Gemma Wright

Measuring Multiple Deprivation at the Small-Area Level

Indices to measure deprivation at a small-area level have been used in the United Kingdom to target regeneration policy for over thirty years. The development of the Indices of Deprivation 2000 for England and comparable indices for Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, involved a fundamental reappraisal and reconceptualisation of small-area level multiple deprivation and its measurement. Multiple deprivation is articulated as an accumulation of discrete dimensions or ‘domains’ of deprivation. This paper presents the key principles that were taken into consideration when constructing these four indices and the more recent English Indices of Deprivation 2004, and provides an account of the statistical techniques that were used to operationalise them.

Developing a child-focused and multidimensional model of child poverty for South Africa

This paper presents a new method of measuring child poverty in South Africa, based on a theoretically sound distinction between the conceptualization, definition, measurement, and enumeration of poverty. Conceptual frameworks, definitions, and measurements of poverty are briefly reviewed in the international and South African contexts. This paper presents a child-centered, multidimensional model of child poverty with both absolute and relative poverty components. The absolute core of this model follows the Copenhagen Declaration and includes basic needs such as food and shelter. This is complemented by a relative component, using a multidimensional conceptualization of poverty, and based on a childs ability to participate fully in South African society. The dimensions, or domains of deprivation, for both absolute core and relative aspects can be the same; eight exemplar domains are presented here. Located between the models relative and absolute components and equally relevant to both components is found a ring of indicators relating to access to good-quality services. We argue that relative poverty can be defined both by consensually agreed upon necessities for societal inclusion and by research-delineated child needs. This approach, while presenting challenges for measurement, will provide policy makers with a better evidence base for combating child poverty.

Is there a rationale for conditional cash transfers for children in South Africa

The South African state awards unconditional means-tested cash transfers to the caregivers of some eight million poor children. Amidst increasing demands on the state for social assistance, and given the positive performance of conditional cash transfer programmes in Latin America, a salient policy question is: should the Child Support Grant (CSG) be made conditional on education or health related behaviour to enhance its effectiveness? The term ‘conditionality’ is used inconsistently in South Africa, and the article suggests separating out five categories or requirements for access to and continued receipt of social grants. We summarise the generally positive performance of conditional cash transfers in diverse Latin American programmes, showing in particular their marked effects on school attendance. The history, current reach and early impact of the CSG are then described. Using the five categories of administrative action, we describe how in the implementation of the unconditional CSG, a range of measures has been imposed which impose costs on applicants, and act to exclude poorer children and caregivers. Further, access to health and education appears to be a supply-side problem, rather than a problem of individual motivation. To be in line with South Africa’s Constitution, better administration and provision is likely to be a more rational, just and efficient intervention than the imposition of conditionalities.

Developing a Democratic Definition of Poverty in South Africa

ABSTRACT The democratic approach to defining poverty is set in its theoretical context. The relevance of the approach for South Africa is discussed, and a definition is presented which emerges from quantitative research undertaken in South Africa in 2005. Various issues are considered in relation to the South African case, in particular the extent and nature of consensus across different groups; evidence of whether bounded realities and adaptive preferences could be deflating the definition; and a consideration of how the definition may change over time, particularly in relation to transitional necessities and the views of young people.

Social security for young people amidst high poverty and unemployment: Some policy options for South Africa

South African youth experience extremely high levels of unemployment and poverty. Currently there is no social assistance for low-income young adults in South Africa unless they are disabled. Interventions are needed that can achieve widespread poverty alleviation, as well as help facilitate economic participation to improve lifelong earnings. In this article, six examples of social security policy options are considered, including five grants ranging from an unconditional non-means-tested grant for young people to a conditional grant for young people in training or education, plus an ‘Opportunities voucher’ that is administered through the social security system but paid out to organisations offering youth education or work opportunities. Using a tax and benefit microsimulation model to simulate the five grants, we estimate the potential numbers reached and cost, as well as the impact of these six options on poverty.

Social assistance and dignity: South African women's experiences of the child support grant

Many women interact with the South African social security system in relation to the Child Support Grant (CSG), which is social assistance payable for children living with low-income caregivers. This paper explores womens accounts of how the CSG serves to protect and respect dignity, a foundational value in the South African Constitution. Drawing from focus groups and in-depth interviews with female CSG recipients of working age, it is argued that whilst the experience of using the CSG does protect dignity in certain important respects, other aspects including the application process, the small amount of the grant and negative discourses associated with the status of being a CSG recipient were experienced by many as erosive of dignity.

Developing a spatial measure of exposure to socio-economic inequality in South Africa

It is well documented that South Africa has high levels of poverty, deprivation and income inequality and, additionally, high levels of violent crime and social unrest. Debates about the drivers of social problems such as violent crime have shifted internationally and locally from a focus on poverty to a focus on inequality. However, there is very little empirical evidence to quantify this relationship in South Africa due, in part, to a lack of suitable measures of socio-economic inequality and, in particular, spatial measures of inequality at a detailed geographical level. In the international literature, measures of small area-level spatial inequality have generally been expressed in terms of residential segregation. We use Massey and Dentons five dimensions of residential segregation as our starting point, and assess their appropriateness as measures of spatial socio-economic inequality for the South African context. Focusing on their dimensions of ‘exposure’ and ‘clustering’, we develop a measure of spatial inequality which, we argue, can be described as a geographical measure of the ‘lived experience of inequality’ in that it reflects peoples likely exposure to inequality as they go about their daily lives. Our final measure takes the form of a deprivation-adjusted local distance-weighted exposure index.

LONE MOTHERHOOD IN SOUTH AFRICA: SOME METHODOLOGICAL CHALLENGES AND POLICY IMPERATIVES

ABSTRACT In this paper a working definition of lone motherhood in the South African context is presented. Whilst rejecting any assumption that lone motherhood is necessarily experienced as an identity, it is argued that the category of lone motherhood has analytical value as it exposes the circumstances faced by women who care for children without a partner or spouse present. The working definition is operationalised using household survey data and certain methodological challenges are discussed. A profile of lone mothers is presented and it is demonstrated that lone mothers living with children are more deprived than women who additionally live with a partner or spouse. This raises several policy imperatives including the need for broader debates about valuing unpaid care work and achieving comprehensive social security, particularly within the hostile climate of widespread poverty and unemployment.

Does Widespread Lack Undermine the Socially Perceived Necessities Approach to Defining Poverty? Evidence from South Africa

The socially perceived necessities or ‘consensual’ approach to defining and measuring poverty is based on an assumption that it is possible to obtain a collective view from society on the necessities for an acceptable standard of living. The enforced lack of the necessities due – typically – to lack of resources can be regarded as poverty. The validity of the approach has been questioned on a number of grounds including the argument that peoples socio-economic circumstances may influence what they define as a necessity. Widespread lack of material possessions and access to services could result in these items being regarded as ‘less necessary’, which in turn could artificially deflate the definition of poverty using this approach. Informed by the adaptive preferences literature and drawing on a nationally representative South African Socially Attitudes Survey this paper explores whether there is evidence in South Africa of an association between peoples patterns of possession and their definition of items as essential. Notwithstanding the fact that possession of an item is strongly associated with peoples preferences, the evidence on balance suggests that widespread lack does not undermine the validity of the approach.

‘To be a woman is to make a plan’: a qualitative study exploring mothers’ experiences of the Child Support Grant in supporting children’s diets and nutrition in South Africa

Food security and good nutrition are key determinants of child well-being. There is strong evidence that cash transfers such as South Africa’s Child Support Grant (CSG) have the potential to help address some of the underlying drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition by providing income to caregivers in poor households, but it is unclear how precisely they work to affect child well-being and nutrition. We present results from a qualitative study conducted to explore the role of the CSG in food security and child well-being in poor households in an urban and a rural setting in South Africa. Setting Mt Frere, Eastern Cape (rural area); Langa, Western Cape (urban township). Participants CSG recipient caregivers and community members in the two sites . We conducted a total of 40 in-depth interviews with mothers or primary caregivers in receipt of the CSG for children under the age of 5 years. In addition, five focus group discussions with approximately eight members per group were conducted. Data were analysed using manifest and latent thematic content analysis methods. Results The CSG is too small on its own to improve child nutrition and well-being. Providing for children’s diets and nutrition competes with other priorities that are equally important for child well-being and nutrition. Conclusions In addition to raising the value of the CSG so that it is linked to the cost of a nutritious basket of food, more emphasis should be placed on parallel structural solutions that are vital for good child nutrition outcomes and well-being, such as access to free quality early child development services that provide adequate nutritious meals, access to adequate basic services and the promotion of appropriate feeding, hygiene and care practices.