(a) Apart from monitoring statistical trends such as the changes to poverty produced by STATSSA, the department also conducts periodical impact evaluations
The social development sector has institutionalised the results-based management approach in contributing to the desired developmental state as outlined in the National Development Plan vision 2030. The department has been committed to the use of evidence from evaluations to inform decision making by managers, improve policy formulation and programme performance.
The department has conducted a number of evaluation studies to measure the effectiveness, outcomes, sustainability and impacts of the services delivered to communities and especially poor and vulnerable households, as well as gather an understanding of the lessons to be learnt. A brief outline of the evaluations that have been conducted in the last five years is as follows:
(b) The National Drug Master Plan provides a multisectoral blueprint for South Africa’s response to substance abuse. It is aimed at improving efficiency and effectiveness and interventions in preventing substance abuse by providing a clear national policy statement, leadership and coordination of activities related to countering the substance abuse problem in South Africa. The implementation of the NDMP 2013 – 2017, ensured that South Africa reaffirmed its commitment to effectively addressing and countering the world drug problem in partnership with every local, national and international stakeholders. NDMP 2013 – 2017 was fully implemented. The implementation evaluation of NDMP 2013 – 2017 was conducted in order to understand whether, and how it has been implemented and how likely it is to facilitate efficient and effective service delivery across different institutions and programmes for reducing substance abuse. Amongst the recommendations provided from the implementation evaluation report were the following: The NDMP needs to be reviewed and harmonise its approaches; the Provincial Substance Abuse Forums and the Local Drug Action Committees be strengthened and it should have an Implementation Plan. The NDMP 2013 – 2017 was reviewed and NDMP 2019 – 2024. The NDMP 2019-2024 was approved by Cabinet in October 2019. Government Departments are currently being capacitated to implement the NDMP guided by the Implementation Plan