Social Development

In South Africa, an indigent household is formally defined as a family or residential unit with a combined gross monthly income below a specific threshold (determined by individual municipalities, but often ranging between R1,500 and R7,000 that cannot afford to pay for basic municipal services. Each municipality determines their own indigent policies within the guidelines of the National Framework for Municipal Indigent Policies, therefore, the exact criteria vary slightly by location.

(a)(i) The maintenance of municipal indigent registers is undertaken by municipalities through their approved indigent management systems and indigent registers. These registers would need to be requested from the individual municipalities.

The Department does conduct population research on poverty trends in different areas and draws on Statistics South Africa Household Survey research for information on household poverty and food insecurity.

The Department also gathers non-Financial Data (NFD) from funded NPOs, i.e. (CNDCs and Community Kitchens) on persons accessing social assistance. This NFD provides an indication of the number of vulnerable individuals and households experiencing increased demand for food relief services and food security interventions.

The NFD is also utilised to monitor service delivery trends, identify emerging pressures relating to food insecurity and inform programme planning and resource allocation within available budgets.

(ii) The department through the Sustainable Livelihoods Programme implements a range of interventions aimed at supporting vulnerable and food-insecure individuals and households across municipalities. These measures include:

• Provision of nutritious meals at community nutrition and development centres (CNDCs) for five days per week and Community Kitchens for two to three days per week.
• Provision of food parcels to vulnerable households experiencing undue hardship and distress, subject to assessment and available resources.
• Community and household food gardens aimed at improving access to food and nutritional support
• Referral of beneficiaries to appropriate developmental and support services where required.
• Partnerships with relevant stakeholders to extend the reach of food security interventions.

The above interventions contribute towards alleviating hunger, improving nutritional outcomes and providing support to vulnerable households experiencing food insecurity and undue distress.

(b) The Department continues to strengthen sustainable and integrated responses to poverty and food insecurity through a range of developmental interventions such as:

• Strengthening and expanding community-based food security initiatives through funded NPOs (CNDCs and Community Kitchens).
• Supporting food gardens at selected NPOs which contribute to the production of fresh produce used for meal preparation and where feasible, provide additional nutritional support to beneficiary’s households.
• Promoting sustainable livelihood approaches that enhance household resilience and reduce vulnerability to food insecurity.
• Strengthening collaboration with municipalities, civil society organisations and other government departments to improve coordination of services.
• Enhancing monitoring reporting systems to better identify emerging food insecurity trends and areas of increased demand.
• Providing capacity building support to funded NPOs to improve governance, service delivery and programme effectiveness.

Through these interventions, the programme seeks not only to provide immediate food and nutrition support but also to promote sustainable community-based solutions that strengthen household food security in a more sustainable way.