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Child support grant has halved number of children living below food poverty line

The child Support Grant has halved the proportion of South African children living below the food poverty line‚ the most severe measure of poverty‚ from 58% of children in 2003 to 30% in 2014.

According to the 2016 issue of the SA Child Gauge report released on Tuesday‚ almost two-thirds of children in SA live below the upper band of the poverty line.

However‚ the grant system has made a big impact on millions of children who would otherwise be living in extreme poverty‚ says the report which was produced by the Children’s Institute in partnership with UNICEF.

Introduced in 1998‚ the grant was now recognised as one of SA’s most successful poverty alleviation strategies.

In 2016‚ a total of 12 million children received the CSG‚ which as of October was valued at R360 per month or R12 a day.

The R360 per month grant falls below all three national poverty lines.

A single caregiver must earn less than R3‚600 per month to be eligible for the CSG while a couple will have to earn less R7‚200 per month to qualify.

Aislinn Delany‚ lead editor of the Child Gauge 2016 said on Tuesday that high levels of inequality‚ unemployment and poverty meant that many South Africans did not have the financial resources to provide for their children.

“In the face of persistently high unemployment‚ social grants – together with access to quality education‚ health and social services and other measures – support families to care for their children‚ and are a core component of broader social protection strategies to enable all children to realise their full potential‚” said Delany.

However about 1.8 million children were still not accessing the grant due to difficulty in having the necessary documents for the grant application.

Delany said there was also confusion around who qualified for the grant.

Professor Linda Richter from the Department of Science and Technology at the National Research Foundation’s Centre of Excellence in Human Development at the University of the Witwatersrand said social assistance – or material support — provided by the state to those who are unable to support themselves was indispensable for children‚ especially during their first two years. This was the period of their most rapid brain and cognitive growth.

UNICEF South Africa representative Alejandro Grinspun said CSG was associated with improved nutrition‚ health and schooling among children.

“Targeting of the CSG has been so effective that its benefits accrue mostly to South Africa’s poorest‚ and it is children living in extreme poverty who have gained the most from it‚” said Grinspun.

 

- TMG Digital/BusinessLive

 

 

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