Department of Social Development nodal baseline survey: Alfred Nzo results

1. Department of Social Development nodal baseline survey: Alfred Nzo results

2. Objectives of overall project • Conduct socio-economic and demographic baseline study and situational analyses of DSD services across the 14 ISRDP and 8 URP Nodes • Integrate existing provincial research activities in the 10 ISRDP nodes of the UNFPA’s 2nd Country Programme • Monitor and evaluate local projects, provide SLA support • Identify and describe types of services being delivered (including Sexual Reproductive Health Services) • Establish the challenges encountered in terms of delivery & make recommendations regarding service delivery gaps and ultimately overall improvement in service delivery • Provide an overall assessment of impact of these services • Project began with baseline & situational analysis; then on-going nodal support; and will end in 2008 with second qualitative evaluation and a second survey, a measurement survey that looks for change over time.

3. Methodology for generating these results • First-ever integrated nodal baseline survey in all nodes, urban and rural • All results presented here based on original, primary data • Sample based on census 2001; stratified by municipality in ISRDP and wards in URP; then probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling used in both urban and rural, randomness via selection of starting point and respondent; external back-checks to ensure fieldwork quality • 8387 interviews completed in 22 nodes • Sample error margin: 1.1% - nodal error margin: 4.9% • This presentation is only Alfred Nzo data: national report and results are available from DSD.

4. How to read these findings • Baseline survey on 5 major areas of DSD/government work: • Poverty • Development • Social Capital • Health Status • Service Delivery • Indices created to track strengths and challenges in each area; and combined to create a global nodal index. Allows comparison within and across node, overall and by sector. • Using this index, high index score = bad news • Nodes colour-coded on basis of ranking relative to other nodes • Red: Really bad compared to others • Yellow: OK • Green: Better than others

5. Findings • Detailed baseline report available • Published November 2006 • Detailed findings across all nodes • Statistical tables available for all nodes • Background chapter of secondary data available for each node • Qualitative situation analysis available per node • This presentation • High level Alfred Nzo-specific findings • Alfred Nzo scorecard on key indicators • Identify key strengths/weakness for the node and target areas for interventions • What next? • 2008 will see qualitative evaluation and second quantitative survey to measure change over time

6. Alfred Nzo scorecard Compared with other nodes, Alfred Nzo is a mixed bag: it has red (warning) lights flashing in the poverty and development awareness indexes; but scores better than the ISRDP average in the areas of social capital, service delivery, health and the overall global index.

7. Poverty The poverty deficit index is based on 10 indicators (see table below), given equal weighting. Alfred Nzo in the 3rd poorest of all 14 ISRDP nodes..

8. Poverty deficit Priority areas For example, read as: respondents in Alfred Nzo 50% more likely than ISRDP average to live in informal dwellings; 39% more likely not to have water to RDP standards; 23% more likely to have no refuse removal; etc. Note the positives: lower than average incidence of no income etc.

9. Poverty analysis • We have seen that Alfred Nzo is amongst the poorest ISRDP nodes, measured using these poverty indicators. Among the key challenges are the following, any of which are service delivery issues: • 93% of respondents lacked RDP-level sanitation • 93% did not have their refuse removed • 90% lacked RDP-standard water • The rate of unemployment was 82% • 77% of respondents lived in informal dwellings • 57% of households sampled were headed by women • It is difficult to identify positives in such a challenging environment, but the data do suggest that functional illiteracy was lower (at 32%) than the ISRDP average, and just 1% of respondents said they had no regular income source. • Poverty remains an overriding challenge for the node.

10. Development deficit • This index measures respondents’ awareness of development projects, of all types, carried out by government and/or CSOs. It is a perception measure - not an objective indication of what is actually happening on the ground. • Alfred Nzo rates as the 4th worst ISRDP node on development awareness, a negative finding and somewhat counter-intuitive given the robust social capital (including social networks and CSO membership) in the node.

11. Development deficit Target areas There are few positives: respondents were only above the average in awareness of who was providing development - government or CSOs - but not on any type of development activity

12. Social capital deficit • This graph measures the social capital deficit - so high scores are bad news. • Social capital includes networks of reciprocation, trust, alienation and anomie, membership of civil society organisations, and so on. • But for Alfred Nzo this area is good news: it enjoys the best levels of social capital of all 14 ISRDP nodes. Just 30% of respondents belong to no CSO, and there is a very strong basis for partnerships, networking and outreach.

13. Social capital deficit Strengths For example, read as: Alfred Nzo respondents were 57% less likely than ISRDP average to believe you need to be careful dealing with people, 35% less likely to think politics is a waste of time, etc.

14. Service Delivery Alfred Nzo has the fourth best rating on service delivery amongst the 14 ISRDP nodes.

15. Service delivery – strengths Read as: With the quality of service delivery relatively high in this node a number of positive findings can be reported upon including the finding that respondents perceive the quality of education in the node to be 65% better than the ISRDP average and local government performance to be 37% better than the ISRDP average Strengths

16. Service delivery: main features • Other important services provided by DSD such as Children Homes, Rehabilitation Centres and Drop-In Centres worryingly received no mention by respondents and signals very low awareness of these critical services. • Urgent thought should be given as to how best to raise awareness across the node with respect to these under utilised services - and how to increase penetration of DSD services as well as grants in the node.

17. Alfred Nzo is rated the 3rd best ISRDP node in respect to health measures, with less than half of respondents (46%) perceiving their health status as poor. Health deficit

18. Health • HIV and AIDS was also reported to be the significant health problem in the node, half of all respondents reported this (51%) as opposed to an average of 30% across all nodes. • Other health problems perceived by respondents included TB (19% of respondents identified this as an issue) and alcohol abuse (16% perceived this as a problem) • Men were as likely as women to rate their health as poor • Youth were as likely as older adults to rate their health as poor • Access to services which has been perceived as a major issue in other nodes was surprisingly not seen to be a major obstacle, with respondents in the node 31% less likely than the ISRDP average to report access to health services as a problem, thus we find that only • 36% of respondents reported distance to health facility as being a problem • 27% of respondents reported paying for health services as being a problem • These findings highlight the key health issues facing those in the node and point to the need for an integrated approach that focuses on the issues of HIV and AIDS, TB and alcohol abuse • A sectoral or targeted approach is need to focus on these disease related issues in this node • Poverty and the health challenge of HIV and AIDS and cannot be separated and whatever intervention is decided upon should be in the form of an integrated response to the challenges facing Alfred Nzo residents

19. Proportion who agree that both parties in a relationship should share decision - making Read as: Majority in the node support the view that most decisions in the household require joint decision-making by both partners

20. Proportion supporting statements about female contraception Read as: Node is still deeply conservative and myths about contraception are widely held.

21. Proportion who agreed that a man is justified in hitting or beating his partner in the following situations Read as: Support for violence against women in nearly all situations is higher in this node than the ISRDP average and points to deeply negative attitudes towards Gender Based Violence in the node. Disturbing to note that the differences between males and females, and young and old, in terms of attitudes towards Gender Based Violence are not large - these negative attitudes have been absorbed by men and women, young and old, and interventions are needed to break this cycle

22. Attitudes towards abortion Read as: Abortion is NOT supported by four out of ten respondents (40%), slightly lower than the ISRDP average (42%)

23. Sexual Reproductive Health & GBV • Findings point to the need for nuanced campaigns around contraception and their very close link with inappropriate attitudes to women in Alfred Nzo • Disturbing to note the high levels of support for Gender Based Violence, coupled to very limited support for abortions and widespread belief in certain myths about contraception. Hence the need for a campaign that is based on a solid understanding of local attitudes towards both sexual reproductive health and GBV as opposed to the interests of a national campaign • In theory, at least, majority support the idea that many decisions in the household require joint decision-making by both partners • But many across the nodes not only do not support joint decision-making but go further and endorse physically abusing women • Need to develop an integrated approach that takes poverty and the health challenges facing nodal residents into account and also integrate critical aspects of GBV and Sexual Reproductive Health • Challenge is to integrate Sexual Reproductive Health and GBV issues with other related services being provided by a range of governmental and non-governmental agencies - integration and co-ordination remain the core challenges in the ISRDP and URP nodes.

24. HIV & AIDS: Awareness levels Read as: Prevalence rates are high and secrecy is relatively low, suggesting stigmatization may be dropping in face of unavoidability of the epidemic

25. HIV & AIDS: Proportion who accept the following statements Read as: High awareness of how HIV is transmitted, except half (55%) gave incorrect answer re mosquitoes

26. HIV and AIDS • Evidence suggests that previous campaigns (and the high incidence of the pandemic in the node) have led to high awareness of impact of HIV and AIDS. • Encouraging to see how many in the node have correct knowledge about the transmission of the disease (albeit that the node is slightly worse than the average scores for ISRDP), except in the case of Mosquitoes. This is however, not a surprising response in an area which is NOT affected by mosquito-borne diseases such as Malaria • Despite high levels of awareness of AIDS sufferers in their communities few respondents can actively assist • Less than 2% in the node reported on providing support to orphans or providing Home Based Care • Despite high incidence of HIV across Alfred Nzo, levels of poverty are so crippling few can do much to assist those who are infected and suffering • These findings support the need for an urgent integrated intervention in the node that incorporates health, poverty, GBV, HIV and AIDS

27. Conclusion Despite worrying scores in some areas, compared with other ISRDP nodes, Alfred Nzo has a slightly above average J “Global Development” rating