The implementation of the Sanitary Dignity Implementation Policy Framework and the Sanitary Dignity Programme is coordinated and monitored by the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. The equitable share budget allocation is given to various implementing provinces from the National Treasury. At National level, the implementation of the programme is shared between the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Department of Social Development (DSD). National DSD implements the programme in four (4) provinces, which is Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Western Cape and Eastern Cape while DBE is implementing in five (5) provinces, namely Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Northern Cape and North-West.
Moreover, this province has strategically included the target for the provision of sanitary towels in the Annual Performance Plans. Learners who are mostly vulnerable and those in quintile 1 and 2 schools in the townships, villages and farm schools are being provided with dignitary packs on a quarterly basis.
The Department provides sanitary towels, on a small scale, to targeted learners from impoverished households and disadvantaged schools. Also, the provision of sanitary towels is made as a form of intervention during disasters. The Department is targeting 10 000 beneficiaries to receive dignity packs throughout this financial year. In 2016, the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities scaled up the provision of sanitary towels to benefit the majority of girl-children in quintile 1 and quintile 2 schools. During this period, it was decided that the North West Province Department of Education is strategically positioned to roll-out the large scale provisioning of sanitary towels to beneficiaries in that province.
The Department of Basic Education may be in a better position to provide specifics in terms of the number of sanitary towels provided and cost implications.