GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
Theme 2: Institutional Challenges
2.3 Budgetary challenges
Ndlovu (2004) revealed in her study that provincial government departments budgetary experiences were mainly shaped by the structure of conditional grants. The provision of conditional grants from national government is imperative, given the fact that provinces depend on these grants for HIV/AIDS
programme implementation. A report on 'Intergovernmental funding flows for an integrated response in the social sector' written by Hickey, Ndlovu and Guthrie (2003) indicate that South Africa's HIV/AIDS financing strategy must rely on both provincial allocations for HIV/AIDS as well as continuation of the conditional grants (such as the NIP). Apart from looking at trends in social expenditure in general to assess government expenditure in relation to HIV/AIDS, a key objective of this study was to look at conditional grants received by government for HIV/AIDS. The distribution of the NIP grant is assessed relative to the HIV/AIDS epidemic infection rates in KZN. Moreover, the discussion looks into the experiences of the DoE's actually spending these funds earmarked for the implementation of the life-skills, sexuality and HIV/AIDS education programme at schools. Ndlovu (2004) indicated that with regard to spending of HIV/AIDS conditional grants, provinces are continuously improving their performance since the inception of the National Integrated Plan for HIV/AIDS in 2000/1. "Education life-skills conditional grant spending improved from 22.3% in 2000/1 to 80% in 2003/4" (Idasa Budget Brief, 147, October 2004).
In the interview with the national co-ordinator of the project she stated that the programme started in KwaZulu-Natal on April 2000 when "people from the national Department of Education, Health and Social Development came down to the province to announce the implementation of the NIP, we experienced quite a lot of problems accessing the funds and the programme". Ndlovu (2004:2) revealed that "the issue of transferring money to provinces delays implementation and prioritisation of projects". Furthermore, the national co- ordinator added "there is
a
concern around impact that is national government is pushing for spending of money but insufficient mechanisms are in place to measure outpuf'. It is here that Ndlovu (2004:6) rightly indicated that: "there is a need to monitor progress - to investigate whether grants are reaching the right beneficiaries - rigorous monitoring systems need to be put into place".According to the 2003/4 Budget for HIV/AIDS these allocations increase as the capacity for the implementation of these programmes is strengthened (Hickey and Ndlovu 2003). In the first year of the NIP, the Provincial Department of
Education received the bulk of the combined provincial grant. The national co- ordinator indicated that the budget allocation for 2004/2005 was R29 188 000 - that goes into a lot of programmes. The budget allocation for 2005/06 had been increased to R 31 million. Funds are allocated to provinces on an equitable share basis. According to the National Co-ordinator of the NIP project, KwaZulu-Natal received a "bigger share because we have the highest number of schools and the highest number of learners".
An important point made by the national co-ordinator with regard to budgetary challenges experienced was: "when you look at the number of people implementing the programme, you feel for the number of people that are there, if you give extra there is going to be problems as there is no human resource capacity to deliver services". Clearly the findings reveal that the implementation process at provincial level depends on important factors such as human resource capacity and the overall priorities of the given province. Ongoing transformation in personnel and re-structuring in government departments has had a disruptive effect in developing capacity and ultimately implementation of programmes (cited in Ndlovu 2004).
Additionally, the district co-ordinators spoke about the lack of resources such as access to cars for travelling to schools to conduct site visits. One of them stated:
In the lIIembe district, the number of schools that I am responsible for is 434 and the distance between schools is large because it is
a
rural area. I travel about 150km and you know when you go home, you are tired and tomorrow you've got to go as well. Each district had been given 2 cars at the onset of the project in 2001, however for 2005106 this has been reduced to one car, which further stresses the sustainability of the programme, the monitoring care and support that we are supposed to provide to educators at schools.Clearly if district co-ordinators have to provide quality training, monitoring and support to ensure effective sustainable programme implementation, one district co-ordinator per 434 schools is grossly inadequate. Moreover, budgetary constraints had led to the lack of organisational resources which had affected the capacity to deliver optimally on the programme. The national co-ordinator acknowledged these problems when she stated:
The budget as I say because we have fewer manpower (sic) and also the fact that we are not so integrated it becomes difficult to manage and sustain the programme
Burns (in Du Bois and Miley, 1992:234) noted that analysing and evaluating social policy needs must be undertaken with "reference to their adequacy and effectiveness in attaining certain goals, their economy in the use of scarce resources and their consistency with accepted social values". Seedat (1997:24) argues that the key question in South Africa is "whether political liberation in itself empowers people to do things that were not or could not be done before".
Incremental NIP budget allocations require improved capacity to manage and spend these allocations. The findings reveal that the Provincial Department of Education is under strain due to shortage of staff and insufficient management structures at district levels. It is therefore essential that the national Department of Education formulate a comprehensive plan for human resource development in support of annual incremental budgets. This would lead to a more holistic response to the epidemic. Additionally the Department of Education needs to strengthen its monitoring, evaluation and district -based support treatment, care and supportive services to learners, educators and families either infected and or affected by HIV/AIDS and to expand the institutional support systems in schools.
The following theme provides insight into the training of educators in the eThekwini region.