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Portfolio Committee on Social Development, National Assembly, Cape Town

DEVELOPMENT OF CAPACITY AND RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

OF SOCIAL SERVICE PROFESSIONALS

25 OCTOBER 2006

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PURPOSE OF PRESENTATION

• To address the Portfolio Committee on the following:– Development of capacity in the national &

provincial departments of Social Development;

– Relationships between different social development professionals; and

– Recruitment and Retention Strategy for Social Workers.

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CURRENT SITUATION

• Sector is not well organised• Lack of norms and standards for delivery of social

services• The need for an HR Plan• High demand for SWs (Govt departments, NGOs)• Overlapping of roles and responsibilities• Exodus of social workers to other sectors & other

countries• Fragmentation in training and utilisation of other social

service professionals• Impact of new legislation on the demand for services

such as Children's Bill, Older Persons Bill, Substance Abuse legislation, etc.

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Challenges: Current Scenario

Province

Current StatusRequirement (Children’s Bill

benchmark) Shortfall for 1st Year (GAP)

No of Social Workers (NGO

and Govt)

No of Auxillary Social

Workers (registered

SAW)

No of Social Workers (1st

Year of implementati

on)

No of Auxillary Social Workers (1st Year of implementation)

No of Social Workers

No of Auxilla

ry Social Worker

s

Eastern Cape 755 88 1439 1180 684 1092

Free State 313 45 916 808 603 763

Gauteng 1096 287 2000 1950 904 1663

Kwazulu-natal 965 106 1100 884 135 778

Limpopo 453 21 1007 731 554 710

Mpumulanga 256 15 530 411 274 396

Northern Cape 206 106 307 344 101 238

North West 298 14 318 235 20 221

Western Cape 721 277 1068 1,139 347 862

National 42 0 90 0 48 0

TOTAL 5105 959 8776 7682 3671 6723

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MEASURES TO ADDRESS CHALLENGES

• Recruitment and Retention Strategy for Social Workers– Aim

Determine conditions that impact on social work as a scarce skill.

Provide guidelines for the recruitment and retention of social workers within the profession.

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OBJECTIVES OF THE STRATEGY

Provide a framework for the recruitment & retention of social workers as learners and professionals

Reposition the social work profession to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Promote a positive image of social work as a career of choice.

Improved conditions of service.

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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS Impact of globalization. Availability of more lucrative offers in other sectors locally

or internationally. Push and pull factors. Social workers recognized as being well trained

internationally and locally. High demand for their skill. Lack of social workers in NGO sector. High work load and poor working conditions lead to

burnout and poor quality of services to recipients. Training of social workers in IHL’s and low subsidies.

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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS cont...

Training of social workers in IHL’s and low subsidies. Universities training ±500 social workers pa. High intake levels but low output after (4yrs). Universities with the highest numbers of registrations still

have low numbers of fourth year students e.g Unisa and KwaZulu-Natal, with only a few graduating.

It is not clear from the current data, how many students actually complete the fourth year of study.

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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS cont…

In discussions with learners there is generally a perception that the social work profession is not a financially lucrative career, offers very little benefits and few career path opportunities.

Lack of institutional support and capacity for training programme e.g. student work placements on internship.

Insufficient social workers in the country. Utilisation of social workers in non-essential / non-

professional tasks. Poor working conditions which result in malpractice,

unprofessional conduct and disciplinary procedures against social workers.

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STRATEGIES Recruitment and Selection:

Recruitment and publicity material Recruitment drives in high schools to educate

learners about the profession Open recruitment days by department and

universities Job fairs or career guidance processes Predefined scholarships Data base to monitor turnover, vacancy levels

and migration patterns Recruitment of social workers back to profession

or sector

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Education, Training and Development Education, Training and Development:

Student training Balance between strict selection criteria and meeting

demand Career guidance to ensure informed choice Align curriculum and practical demands of work Scholarships for student Social Workers Creating opportunities for training in specialist areas Broadening the scope of further education + training Management training

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Education, Training and Development cont… Additional subsidies for social work education Financial support during placements in practice Proper selection and training of assessors or supervisors Staff development (based on skills audit and national skills

strategy) Adherence to CDPSelf development and accelerated refresher courses

aligned to performance management programmeTraining of peer educators to support new social

workers National forum to ensure integration of training with

practice Exchange and Twinning Programmes

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CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

Compensation and Remuneration • Non-monetary strategies

Improvement of working conditions Promotional and career opportunities Special training opportunities

• Monetary Strategies Remuneration and employee benefits Incentive schemes linked to achievement of targets Retention allowances (e.g. scarce skills/rural allowances) Bonuses Merit awards Payment of study debts Bursary Schemes

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DEVELOPMENTS

NEW JOB DESCRIPTIONS FOR SOCIAL WORKERS

• Generic job descriptions, which provide opportunities for career pathing - up to deputy director-level (Levels 7 to 11)

• Opportunities for specialization created through new job descriptions

• Uniformity in utilization of social workers in government facilitated

• Remuneration packages for social workers in government were improved through a process of re-grading

• Job descriptions for Social Aux Workers on is in process of being finalised

• MTEF Bid submitted to NT for an additional 3000 SAWs pa over the next three years to meet demands of legislation

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DEVELOPMENTS

• Developed a proposal on scarce skills allowances within the framework of Public Service Scarce Skills Strategy of the DPSA

• Proposal currently under consideration by Heads of Social Development before submission to MINMEC, MPSA & consultation with Organised Labour

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DEVELOPMENTS

NEW JOB DESCRIPTIONS FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PRACTITIONERS (CDPs)

• Generic job descriptions up to deputy director-level (Levels 5, 7 to 11) within the occupation

• Uniformity in the utilization of CDPs in social development

• Remuneration packages for CDPs to be improved through a process of re-grading and is awaiting MPSA advice & guidelines for implementation

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DEVELOPMENTS

SCHOLARSHIPS:

• 190 scholarships to the amount of R2.8m provided to social work learners

• Outstanding fees of 36 students were paid up

• Funds for scholarships requested from Treasury as priority for next MTEF period to cover tuition, boarding and lodging, stipends for field placements, etc.

• Recruitment, placement and training of Social Aux Workers

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DEVELOPMENTS

OTHERS:• Career fairs conducted in all provinces where learners are

recruited to study social work• Establishment of a Unified Professional Association is being

facilitated. A referendum supporting this process was conducted and positive feedback was received

• An Indaba held to discuss social work as a scarce skill• A first phase capacity building programme conducted in all

provinces for all social services professionals. Further funding is required for 2nd phase role-out

• High political support e.g. higher subsidies for social work training

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DEVELOPMENTS

OTHERS:• Bursaries with focus on Sustainable

Livelihoods offered to 15 students at Univ. of KZN (1 PhD & 14 Masters) - HWSETA funding

• Learnership for CDPs:– Unit Standards for fundamentals and Core

completed (ETDP SETA)– Electives to be developed by SGB with HWSETA

assistance– SACSSP participates

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Overview of Service Delivery Improvement Strategy....

M & E

Mindset

Create emergent strategy – recruitment and retention strat.

Norms and stds. for social service delivery

Develop HR Plan based on outputs of norms and stds.

Information M Systems

Shared vision

Clear accountabilities

Workstreams in place

Steering Group

Programme Director

Design blueprint

Detailed Processes Mapped

Process management

Implementation plan

Requisite skills and capacity

Financial resources

Support and participation from key stakeholders

CriticalMilestone

s

2007/8

Strategy, Scoping

and Focus

Gain Commitment and mobilise

Confirm Operational Plan

Detailed PlanningResource/ Enablers

I have a clear idea

of where I'm going

I know what I want

I can see it coming together

KeyActivitie

s

I can see the benefits

2008/9

Monitoring & Evaluation

Post implementation reviews

2009/10

Programme

Phases

• Contracting students through scholarships against set quota• Recruitment of student social workers• Recruitment of SAW and SW• Creation of a mgt framework• Improvement of working conditions

• Completed implementation plans• Costed norms and stds.• Blueprint for rollout • Human capital plan

• Piloting of implementation plan• Implementation of Human Capital plan

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SERVICE DELIVERYThe Service Delivery Model for Developmental Social Services: Reconstruction of social development institutions The development paradigm Service integration Social welfare service delivery Target groups Nature and scope of community development

services Service providers and institutional mechanisms Norms and standards Monitoring and evaluation of the services

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SERVICE DELIVERY cont…

Interventions: Implementation of SDM by all service providers Compliance with service norms and standards Human resource plan Development of other professional and semi-

professional categories

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RESTRUCTURING

• The national and provincial departments are all undergoing restructuring to re-position themselves towards delivering social development services

• NDSD restructuring is in the process of being finalised

• Minister approved the high-level structure in March 2006

• The new post establishment is finalised and on route to the Minister for approval.

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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIFFERENT PROFESSIONS

• Social Service Occupations– Social Workers– Community Development Practitioners– Probation Officers (Provinces)– Child and Youth Care Workers (Provinces)

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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIFFERENT PROFESSIONS

• Complimentary role– Development + welfare = developmental

welfare

• Development role = CDP• Welfare role = Social Worker• Implementation in a coordinated and

integrated manner = developmental social welfare services

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RELATIONSHIP cont.

• SW focuses on the condition/situation of an individual and how that impacts on him/her and on the family/community/society

• SW : reactive, rehabilitative, secure care, • CDP focuses on the situation of the

household and how it impacts on the ability of the household to support the member/s

• CDP: preventative, early intervention, investment

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RELATIONSHIP cont.

• Social development has a much broader conceptual framework whilst community development has a specific place as a method, process and strategy within social development’s broader framework in addressing poverty and inequalities.

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PROPOSAL

• It is proposed that the Portfolio Committee takes note of – – Development & measures to address the

challenges such as -• capacity building initiatives• recruitment and retention strategy for SWs• relationships between social service

professionals