Services for children

The situation of children in Lesotho

These are children who require societal interventions to ensure their realisation of their full
potential. Vulnerable children include animal herder, street children, children in conflict with
the law, children out of school, children living in child-headed households, etc. these children
may be vulnerable because of the following conditions:

1. Child trafficking
2. Forced marriages
3. Early pregnancy
4. Child abuse
5. Substances and prostitution

HIV and AIDS, poverty and food insecurity have contributed significantly to escalating
incidents of abuse and exploitation of children. Malnutrition is also one of the major
challenges that children are confronted with.

Many orphans on the other hand do not attend school either because they fall short of school
fees or they are expected to stay home to care for sick relatives. Sometimes children in
orphan-headed households may find it needful to secure employment in order to meet their
basic needs. In the case of Lesotho, however, it is estimated that 93% of orphaned children
are attending school compared to 95% of those children whose parents are both alive and
who are living with at least one parent (Government of Lesotho, 2014)

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Intervention measures

1. In 2009, the government of Lesotho implemented the Child Grants Programme, which
is by far a major intervention to improve the welfare of children. This programme is
administered by the Ministry of Social Development and it targets poor households
that are providing care to children. It is also means-tested and is intended to help these
households to provide adequate care and support to orphans and vulnerable children.

2. Another programme for children is the Orphan and Vulnerable children Bursary
programme. Bursaries are provided by the Ministry of Social Development to OVC
attending secondary schools that are registered with the Ministry of Education and
Training. This programme essentially responds to the impact of HIV/AIDS and
children who have lost parents are prioritised.

Free meals are also provided by the Ministry of Education and Training to pupils in pre-
schools and primary schools. The total number of children who are provided with free meals
in pre-schools and primary schools by the ministry was estimated at three hundred and twenty
eight thousand (328 000) in 2014.

3. The government has enacted a Children’s Protection and Welfare Act of 2011 to
protect children and promote their welfare. The Children’s Protection and Welfare
Act, which is the domestication of the UNCRC safeguards the rights of children and
also outlines the responsibility of parents and the state to protect and fulfil these
rights. Children’s rights include: the right to identity, to education, to live with
their parents, to protection from exploitative labour and torture, right to health,
etc.

Social welfare services in Lesotho

The government of Lesotho has provided social welfare services beginning in 1976. These
services were however majorly remedial and curative in nature. Like many African countries,
the provision of welfare services in Lesotho was shaped by a minimalist approach. It is
believed under this approach that human needs should be met by the family and the market,

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and the provision of social welfare services by the government is legitimate only if they are
given to the most vulnerable members of society. Thus the organisation. Thus the explanation
why beneficiaries of such services in Lesotho are drawn largely from vulnerable groups such
as children older persons and people with disabilities.

Social welfare in Lesotho has largely been residual in nature as a result of adopting a
minimalist approach. A wide cast criticism levelled against residual approach is that:

 It creates dependency among beneficiaries, not helping them to bounce out of

poverty, and that the provision of handouts is not sustainable.

Social welfare under this approach focuses rather on addressing the symptoms as opposed to
the causes of social problems. These shortfalls of social welfare provision in Lesotho,
together with others have led to the revision of the relevance and effectiveness of social
welfare thereby resulting in the adoption of another paradigm, social development.

In its policy of Social Development 2014/2015- 2024/25, the government of Lesotho clarifies
that a shift to the social development approach does not mean abandoning activities that
traditionally fell within the circle of social welfare, but rather an adjustment to the approach
and orientation of those services. While a welfare approach focuses on immediate needs,
social development approach focuses on both immediate and long-term needs. A social
development approach seeks to empower individuals and communities to be self-sufficient,
with the view to improving the quality of life for all.

A social development approach seeks to address the conditions that create social exclusion.
The concepts of social development emerged in response to developmental distortions. Social
development is also informed by the understanding that development is underpinned by three
core values, namely; sustenance, self-esteem and freedom of service.

Sustenance: relates to the capacity of people to meet their basic human needs. (One’s ability
to sustain oneself)

Self-esteem: speaks to the need to preserve human dignity.

Freedom of service: entails removing structural obstacles to the realisation of wellbeing.

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The Ministry of Social Development in Lesotho

The Ministry of Social Development, formerly the department of social welfare was
established as s response to the model of welfare which was practised under the department
of social welfare. The ministry therefore, envision a nation where every poor and vulnerable
person is empowered through the creation of an integrated system of social development
services that facilitate sustainable human development.

The Ministry of Social Development again sets forth its mission as to lead and facilitate the
provision of sustainable social development services that are universally accessible to all
groups in Lesotho, collaboratively with other stakeholders.

The objectives of the ministry include the following:

 Policy formulation and strengthening of legal frameworks to facilitate social

development of the poor and marginalised groups.

 To oversee the provision of social development services to foster universal and

equitable access to all poor and vulnerable groups.

 To protect and promote the rights of all poor and vulnerable groups to ensure that
their basic needs are met.

 Mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS pandemic on vulnerable groups.

STRUCTURE OF THE MINISTRY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN LESOTHO

MINISTER

PRICIPAL SECRETARY (PS)

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DIRECTOR SOCIAL ASSISTANCE, DIRECTOR ELDERLY SERVICES, DIRECTOR CHILDREN
SERVICES, DIRECTOR OPERATIONS AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, DIRECTOR DISABILITY
SERVICE

CRITIQUES OF SOCIAL WELFARE PROVISION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND

IN LESOTHO

Social welfare provision has faced a number critiques including the following:

a) Instead of being seen as a positive contribution, social welfare has been viewed
negatively as a drain to societal resources. Some people hold the view that recipients
of social welfare are lazy and therefore they cause unnecessary burden to the society.
b) Social welfare provision has also been criticised for promoting dependency of welfare
recipients on the state. Most developing countries lack clear exit strategies for
recipients of social welfare. This leaves them with no choice but to depend on social
welfare, for some for the rest of their lives.
c) Social welfare is sometimes used recklessly by the recipients or caregivers of
recipients. There are no measures taken by the government to ensure accountability
and transparency on the use of social welfare by recipients or caregivers in the case
where recipients are children. This then results in the intended purpose of social
welfare going amiss.
d) Politicians in developing countries, during political campaigns use Social welfare on
their manifestos. This provides distorted view of Social welfare, to be seen as though
it were the politician’s efforts instead of concerted efforts of the members of the
society. Social welfare in this case appears to serve a personal agenda.

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PUBLIC ASSISTANCE

Public assistance (PA) in Lesotho is administered by the ministry of Social Development,

more specifically by the department of social assistance. It is meant for the most vulnerable
and needy individuals and families in the society. These among others include older persons,
children and persons with disabilities. Public assistance is issued both in cash and in kind.

Assistance in cash

This refers to cash assistance that is given to vulnerable groups or individuals with the
purpose that they meet their basic needs. Whereas this assistance was issued monthly, it is
currently given to beneficiaries on quarterly bases (three months). In most cases, each
beneficiary is entitled the amount of M750 per quarter. Depending on the outcomes of home
assessment, which is carried out by qualified social workers, it is possible that more than one
person, in the case of a family can be qualified to benefit from PA.

Assistance in kind

Assistance in kind is made up of material, food, devices that are offered to beneficiaries as
per their needs. These basically are non-monetary commodities that can be of help to
beneficiaries in one way or the other for example; wheelchairs for those who cannot walk,
orthopaedic boots, crutches, glasses, infant milk/ formula etc.

Eligibility criteria

 Must be Mosotho (evidence will be a chief’s letter and / birth certificate). A good
Samaritan can also refer the applicant
 Be destitute
 In the case of orphans, death certificate of parents is needed.

Assessment is on:

 Availability of fields or plots for ploughing.

 Affordability of relatives and extended family (noting their willingness to help). Also
their promptness in extending help.

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  Quantity and quality of assistance if any.

Community development in Lesotho

The department of community development (ministry of Social Development). This is a

newly established office or department in the Ministry of Social Development. The
department aims at meeting the economic and social welfare of people in their communities.
Community development drives the social development agenda of ensuring that people are at
the centre of development initiatives and that they are able to exercise their freedom of
choice.

Community development also benefits those who are under the scheme of public assistance
and or child grants. While community development does not target individuals, those
benefiting from the aforementioned programme can partner with other community members
on the project of their choice and approach the department of community development for
funding. A range of community projects are currently underway and have successfully
derived their funding from the Ministry of Social development. These projects include
piggery projects, chick hatchery, poultry projects, and merino breeding for production of
wool.

Those who are benefiting from public assistance are not immediately exempted from the
schemes upon registry under community development projects. Rather their efforts are given
a chance until they self-sustaining. The main objective of community development is to help
communities to graduate out of poverty.

The department of community development works closely with many stakeholders including
world vision. World vision contributes towards this initiative by equipping communities with
know-how or skills training.

Community development is still a small department and as such it is surrounded by a number

of challenges including that of shortage of staff. This has in turn hindered decentralisation of
services to the districts. However, social workers at the district level have been hands on in
propagating and executing some of the duties aligned to community development. Auxiliary
social workers have also been instrumental in disseminating information to the general public

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on community development. These they do majorly through public gatherings. Other
resourceful means of information sharing include the media and the local chiefs.

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