Department of Social Development nodal baseline survey: Maruleng results

1. Department of Social Development nodal baseline survey: Maruleng 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 Maruleng data: national report and results 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 Maruleng-specific findings • Maruleng 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. Maruleng scorecard Compared with other nodes, Maruleng has only red or yellow lights - no green lights at all. Poverty levels are less severe than in many other ISRDP nodes, and the health deficit (unlike Bushbuckridge) is less severe. But social capital, development and service delivery are all worse than in many other nodes, as is the global index. The data suggest Maruleng should be a priority node.

7. Poverty deficit The poverty deficit index is based on 10 indicators (see table below), given equal weighting. Maruleng is less poor than many other ISRDP nodes. The difference in poverty between Bushbuckridge and neighbouring Maruleng is not statistically significant.

8. Poverty deficit: strengths & weaknesses Priority Areas For example, read as: respondents in Maruleng were 3% more likely than the ISRDP to be unemployed; were 19% more likely not to have water to RDP standard; and so on. Note the positives: lower than average incidence of no income source, informal dwelling, etc.

9. Poverty analysis • Poverty levels in Maruleng are lower compared with other ISRDP nodes. Respondents were less likely to have no income (none said they had no regular income), to live in shacks/traditional dwellings (2%), to lack electricity for lighting (9% had no electricity at all) or to be functionally illiterate. • At the other end of the scale, Maruleng respondents were a third more likely not to have their refuse removed (98% said their refuse was not removed), to have RDP level sanitation (2% had internal flush toilets - 92% use a pit latrine and 6% use the veldt) or RDP-level water. • Unemployment is a crisis afflicting all nodes, rural and urban. In Maruleng the situation is worse than many, with 71% of respondents out of work - a rate of unemployment of 81%. • On the other hand, incidence of female-headed households (at 38%) is considerably lower than the ISRDP average of 53%. • Poverty (using this matrix) is kept high by poor service delivery in key areas - water, sanitation, refuse removal - and unemployment. The positives are low incidence of no income and of shacks.

10. 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. • Maruleng is second only to Bushbuckridge (formerly the other half of the Bohlabela node) in scoring badly on social capital amongst the 14 ISRDP nodes, indicating the compounding impact of poverty and the history of the area on the local population. Building community networks and trust is critical in this node.

11. Social capital deficit Read as: respondents from Maruleng are 16% more likely than the ISRDP average to suffer from alienation, 20% more likely to suffer from anomie, and so on. On the positive side, in green, CSO membership, faith in politics and trust scored better than the ISRDP average.

12. 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. • Maruleng rates as the worst ISRDP node on development awareness, a very negative finding for a node already suffering from high social capital deficit, limited CSO penetration and low inter-communal trust. This is very different from the situation in Bushbuckridge, where respondents were far more aware of development activities.

13. Development deficit Priorities There are few positives: respondents were only above the average in awareness of emergency food parcels - and below the ISRDP average on all other types of development intervention

14. Service Delivery Deficit Maruleng has the second worst rating on service delivery amongst the 14 ISRDP nodes, i.e. it was rated only slightly better than neighbouring Bushbuckridge, the worst in terms of service delivery.

15. Service delivery – weaknesses Read as: Quality of basic service delivery is worse in Maruleng than the average for all ISRDP nodes, e.g. electricity is perceived to be a third (37%) worse than across all ISRDP nodes. Weaknesses Read as: Opportunities to participate in local governance structures were rated as poor by respondents from Maruleng, e,g. participation in IDPs by those who knew about the IDP process in this node is two thirds (65%) worse than the average across all ISRDP nodes

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. Maruleng is the sixth best ISRDP node on health measures, nevertheless half of all individuals (54%) perceive their health status as poor. Health deficit

18. Health • HIV and AIDS was reported to be the most significant health problem in the node (34% reported this, greater than an average of 30% across all nodes) • TB was also seen as major problems by three out of ten respondents (30%) in Maruleng (the average was 22% across all nodes). • 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 also impacts the health of those in the node, with respondents in Maruleng 44% more likely than the ISRDP average to report access to health services as a problem, in particular • 83% of individuals reported distance to health facility as being a problem • 90% of individuals 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 focusses on the issues of HIV and AIDS, and TB and also takes into account the challenges respondents face in accessing health care • Difficult to see how a sectoral or targetted approach would work to improve access to health, rather it requires a provincial or even national intervention to remove this obstacle • Poverty and the dual health challenge of HIV and AIDS and access to health cannot be separated and whatever intervention is decided upon should be in the form of an integrated response to the challenges facing Maruleng 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 as 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 is generally close to or lower than the ISRDP average, barring infidelity where it is higher. 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 supported by vast majority (86%), but only under certain circumstances. Far fewer (12%) reject abortion outright compared with 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 Maruleng • Encouraging to see that there is some support for abortion, albeit under certain circumstances, which is not there in many other nodes. Hence the need for a campaign that is based on a solid understanding of local attitudes towards abortion 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

26. HIV and AIDS • High awareness of impact of HIV and AIDS (node close to average scores for ISRDP) • Whilst many have the correct knowledge on how HIV is transmitted, confusion persists amongst a third of respondents (38%) with regards to whether mothers with HIV and AIDS can pass on the virus by breastfeeding their babies • Particular attention needs to be paid to this issue in future awareness campaigns in this node • Despite high levels of awareness of AIDS sufferers in their communities few respondents can actively assist • No one in the node reported on providing support to orphans or providing Home Based Care • Despite high incidence of HIV across Maruleng, 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. Conclusions • Maruleng has a poor  Global Development Rating : its current challenges and strengths, as they emerged from the statistical analysis, are set out below.