SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SECTOR MAPS OUT FUTURE AT NATIONAL ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN WORKSHOP

By Nonhlakanipho Masola.

• The Department of Social Development is bringing the sector’s organisational structure in line with South Africa’s changing policy and legislative landscape.
• A three-day national workshop is taking place under the theme “Structural resilience: The future of organisational structure in the social development sector, now and beyond 2030”.
• The review is not a compliance exercise, but a strategic effort to respond to community needs, according to the Free State’s acting head of department for Social Development, Nelisiwe Ntombela.

The Department of Social Development’s Organisational Design and Human Resource Planning unit today opened a three-day national workshop in Bloemfontein to plan the future of the sector’s organisational structure in line with South Africa’s evolving policy and legislative landscape.

Running from 13 to 15 August 2025 at the Kopano Nokeng Country Lodge and Conference Centre, the engagement is themed “Structural resilience: The future of organisational structure in the social development sector, now and beyond 2030”.

It brings together the National Department of Social Development, the Department of Basic Education, and the Free State Office of the Premier.

The workshop aims to streamline the provincial generic organisational structure to ensure it is aligned with significant changes in policies, legislation, mandates, strategies, and national priorities.

The process will guide the review of each province’s organisational structure at provincial, district, and institutional levels, including facilities such as child and youth care centres and secure care facilities.

This effort builds on a resolution of the Human Resource Consultative Forum (HRCF) in July 2025 to review the sector generic organisational structure – first developed in 2012 – to ensure it keeps pace with shifts in governance and service delivery requirements.

From compliance to service impact

Acting head of department for Social Development in the Free State, Nelisiwe Ntombela, stressed that the review was not a compliance exercise, but a strategic effort to respond to community needs.

“We did not embark on this journey of the organisational structure review as a box-ticking exercise.

“We want to align our organisational structure to the new priorities, to the new policy, as well as legislation,” Ntombela said.

“The communities that we serve are not looking for an elegant chart; they are looking for us to deliver our services reliably.

“The service delivery model is important, and an organisational structure is not the end. It is a vehicle to deliver services to those communities,” she added.

Ntombela emphasised the importance of addressing developments in the child protection system and noted that the fiscal space was tighter than when the province last reviewed its structure in 2013, even as demands for psychosocial support continued to grow.

Child protection and funding commitments

Ntombela assured delegates that the workshop would produce clear and implementable outcomes, supported by all the provinces.

“We have funding to increase capacity in partial care now that the early childhood development function has shifted to the Department of Basic Education, and to resource our child and youth care centres and secure care centres.

“We have already costed our draft organisational structure, and it aligns with the provincial budget over the medium-term expenditure framework period,” she said.

She also reflected on questions posed by the provincial executive, including whether there would be alignment and sufficient funding to establish child protection units by 2029, and whether resources would be adequate to strengthen partial care, child and youth care centres, and secure care facilities.

By the conclusion of the workshop on Friday, stakeholders are expected to finalise a revised draft provincial generic organisational structure that is responsive, efficient, and adaptable to future challenges.

Discussions will also cover the development of generic organisational structures for provincial social development institutions and facilities – an essential step to strengthening operational capacity and ensuring consistent service delivery across all provinces.