Social Development
In relation to the Social Work Integrated Management System application (SWIMS app):
- What does his Department’s roll-out strategy to the NGO sector in the province entails
- What (i) resource (ii) budget is in place to roll out the app successfully in this financial year
- (i) how will this app roll-out to the NGO sector link to his departmental objective and (ii) what impact will it have on the daily lives of the residents in the province?
Hon Londt.
- a) The SWIMS will first be rolled out to Designated Child Protection Organisations (NGOs designated to perform designated child protection services). The rollout plan will include the following:
- Training on the use of the system (including onsite testing)
- Linkage & development of workspaces for each NGO to ensure they can meet system requirements
- Change Management sessions with the organisations involved
- Provisioning of funding for smartphones based on budget availability
b) (i) The Department of Social Development is supported by the Department of the Premier’s Centre for E-Innovation with the roll out of the SWIMS App.
(ii) The Department of Social Development received R4 million for the rollout for the 2025/2026 financial year, of which R2 million will be allocated for system development and training, and R2 million for smartphones.
c) (i) Information captured on SWIMS will be utilised to report on social welfare services rendered by social workers which are linked to Departmental objectives. This will strengthen monitoring and evaluation for improved service quality and improved geographic targeting of resources to meet demand for services.
(c)(ii) Cases will be recorded immediately from clients first reporting to the department to ensure continuity of case files. Information on previous interventions rendered by social service professionals will be available thereafter to help determine further interventions and services required by clients, improving the quality of social services rendered to clients. A singe database for clients reduces duplication of forms and therefore reduces waiting times for clients and reducing the amount of time spent by social workers on administration. This will free up more time for social workers to focus on psycho-social support for clients. The system ensures that legal frameworks and norms and standards are adhered to in all cases opened, which will further improve thoroughness of services. The system provides for client matters to be tracked, which will ensure improved turnaround times for finalisation of cases and improved quality control for clients.
As of 23 April 2025, 1067 social work professionals have been trained and are using SWIMS. 200915 forms have been captured, and 62071 cases have been logged on the system. 1924 cases have been closed, while 76671 clients have been captured on the system.
