Novel programme that prioritises SA’s elderly receives 2023 Social Responsiveness Award

For championing the rights and needs of older persons in southern Africa and for its unrelenting commitment to their well-being, the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Family Caregiving of Older Persons in Southern Africa programme has received the 2023 Social Responsiveness Award.

Led by Professor Elena Moore from the Department of Sociology in the Faculty of Humanities, the programme seeks to explore and provide a better understanding of the meaning of family care for older people in Southern Africa.

And this work aligns perfectly with the criteria for a Social Responsiveness Award, which honours work that contributes to the country’s cultural, economic, political and scientific and social landscape, and cements community service into the university’s research and teaching and learning undertakings. As a socially engaged institution, this is core to UCT’s Vision 2030.

“It is a real honour to receive this award.”

“It is a real honour to receive this award. Our work at the Family Caregiving of Older Persons in Southern Africa programme is relatively new, but the team has been working very hard alongside our partners to elevate the voices and concerns of older persons in the Southern Africa region,” said Professor Moore. “At local, national and international level, we are making sure that the value and recognition of care is centred.”

Moore said the award also recognises the importance of going beyond South Africa to broaden perspectives of elderly care systems by exploring community care practices and possibilities in the broader Southern African region, including Botswana, Malawi, South Africa and Namibia.

Accelerating research

Over the past few months, Moore said, the team has been actively involved in important work to accelerate care for older persons. This work forms part of the bigger research study and involves creating awareness of government’s Grant in Aid (GIA). The grant, she explained, targets the elderly who already receive a state pension, but are unable to perform everyday tasks such as bathing, dressing and walking by themselves. As a result, she said, they need regular assistance and are eligible for the GIA.

Yet past research findings indicate that despite the high levels of care needed among older persons in communities across the country, few apply, receive or even know about the GIA. In 2024, she said, only 9% of older persons who received a state pension also received the GIA. And while many older persons are eligible for the grant, the administrative process to apply for it is costly and disabling. In recent months there has been significant uptake with applications, but approximately 1.5 million eligible older persons still do not receive the grant.

“The number of people not living in residential care facilities who need assistance with the basic activities of daily living remains high. So, we embarked on this mainly ethnographic work to deepen our understanding of what is happening. We want to support more older persons in the application process for this grant; and while doing so, it will give us good insight into some of the reasons for the low uptake. Hopefully we can work with the relevant stakeholders to streamline the process,” Moore said.

Key questions

Researchers have been on a drive to ensure more older persons benefit from this grant, to positively impact their lives and those of their carers. This, Moore said, includes investigating and understanding what the elderly know about the GIA; understanding why the grant uptake is low but has increased significantly in certain provinces; and reviewing local, provincial and national data to provide a comprehensive understanding of the application process.

“Prioritising older persons’ care needs to be transformative, it needs to undo the injustices of the past.”

The team has already reviewed data from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), as well as national and private websites that reference the GIA. Researchers also attended special roadshows organised by SASSA’s provincial offices to improve awareness and increase grant uptake. In the last few months, researchers have assisted 15 older persons with new GIA applications.

“Most of us have grown up with grandparents who at some point needed assistance with walking and getting to the bathroom or the clinic. The burden of care that non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, cancer and diabetes cause is devastating, and it affects the elderly and their households,” she said. “Therefore, prioritising older persons’ care needs to be transformative, it needs to undo the injustices of the past and support older persons who are in need of support. This is why receiving additional support like the GIA is so important.”

Prioritising ‘person-centred’ work

Moore said what follows next is engagement sessions with SASSA, the national Department of Social Development and other stakeholders to present the outcome of their work later this month. She said their research demonstrates that there’s a need to review the GIA conceptualisation and application process to increase grant uptake.

Reflecting on their 2023 Social Responsiveness Award, Moore said she is thrilled and grateful that the university has recognised their essential and ongoing “person-centred” work and the team’s commitment to improving the quality of life for older people and families in Southern African societies.

“We hope that this work demonstrates our steadfast commitment to all older persons in the region.”

“We are dedicated to helping older persons. We care deeply about their care needs and want to support them in any way possible. We hope that this work demonstrates our steadfast commitment to all older persons in the region,” she said. “With this award we have made an impact, and we are delighted that the older persons we work with are seen and heard too.”