13 November 2009
The Department of Social Development and the German Development Bank have signed a R76-million deal to improve the living conditions of child- and youth-headed households in South Africa.
The agreement was signed on Wednesday by the department’s director-general, Vusi Madonsela, and Norbert Kloppenburg, an executive of the German Development Bank, known as the KfW Banking Group.
Partnership
Madonsela said the department had entered into the partnership with KfW for the implementation of a care and support project for child- and youth-headed households.
“We will equip them with life skills and ensure access to improved services offered by refurbished and adequately equipped community care centres,” Madonsela said. “We really appreciate the generosity of KfW, and hope to see our relationship grow further.”
Skills development
Kloppenburg said that the financial contribution would be used exclusively for refurbishments, construction, equipment and extensions of community care centres.
It will also be used to benefit recipients through skills development programmes, he said.
The programme will be implemented over a period of three years in the Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.
The agreement follows a relationship between the two parties that began in 2007 with the commissioning of a study on child-headed households in South Africa.
The purpose of the study was to assess the needs of child-headed households and to identify services and additional resources that might be used to support them.
Source: BuaNews
