BuaNews (Tshwane)
Gabi Khumalo
28 October 2008
The Free State Provincial Government is expected to launch a campaign aimed at building a database of over 5 000 friends who are committed to supporting the department's poverty interventions.
MEC for Social Development Ouma Tsopo will launch the Friends of the Poor Campaign on Thursday, which will aim to build up a list of friends which will help the department raise funds and sponsorships to sustain food and clothing banks for 12 months.
This will ensure at least 10 welfare facilities which are not subsidized by the department are able to receive sponsorships, upgrade infrastructure and equipment.
During the event on Thursday, Ms Tsopo will unveil the logo of the campaign in order to enable potential participants to identify themselves with it and outline the programme to the public.
In pursuing the War Against Poverty, which is a government call for human solidarity to engage in deliberate and practical activities to restore human dignity and build caring communities, Ms Tsopo in July launched food and clothing banks help provide immediate relief to vulnerable people who are unable to receive adequate financial assistance.
The food banks provide safety nets to the indigent households who have been identified by the department.
The campaign has since been launched in the 11 poorest municipalities of the province.
Funding for community-based poverty interventions was realigned to focus on projects aimed at meeting basic needs based on poverty mapping.
The department said poverty was an affront to human dignity and humanity as a whole.
"It is menacing tracks and erodes dreams and destinies and tears down the social fabric," the department said.
The department said Ms Tsopo outlined a "pragmatic social plan which seeks to mitigate conditions of deprivation and develop responsive capacities of communities to win the war against poverty.
The plan is premised on the strategic imperatives including strengthening social protection measures, development of social and human capital, promote social cohesion, initiate and fund sustainable livelihood interventions and also develop and sustain partnerships with social partners to accelerate service delivery.
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