SEARCH RESULTS

On the 23rd of March President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a national Lockdown and from that day our lives changed. As a Grade 11 learner from the Kgakgoa Secondary School, in Ga-Chokwe Village in Moletjie (Limpopo) , my whole school life has been disrupted. I’ve had to quickly learn and master the skill of self-studying, which has not been easy.

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse progress made for children in Africa by years or even decades, with economic aftershocks risking to push an additional 33 million children into poverty.

Save the Children South Africa (SCSA) calls for unified efforts to protect children from the heightened risk of violence, exploitation and abuse during the COVID-19 outbreak. Since the start of the lockdown there has been a reported spike in child abuse.

Save the Children South Africa (SCSA) welcomes the phased-in approach on the reopening of schools. The Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, announced on Thursday that Grade 7 and 12 learners will return to school on the 1st of June. The prolonged closure of schools is a risk to the children’s education and wellbeing, especially for the most vulnerable children, who rely on school not only for their education, but also nutritious meals.

We have all heard a similar story; a well-meaning NGO ventures off to save the women of a village by building a well in the heart of their community, only to discover that the women preferred to walk the distance to collect water from a nearby source.

NIAWG commends the Department of Social Development in its extended and progressive effort to provide relief through food parcels, top-up grants, Social Relief of Distress Grant and special COVID- 19 Social Relief Distress Grant. However, we are concerned about the limitations in the eligibility criteria required to access these grants. Application for these forms of relief have required a South African identity document, in some cases are available to refugees and permanent residence permit holders.

Strategic collaboration between the private sector, civil society and government has never been more important. The number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise despite the lockdown. Infections are now rising at a rate of over 200 a day This is only the beginning.

Children make up 35% of the South African population and according to the Child Gauge (2018) in 2017, 11.2 million children between the ages of 7 and 17 were found to have attended some form of educational facility. This figure constitutes 98% of the country’s children. Given these numbers, our issues as children should be taken seriously.

Save the Children South Africa (SCSA) & the DO MORE FOUNDATION, founded by RCL FOODS, have begun the distribution of food aid in several identified communities in South Africa, that have higher rates of poverty. The communities include Eesterust and Mamelodi. The beneficiaries are families with children who are dependent on early childhood development centres and school feeding schemes for nutritious meals.