relevant departments, the pace of registration of non-profit organisations (NPOs), budget limitations and lack of capacity of existing training providers. The integrated ECD plan involves the Departments of Education, Health and Social Development. It was indicated that the success of the plan is highly dependent on each department's understanding of its particular role and responsibility in this regard.

One of the biggest challenges for growth is the expansion of the pool of sites that deliver the service. These potential service providers need to be registered. One of the major problems is that many do not have the management capacity to meet the necessary requirements for registration. Capacity increase of ECD sites will escalate the demand for funding, and this demand is currently not planned for. Current assessment of training providers who are able to provide the relevant training indicates the urgent need for additional capacity. Almost half of the training providers are NGOs. Of all the training providers registered, only a third have received accreditation.

A Nationwide Audit of ECD provisioning conducted by the Department of Education and the European Union in 2001 found that 23 per cent of the existing caregivers have had no training and nearly 90 per cent require additional training. Almost half (43 per cent) have received training through NGOs and consequently hold qualifications that are not recognised by the Department of Education. Thirteen per cent have received training at technical or teacher training colleges, and only 12 per cent at university level.

Home- and community-based care is defined as the provision of comprehensive services, including health and social services, by formal and informal caregivers in the home. In the context of high and growing levels of poverty and vulnerability, exacerbated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, there is pressure on the Department of Social Development in particular to expand the social welfare net in terms of social grants and integrated community home-based care for those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. The HCBC programme has been prioritised as a cost-effective response substituting for a significant proportion of AIDS-related hospital care.

Projections by the Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA, 2002) were used to determine the demand for the service up to 2011 – the percentage of the population that will be affected by HIV/AIDS. The ratio suggested by the Department of Social Development of one caregiver to 20 households was applied to determine the number of jobs that could be created to meet the demand (option 2 – see Table 2). A ratio of 1:10 was also applied to show the employment creation possibilities of option 1 (see Table 1). The average cost to create a job opportunity as indicated in the Social Sector Plan was used to determine expenditure.

Table 1: Option 1 – contribution of ECD and HCBC programmes with number of jobs attainable according to real demand

Programme	Current employment	Estimated needs in 2011^1	Difference	Expenditure per annum	% Total jobs target in 2011^2
ECD	54 503	70 000	15 497	1 734	0,4
HCBC	31 656	100 477	68 821	2 766	1,9
Total	86 159	170 477	84 318	4 500	2,4
Option 1 assumes for:
ECD:
population figures for children 0–5 years in 2011 according to BMR projections all children in centre-based model ratio of caregiver to child 1:10 for children aged 0–4 years and 1:30 for 5-year-olds average cost of R21 260 per job according to the Social Sector Plan
HCBC:
population figures in 2011 according to ASSA (2002) ratio of caregiver to household 1:10 average cost of R27 530 per job according to the Social Sector Plan
Notes:
^1ECD: population figures for children in 2011 based on the Bureau for Market Research (BMR) projections were divided by the number of caregivers according to the ratios of caregiver to children provided by the Department of Social Development. Only 60% of the total population figure for children was used – this is the Department of Social Development's estimation of the number of children who will need services.
HCBC: population figures for people living with HIV/AIDS according to the Actuarial Society for South Africa (ASSA) were divided by the number of caregivers according to the ratios of caregiver to households provided by the Department of Social Development.
^2The percentage of total jobs is based on the estimate of the total number of jobs required as calculated by Altman (2004).

Table 2: Option 2 – contribution of ECD and HCBC programmes with less ambitious targets

Programme	Current employment	Estimated needs in 2011	Difference	Expenditure per annum	% Total jobs target in 2011
ECD	54 503	325 218	270 715	5 755	7,6
HCBC	31 656	200 954	169 298	4 660	4,7
Total	86 159	526 172	440 013	10 415	12,3
Option 2 assumes for:
ECD:
1 million children currently in centre-based care all new services would be home-based ratio of caregiver to child is 1:25 for children in centre-based care, 2–4 caregivers per 10 000 home-care sites cost is inclusive, and covers EPWP-type stipend, and does not include infrastructure
HCBC:
population figures in 2011 according to ASSA (2000) ratio of caregiver to household is 1:20 average cost of R27 530 per job according to the Social Sector Plan

Factors that could have an impact on the pace of expansion of HCBC are mainly training and funding. The pace at which training could be provided is crucial for expansion of this programme. The planned roll-out of anti-retrovirals will demand higher level training. Training will also have to be diversified to enable caregivers to care for a range of illnesses. This programme will be critical for delivering holistic services, and will depend heavily on sufficient training. The Department of Health has a mandate to provide a community health worker for every 150 households and people will have to be equipped with the foundation skills to enter this programme. Much more funding is needed if the expansion of the programme is to be done to scale and maximum job creation achieved. It is worth noting that funding would peak in 2011, as the need for the programme starts to diminish at that point – HIV/AIDS projections show a decline.

The notion of career pathing must be given high priority in order to address the issue of the sustainability of employment in the HCBC programme. Considerable effort is planned to provide efficient training. This money and time should not be wasted and should inevitably lead to longer-term opportunities for candidates. The determination of the level of qualification required for workers in HCBC is dependent on a process of ‘Recognition of Prior Learning’. The Health and Welfare SETA is now in the planning phase of this exercise, which is a consultative process, and might take some time before it can be implemented. However, it has been estimated by the Department of Social Development that 20 per cent of the current workers are on Levels 1 and 2, 40 per cent on Level 3 and 40 per cent on Level 4 – these are rough estimates, but they are necessary to determine the cost per job.

The Department of Social Development has estimated that about 21 000 volunteers are currently involved in HCBC. The total number of caregivers who receive a stipend is 4403. About 16 500 volunteers could immediately be drawn into paid work if the funds were available.

According to option 1 (see Table 1) it is estimated that approximately 440 000 new employment opportunities could come from ECD and HCBC programmes. The estimates for the expansion of these programmes are designed around determining the real need for the programmes. This commitment would add R10 billion to annual expenditure by 2011. Employment and spending might begin to fall incrementally thereafter, as it is expected that the pressure from younger age groups and HIV/AIDS will lessen. The main contribution to employment would be ECD (birth to five years), as it is currently the least provided service. The maximum contribution of ECD and HCBC programmes will be about 12,3 per cent of total jobs needed by 2011, and 9 per cent in 2014. If the less ambitious target for ECD is applied (see Table 2), it is estimated that approximately 84 000 new employment opportunities could be established if an additional R4,5 billion is spent annually, and the maximum contribution of ECD and HCBC programmes will be about 2,4 per cent of total jobs needed by 2011, and 2 per cent in 2014.

7. The context that prevents opportunities from being exploited: the challenges

The context in which these social services programmes operate poses many challenges. In order to realise opportunities for substantial employment creation, the challenges in the following areas should be addressed.

7.1 The focus of social services programmes

There is potential for generating substantial employment through government programmes such as ECD and HCBC, as described in Section 6 above. However, these programmes are not specifically designed to create employment. The main focus is clearly on achieving social aims in the most cost-effective manner, and one that takes into account capacity constraints. In particular, the social development programmes have been designed in a way that minimises the administrative burden because there is a lack of human resources to perform these duties at the moment. Current capacity allows only for executing the programmes in a limited way and it will not be possible to take these programmes to scale until these constraints are addressed. A more strategic set of partnerships is therefore required, for example between the government and the NPO sector.

7.2 Funding

Government funding for these social services programmes is usually allocated in small amounts on a discretionary basis, relative to the real demand. The expansion and maintenance of these programmes rely heavily on substantial and continuous funding – if the programme ends, the service and the jobs are lost.

7.3 Quality of employment

Where social services programmes offer payment to participants, jobs tend to be low-skilled and very low-paying. This brings to the fore the trade-off between jobs with better payment for fewer participants and low-paid jobs for a greater number.

7.4 Importance of the nature of services

The contribution in terms of the importance of work in the areas of ECD and HCBC should be emphasised. For example, workers involved in ECD ensure that children benefit by cognitive, emotional and social development which, evidence suggests, leads to well-adapted and productive citizens in later life.

7.5 Sustainability of employment

Most social services programmes do not consider sustainability and long-term impact. For example, programmes are directed towards attaining short-term employment in the form of low-quality jobs. In order to create sustainable employment, the notion of career pathing should be investigated, planned and established for the jobs that are created through these programmes. This will allow participants to exit these programmes to longer-term and sustainable employment.

7.6 Role of volunteers

Volunteering nurtures a community's social networks and makes an important economic contribution to society – volunteers undertake activities that would otherwise have to be funded by the state or by private capital. In South Africa, high numbers of volunteers offer their time to work in ECD and HCBC programmes. The work that these volunteers do is usually unpaid. Presumably there is an intention to maintain some system of volunteering, but in South Africa's context of high unemployment it should be seen as a means of drawing people into paid work opportunities. Volunteer opportunities often channel into skill and knowledge acquisition, which could make the transfer to paid employment easier.

7.7 Complementarity of services

The fragmentation of services through social services programmes has been recognised and the need for complementarity has been emphasised. This will require inter-sectoral collaboration and collective working. Given the scale of expenditure, the primary aim should be to identify optimal complementarity of grants, social services and social development services. This includes an assessment of appropriate delivery models.

7.8 Institutional arrangements

There are a few institutional constraints that impede the implementation and expansion of social services programmes. Institutional mechanisms such as coordinating structures at national and provincial level need to be in place. The roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders should be clearly defined. Adequate human resources should be committed to the programmes by departments in areas such as management and monitoring. Dedicated capacity must be allocated to the management of programmes at national, provincial and local levels.

7.9 Service providers and key partnerships

Non-profit organisations (NPOs) are critical for service delivery in the social services field and for supporting overall community development in South Africa; but their capacity has been reduced over the past 10 years, as leadership has moved into government, parliament and the private sector. The capacity of non-profit organisations to expand their services is unclear. Public and development agencies report that, based on the poor quality of the majority of proposals from the civil society sector, most NPOs do not have the requisite capacity, infrastructure, or human resource capability to deliver should there be a mass expansion in social development services. The constraints on these different agents and the lack of capacity to mobilise resources, meet the expanding need and assume responsibility for a more significant proportion of service delivery warrant continued state involvement and support. A more strategic set of partnerships is therefore required between the government and the NPO sector.

7.10 Training

Some of the programmes, such as ECD and HCBC, depend heavily on the delivery of sufficient, to scale and quality training in order to supply people with skills so they will be competent to deliver the service. The need for ongoing training and social support in the social services field is also apparent for what could be characterised as difficult and draining work. Many of these programmes do not guarantee this important component, but the need for it is becoming increasingly apparent in order to ensure programme effectiveness. Sufficient and accredited training can also be the conduit to sustainable longer-term employment. The training initiative that is proposed in the Social Sector Plan 2004/5–2008/9 – training through learnership for ECD and HCBC – is a good strategy for linking the development of people working in the social services field to the National Skills Development Strategy.

7.11 Monitoring and evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation will be an essential ingredient in a mass expansion of social development services. Monitoring is important because it provides management with the information it needs to review progress, identify problems and make adjustments, and evaluations provide information about the programmes' impact on alleviating poverty and reducing unemployment. If these programmes are to be taken to scale, the government first needs to set benchmarks and then to develop and use effective monitoring and evaluation systems. Standardised management and information systems have been identified as key to the success of social services programmes as they can be used to monitor and evaluate the programmes.

8. Conclusion

The high unemployment rate in South Africa is a central concern of policy makers. There are only a few substantial labour-intensive industries and these are led by the private sector. It has therefore become essential to explore other less mainstream avenues for employment creation. The commitments made by the government on employment creation through the EPWP express this view.

The role of public works programmes has historically focused on the infrastructure sector. However, the EPWP has been expanded to include the social sector. The government is well placed to create employment in this sector as it has at its disposal a strong policy instrument – the provision of a range of services in order to meet basic needs. In the medium term, it could create a large number of jobs through social development services – evidence suggests that the demand for social services vastly exceeds their provision.

This emphasises the strategic role for programmes such as ECD and HCBC. The South African Social Security Agency has been operational since April 2005. The reduced burden on provinces should enable mobilisation of human resources to strengthen the roll-out and management of the social development programmes, provided that substantial funding is made available on a continuous basis.

In addition, programmes should be designed with the aim of creating employment. In this way they can be taken to scale in order to meet basic needs if the funds are available. If adequate and accredited training is part of these programmes it will enhance the quality as well as the sustainability of employment. If people are adequately trained and receive an accredited qualification this might open their way to longer-term employment opportunities in the labour market.

Coordinated and collaborative institutional arrangements are the basis of the delivery of social services. Coordination between the various spheres of government needs to be strengthened to ensure the social services programmes are delivered successfully. Key partnerships are also important for this success. NPOs and CBOs are critical for service delivery in the social services field and for supporting overall community development in South Africa. Questions have been raised about the capacity, infrastructure and human resources needed by these agents to reach targets. The constraints on these different agents to assume more responsibility for a more significant proportion of service delivery warrants continued state involvement and support. A more strategic set of partnerships is therefore required between government and the NPO sector, and it is important that the interface between these two should be sufficient and strategic so that joint planning can be done.

If the government aspires to create employment through social services programmes such as ECD and HCBC, approximately 440 000 opportunities could be created based on real demand in these areas if the ambitious option is applied. This option assumes that 60 per cent of the total population of children between birth and five years will be part of ECD programmes and almost every household affected by HIV/AIDS will be given adequate social care, with one caregiver serving 10 households. This would add about R10 billion to annual expenditure in 2011 and would ensure about 9 per cent of the job creation required to meet the government's target in 2014. The less ambitious option and more likely scenario could create about 84 000 job opportunities if the current one million children in ECD centres are taken into account, all new services home-based, and adequate HCBC delivered by one caregiver to every 20 households. This would be at an additional cost of R4,5 billion per annum, contributing to 2 per cent of the total jobs needed in 2014.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rènette du Toit

Senior Research Specialist, Employment and Economic Policy Research Programme, Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).