A community care centre, which will provide psycho-social care, support services and skills development to orphans and vulnerable children in Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal, will open its doors today.
The Deputy Minister of Social Development, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, will officially open the centre in Bergville today.
German State-owned development bank, KfW, has provided financial support to the tune of 9.9 million Euros, which was used by the Department of Social Development to build 17 community care centres, which are in various phases of construction in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and North West provinces.
Upon completion, the community care centres will also serve as service points to bring government services closer to rural communities. This will include services rendered by the Social Development, Home Affairs and Health Departments, as well as services rendered by public entities such as the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and National Development Agency (NDA), among others.
The department said that the goal of building community care centres in rural communities is to enhance the quality of services to orphans and vulnerable children within their own communities of origin.
The centres also aim to complement existing child protection interventions and services, including Home Community Based Care, drop-in centres, Isibindi, child care forums and Early Childhood Development (ECD).
“This approach seeks to strengthen families and communities as the first line of response, as guided by South Africa’s National Strategic Plan (NSP) for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Tuberculosis (TB) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) 2017-2022.
“The mandate of the Department of Social Development is to implement Goal 4 of the NSP, which seeks to address the social and structural drivers of HIV, TB and STIs, as well as to reduce the impact of the epidemics on orphans and vulnerable children, child-headed households and youth,” the Department of Social Development said.
Framed within the broader development context of the National Development Plan (Vision 2030) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the NSP serves as a roadmap for the next stage of South Africa’s journey towards drastically reducing the burden of diseases of HIV, TB and STIs on public health, with specific focus on geographic areas and populations most severely affected by the epidemics.
Under the Home Community Based Care programme, Social Development renders early identification, psychosocial support and referrals for orphans and vulnerable children, as well as capacity building programmes for community caregiver groups and facilitation of support groups.
Safe Space for Men
The support groups will include Safe Space for Men, which gives men and boys an opportunity to hold each other accountable and to play a more active role in the department’s national effort to combat the scourge of gender-based violence, femicide, HIV, alcohol and substance abuse, and many other social ills confronting communities in South Africa.
Dubbed ‘The Lounge’, Safe Space for Men will also serve as a space where men and boys can access services such as HIV testing and psychosocial support services.
“Research shows that most men are reluctant to seek treatment or services in public facilities, as compared to women. Young boys will be paired with positive male role models in their communities to mentor and guide them towards positive masculinities and healthy lifestyles.
“The concept is also premised on the acknowledgement that national efforts and campaigns to prevent and end all forms of violence against women and girls, including gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), as well as the prevention of new HIV infections -- which disproportionately affect women and girls -- will not succeed without men and boys playing their part in the solution,” the department said. – SAnews.gov.za
