PROGRAMMES

Building and consolidating the Alliance to ensure that ACESS delivers on its mandate

Objective: To build and maintain a strong, credible, legitimate, and democratic alliance which is effectively managed and coordinated so as to ensure that it delivers on its mandate.

Outputs:

• To build a representative and legitimate alliance
• To develop strong and effective management structures
• To coordinate the alliance's collective activities
• To facilitate member participation

Coordinator: Patricia Martin, patricia@acess.org.za

Promoting a comprehensive approach to social security

Objective: To achieve a shared understanding between all stakeholders, civil service, government and ACESS members of what constitutes a comprehensive social security protection system, and to advocate for the adoption of such a system

Outputs:

• Raise awareness of, and advocate for a Comprehensive Social Security System
• Identify and address ideological barriers to a comprehensive system
• Advocate for a White Paper process (based on the Committee of Inquiry Report)
• Develop consensus amongst ACESS members around universal rather than means tested access to social security

Coordinator: Karen Allan , karen@acess.org.za

Widening the reach of social assistance

Objective: To widen the reach of the children’s social assistance through policy and law reform so as to ensure that children who are in need of social assistance, but are not currently legally eligible, are brought into the system.

Outputs:

• Advocate for:
• all children under 14 years to stay registered once registered for CSG
• the extension of the CSG to 18 as the first phase of BIG
• the simplification of the means test
• Social assistance to children in need of alternative care, and/or child headed households
• A national Social Relief of Distress (SROD) policy
• Extension of the CDG to moderate disabilities and chronic illnesses

Coordinator: Karen Allan , karen@acess.org.za

Addressing service delivery barriers to social assistance

Objective: To bring about an improvement in children’s access to existing grants, services and benefits, through an integrated, effective, efficient and compassionate social security service delivery system.

Outputs:

• Address identity documentation and birth certificate requirements
• Monitor government delivery and advocate for improvements
• Increase awareness about rights and how to enforce them
• Build member's capacity to enhance access to grants, services and benefits
• Improved delivery of the phased in CSG
• Improved access to the Care Dependency Grant
• Support advocacy for changes to the Means Test
• Multi-stakeholder grants campaigns
• Increase awareness around the Social Relief of Distress Benefit

Coordinator: Karen Allan , karen@acess.org.za

Promoting access to education

Objective: To improve poor and vulnerable children’s access to free and quality education.

Outputs:

• Improved infrastructure, resources and basic services at schools
• Subsidized and/or free transport to and from schools
• Effective subsidized school fee system so that no child is excluded from school because of poverty
• Reform of school uniform policy so that no child is prejudiced because of inability to pay the high cost of school uniforms
• Increased awareness of education rights
• Improved delivery of school feeding schemes and expanding their reach
• Monitor the implementation of education rights

Coordinator: Sharon September, sharon@acess.org.za