Media Advisory

Minister of Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, will launch the Child Support Grant (CSG) Impact Assessment report for public engagement. The CSG report presents the findings of a research conducted by a team of experts. This study is composed of the findings in both rural and urban areas of South Africa.                     

The Department of Social Development (DSD), UNICEF and South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), commissioned a group of international experts coordinated by the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI) to design and undertake the first Impact Evaluation of the Child Support Grant. The impact evaluation has been conducted using an accurate, quasi-experimental research design using mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative).

After its inception in 1998, the South African Child Support Grant (CSG) has evolved into one of the most comprehensive social protection systems in the developing world over the past 14 years. The progress on Child Support Grant criteria for eligibility over this period include an increase in the age limit from seven to eighteen years old and adjustments to the income threshold to take inflation into account and improve equity. The Child Support Grant (CSG) is an important instrument of social protection in South Africa which benefits more than ten million South African children. These benefits also have a positive impact in the lives and wellbeing of children who are within the stage of adolescent.  

The methodology used in the research seeks to measure casual programme impacts as the difference between observed outcomes for the beneficiaries and what would have been the outcomes if this groups had not received the Child Support Grant or received it later versus earlier.   

The launch will unfold as follows:

Date  :  Thursday, 24 May 2012
 
Time  :  06h00-1300
Venue :  Gugulethu Sports Complex, NY2 (Cape Town)
       
Members of the media are invited to cover the event.

RSVP: Mr Jaconia Kobue on 082 313 4673

Enquiries: Ms Lumka Oliphant on 083 4848 067

ISSUED BY THE  NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT