GENEVA (ILO News) – About 60 per cent of South Africa’s 23 million children live in poverty. Providing support to poorer households has been seen as a priority by authorities.
The Child Support Grant (CSG) is one of the social protection benefits for children that has been significantly expanded over the last decades. From 10 per cent of poor children covered when it was introduced in 1998, it reached 85 per cent of them in 2015 (11.7 million). This growth resulted from an increase in the number of children entitled to the grant as well as successful awareness-raising campaigns.
The CSG provides 330 South African rands (US$27) monthly to poor children up to 18 years of age. It is complemented by other similar benefits such as the Foster Care Grant as well as free education, school feeding and affordable health services.
Elizabeth Mkase has been taking care of her nephew in a poor South African neighbourhood.
“I can’t even remember how many years my nephew has been with me since his parents died. Life was difficult because I did not have a job. I am grateful for the support that I was given through the grant as I didn’t know how I was going to cope,” she recalled.
Since unemployment is high and poverty still widespread in South Africa, the grant is spent primarily on food. So it also positively impacts children’s health and nutrition. An ILO country note issued earlier this year notes a study showing children benefiting from the grant were, on average, 3.5 centimetres taller than other children.
