PROJECT REPORT. Costing the Children s Protection and Welfare Act, 2011 of Lesotho

Transcription

1 PROJECT REPORT Costing the Children s Protection and Welfare Act, 2011 of Lesotho May 2014

2 Acknowledgements The project team would like to thank everyone who contributed information and useful insights to the process of costing the CPWA. A list of participants is presented in Appendix C. Our sincere apologies to anyone who has been accidentally left out from the list. Particular thanks to Me Malebona Takalimane from the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Service and Me Mantsenki Mphalane from the Ministry of Social Development, who were the supervisors for the project. Also special thanks to the members of the Reference Group the training workshop and meeting discussions were a very valuable source of information and greatly facilitated the development of the variables that informed the costing models. We also thank all other officials and role-players we interviewed or who supplied us with information. In this regard, particular thanks to Mr Habofanoe Makopela from the Ministry of Finance for providing access to budget information, as well as Me Motselisi Shale and the team from Lesotho Save the Children for taking the time to discuss the budgets for the Maseru Children s Village and Child Helpline. Very special thanks to Me Farida Noureddine of UNICEF Lesotho for playing a key role in initiating the project. Her dedication to moving the project forward and to the vision of seeing the full implementation of the CPWA for the benefit of all children in Lesotho was an inspiration. The team wishes her well with her future endeavours. Thanks to Me Lipotso Musi of UNICEF Lesotho for managing the closure of the project. Also thanks to Me Emily Monyama of the Global Fund Co-ordinating Unit Lesotho for managing many of the logistical aspects of the project so smoothly. The Project Team This project was co-funded by the Global Fund Lesotho and UNICEF Citation suggestion Barberton, C., Carter, J., and Abdoll, C., Costing the Children s Protection and Welfare Act, 2011 of Lesotho, Report for the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Service, Maseru, Lesotho This report and the related costing models can be downloaded from: Project team Conrad Barberton Jonathan Carter Carmen Abdoll conrad@cornerstonesa.net jonathan@cornerstonesa.net carmen@cornerstonesa.net Senior Researchers with Cornerstone Economic Research

3

4 Key Action Points A key assumption underpinning the scope of the costing is that the Government needs to take full responsibility for funding the services envisaged by the CPWA. This means the Government needs to prioritise child protection services in the allocation of funds in the budget. It is estimated that the Government of Lesotho spent M28.4 million on CPWA services during the financial year 2012/13. To place this in perspective, this is about 0.32 per cent of the total budgeted expenditure of M8 749 million. The following table shows the overall estimated cost of implementing the CPWA according to three scenarios: Overall cost of implementing the CPWA and funding gap Maloti Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Total annual operating cost Government expenditure on CPWA services in 2012/ Funding Gap Funding gap as % of estimated annual operating cost 98% 31% 85% Total setup costs Operational setup cost Setup capital cost - furniture Setup capital cost - vehicles Setup capital cost - buildings costs are presented separately below The Fixed Scenario envisages all children in need of care and protection being served. It thus provides a 20-year vision to work towards. Scenario 1 shows the costs of serving the current number of children in accordance with the service norms and standards set out in the CPWA. Scenario 2 estimates the cost of increasing the capacity of the relevant Ministries to serve ten times the number of children they are currently serving. It estimates a total cost of M195 million to do so. This means that, in 2012/13, the funding gap was 85%. To close the gap would require an additional M167 million per year, plus the setup costs in the initial years. This is an achievable five-year target within the context of the Government s budget and MTEF. Key issues emerging from the costing 1. Operational setup costs are necessary to ensure proper implementation The operational setup costs cover the development of regulations, guidelines and forms, as well as initial training. It is estimated that these activities would cost between M8.4 million and M14.5 million, depending on the scenario. Both of these amounts fall well within the Government s fiscal capacity to fund. 2. Staff require furniture and equipment to do their work The successful implementation of the CPWA is going to depend on staff being motived. Part of motivating them involves ensuring they have access to properly equipped offices, computers (preferably laptops), telephones and cell phones. It also requires formalising processes, ensuring proper records are kept, ensuring data is collected, collated and used for monitoring, and that staff are able to co-ordinate and collaborate with colleagues. 3. Staff require access to vehicles to serve communities If the CPWA is to be implemented effectively, officials need to be able to get into communities to visit households, search for parents, settle disputes around estates, train Village Child Justice Committees, facilitate restorative justice processes, etc. Providing vehicles in sufficient numbers is probably the greatest financial obstacle to the implementation of the CPWA.

5 However, given that for the price of one bakkie one can buy about 35 motorbikes, it is proposed that the Government should consider buying motorbikes for social workers, auxiliary social workers, probation officers and other officials who need to get out into communities. 4. The subventions to places of safety need to be re-evaluated To keep a child in a place of safety costs M2 822 per month. This means the current subvention of M100 per child per month paid to designated places of safety only covers 3.5 per cent of the actual cost. Government needs to consider whether it is in the best interests of children to allocate the subvention to an increasing number of places of safety, or to ensure that children in a limited number of places of safety are cared for properly. If the latter strategy is followed, the Ministry of Social Development: i. will need to close down those places of safety that cannot demonstrate that they have the funds to provide an acceptable level of care for children, ii. will need to ensure that the measures set out in the CPWA to regulate the placement of children in places of safety are activated and enforced, and iii. will need to appoint more social workers to work on reunification, family foster care, fostering and adoptions so as to limit the length of time children stay in places of safety. Implementation priorities for the CPWA The recently-completed National Multisectoral Child Protection Strategy /5 2018/19 provides the overall vision and strategy for protecting children in Lesotho. The implementation of the CPWA is an important component of this broader strategy. Within this context, the following 22 implementation priorities for the CPWA have been identified. The higher-priority activities focus on prevention and early intervention, on ensuring a proper case management system is in place, and on increasing the number of social workers working on processes to reunite children with their families, fostering and adoptions. Costed implementation priorities for the CPWA for 2015/16 to 2017/18 Maloti Cost of implementation priorities Priority Activities to implement the CPWA 2015/ / /18 1 Development of regulations, forms, SOPs and guidelines Setup five early intervention programmes Setup child protection case management system Training of social workers: prevention and early intervention Appoint one social worker in each district to do permanency assessments Provide training to Village Child Justice Committees Training of social workers: case management Put in place systems to ensure Children's Courts make placement orders Establish unit to register and exercise oversight of residential institutions Training of police officers on the CPWA and dealing with children Take on the funding responsibility of the national child helpline Appoint one legal officer per district to work on children's matters in the Office of the Master of the High Court 13 Appoint two additional social workers to the adoptions unit to work on fostering Training of social workers: alternative care and permanency Training of social workers: children in contact with the law Develop formal standard diversion programmes Appoint one probation officer in each district Training of probation officers, prosecutors and magistrates on the CPWA Increase subventions to places of safety to 50% of cost per child (phased in at M100 increase per year) 20 Establish central authority for adoptions Establish the preliminary enquiries process Training of child care workers in places of safety Total new funding required to implement above priorities

6 Costing the Children s Protection and Welfare Act, 2011 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... I SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION THE PURPOSE OF COSTING LEGISLATION DESCRIPTION OF THE CPWA COSTING PROJECT SOURCES AND TYPES OF INFORMATION CHALLENGES AND LIMITATIONS OF THE PROJECT STRUCTURE OF THIS REPORT... 8 SECTION 2 REVIEW OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON CPWA-RELATED SERVICES INTRODUCTION MINISTRY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT MINISTRY OF JUSTICE AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICE THE JUDICIARY HOW IS THIS EXPENDITURE INFORMATION USED IN COSTING THE CPWA? SECTION 3 COST OF IMPLEMENTING THE CPWA INTRODUCTION SETUP COSTS OF IMPLEMENTING THE CPWA ANNUAL OPERATIONAL COST OF THE SERVICES ENVISAGED BY THE CPWA COST OF FACILITIES ENVISAGED BY THE CPWA SECTION 4 PHASED IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR THE CPWA INTRODUCTION LINKS TO THE NATIONAL MULTISECTORAL CHILD PROTECTION STRATEGY PHASED IMPLEMENTATION PLAN SECTION 5 THE WAY FORWARD REFERENCES ANNEXURE A COSTING METHODOLOGY AND MODEL ANNEXURE B NORMS AND STANDARDS FOR COSTING THE SERVICES DESCRIBED IN THE CPWA ANNEXURE C LIST OF PROJECT PARTICIPANTS... 68

7 List of Tables Table 1: Overall government spending on CPWA-related services... 9 Table 2: Ministry of Social Development budget by cost centre 2012/ Table 3: Ministry of Social Development general administration by expenditure category 2012/ Table 4: Breakdown of selected national cost centre budgets by expenditure category 2012/ Table 5: District cost centre warrant releases by expenditure category 2012/ Table 6: Ministry of Social Development spending on salaries by cost centre Table 7: District cost centre spending per child 2012/ Table 8: Ministry of Justice and Correctional Service budget 2012/ Table 9: Ministry of Justice probation unit by expenditure category 2012/ Table 10: Ministry of Justice Lesotho correctional services by expenditure category 2012/ Table 11: Ministry of Justice districts correctional services warrant releases 2012/ Table 12: The Judiciary s budget by cost centre 2012/ Table 13: The Judiciary subordinate courts by district and by expenditure category 2012/ Table 14: The Judiciary budget for The Master of the High Court by expenditure category 2012/ Table 15: Overall cost of implementing the CPWA and funding gap Table 16: Operational setup costs by activity Table 17: Operational setup costs for developing regulations, guidelines, etc. by activity Table 18: Operational setup costs for initial training to implement the CPWA by activity Table 19: Setup capital costs furniture and equipment by ministry Table 20: Option A: Setup capital costs vehicles: only bakkies Table 21: Option B: Setup capital costs vehicles: mostly motorbikes Table 22: Annual operational cost of services by activity Table 23: Annual operational cost of services by ministry Table 24: Cost of personnel by activity Table 25: Categories of personnel required to implement the CPWA Table 26: Total cost of on-going training by activity Table 27: The cost of increasing the subvention for places of safety Table 28: Building and operational costs of facilities mentioned in the CPWA Table 31: Priority ranking of activities for implementing the CPWA Table 32: Tool to assess the practicality of the proposed implementation activities Table 33: Costed Implementation priorities for the CPWA for 2015/16 to 2017/ Table 29: Overall cost of the Implementation Plan 2015/16 to 2017/ Table 30: Implementation Plan operational setup costs by activity List of Figures Figure 1: Project elements and process... 2 Figure 2: Ministry of Social Development district cost centre spending per child 2012/ List of Abbreviations CPWA CGPU JTC NGO MTEF SOP Children s Protection and Welfare Act Child and Gender Protection Unit Juvenile Training Centre Non-Governmental Organisation Medium Term Expenditure Framework Standard Operating Procedures

8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Executive Summary The aim of the costing: to calculate the extent of Government s financial obligations The primary aim of this project is to estimate the cost to the Government of Lesotho of implementing, in a phased manner, the different services envisaged by the Children s Protection and Welfare Act No. 7 of 2011 (referred to in this document as CPWA ). Currently, when a ministry provides services to children, it pays the full cost of doing so, whether the service provision is cost-effective or not. When a ministry contracts a company to provide services (e.g. training), it pays the full-cost of the service plus a profit margin. By contrast, the subventions that ministries pay to NGOs for the provision of services to children rarely cover the full cost of providing such services. Those NGOs that can, raise funds privately to cover the shortfall. Where this is not possible, the under-funding impacts negatively on the quality of the services, and ultimately on the sustainability of the NGOs. This situation is inequitable from the perspective of the children who are the recipients of these services. Therefore a key assumption underpinning the scope of the costing is that the Government needs to take full responsibility for funding the services envisaged by the CPWA. Review of government spending on CPWA-related services Various ministries are required to deliver CPWA-related services. The greatest responsibilities are placed on the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Service and the Ministry of Police (though the services are integrated within normal policing activities). The Judiciary also plays an important role. Lessor responsibilities are placed on the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Home Affairs. The following table shows the cost centres of the three ministries responsible for delivering the main CPWA-related services and estimates what proportion of their spending goes to those services. Table E1: Overall government spending on CPWA-related services 2012/13 Maloti Cost centres that deliver CPWArelated services Warrant releases Estimated spending on CPWA-related 2012/13 services Assumptions Ministry of Social Development Administration Child welfare services share of Administration plus 10% of salaries Child welfare services % - mainly funds subsidies to places of safety Orphans and vulnerable children Goes to children, but not for CPWA-related services Districts services Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services Administration Proportional share of administration Legal aid Assume 30% of spending benefits children in conflict with the law Probation Assume 75% of spending relates to CPWA-related services Lesotho Correctional Services Assume 4% of correctional services spending relates to children District correctional services Assume 1% of correctional services spending relates to children The Judiciary Court of Appeal Assume 2% of spending relates to children High Court Assume 2% of spending relates to children Subordinate/magistrates courts Assume 10% of spending relates to children Master of the High Court Assume 60% of spending relates to CPWA-related services Estimated spending on CPWA-related services i

9 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO It is estimated that the Government of Lesotho spent M28.4 million on CPWA-related services during the financial year 2012/2013. To place this in perspective, this is about 0.32 per cent of the Government of Lesotho s total budgeted expenditure of M8 749 million. Of this amount, M14.5 million was spent on CPWA-related services related to children in conflict with the law, and M13.9 million on CPWA-related services related to protecting and assisting vulnerable children. This indicates that spending is strongly oriented towards combating crime rather than addressing the needs of vulnerable children, given that there are significantly fewer children in conflict with the law than the number requiring care and protection. To give a concrete example, in 2012/13 the Ministry of Social Development spent M1.09 million to subsidise an estimated 910 places in children s homes at M100 per month. Compare this to the M4.8 million spent by Lesotho Correctional Services in 2012/13 to detain at most 80 children in prisons, mostly in the JTC. This works out to an average cost per detained child of M4 996 per month, fifty times the monthly subsidy provided to vulnerable children living in places of safety. Overall cost of implementing the CPWA Two Excel costing models were developed to cost the CPWA. The following table shows the overall estimated cost of implementing the CPWA according to three scenarios: Table E2: Overall cost of implementing the CPWA and funding gap Maloti Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Total annual operating cost Government expenditure on CPWA services in 2012/ Funding Gap Funding gap as % of estimated annual operating cost 98% 31% 85% Total setup costs Operational setup cost Setup capital cost - furniture Setup capital cost - vehicles Setup capital cost - buildings costs are presented separately below With reference to the above table: i. The Fixed Scenario should be viewed as the vision that the Government is working towards achieving over the next twenty years. It estimates the annual operational cost of implementing the CPWA at M1.4 billion. This means that, in 2012/13, the funding gap was 98 per cent. In other words, the Government s 2012/13 level of expenditure was only sufficient to provide two per cent of what is required. ii. Scenario 1 provides an initial target for the respective ministries to work towards over the next two years namely to ensure that the services they do deliver comply with the norms and standards envisaged by the CPWA and to fill any service gaps that exist. It estimates the annual operational cost of implementing the CPWA at M40 million. This means that, in 2012/13, the funding gap was 31%. An additional M12.5 million per year is required to implement the service norms and standards envisaged by the CPWA while maintaining the current level of service provision. iii. Scenario 2 estimates the cost of increasing the capacity of the relevant ministries to serve ten times the number of children they are currently serving. It estimates the cost of doing so at M195 million. This means that, in 2012/13, the funding gap was 85%. To close the ii

10 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY gap would require an additional M167 million. This is an achievable five-year target within the context of the Government s budget and MTEF. iv. The total setup costs range from M46 million to M1.46 billion, depending on the scenario. The primary cost driver is the cost of providing social workers and other officials with the vehicles they require to perform their duties. This cost is probably the greatest financial obstacle to the effective implementation of the CPWA (see further discussion below). v. The operational setup costs cover the development of regulations, guidelines and forms, as well as setup training. It is estimated that these activities would cost between M8.4 million and M14.5 million, depending on the scenario. Both of these amounts are relatively modest compared to the overall setup costs, and well within the Government s fiscal capacity to fund. Breakdown of the annual operational cost of delivering CPWA-related services While the setup costs are critically important from the perspective of determining the affordability and sustainability of the services envisaged by the CPWA, the annual operational costs are the main issue. The annual operational costs of implementing the different services envisaged by the CPWA are set out in the following table: Table E3: Annual operational cost of services by activity Maloti Annual operational costs by activity Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Registration of Vulnerable Children Prevention and early intervention programmes Children in need of care and protection Places of safety Fostering and adoption Master of the High Court Children's Court - social welfare and civil cases Oversight of Residential Institutions Role of police in respect of the CPWA Preliminary enquiries Diversion and Restorative Justice Processes Children's Courts - Children in conflict with the law Total The following table presents these same costs by Ministry: Table E4: Annual operational costs of services by Ministry Maloti Annual operational costs by Ministry Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Ministry of Social Development Ministry of Justice - central administration Ministry of Justice - probation unit Ministry of Police Judiciary - magistrates courts Judiciary - Master of the High Court Total Relative share of annual operational costs Ministry of Social Development 93% 59% 78% Ministry of Justice - central administration 0% 0% 0% Ministry of Justice - probation unit 1% 6% 5% Ministry of Police 2% 15% 4% Judiciary - magistrates courts 1% 4% 2% Judiciary - Master of the High Court 3% 17% 11% Total 100% 100% 100% iii

11 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO In the Fixed Scenario, 93 per cent of the annual cost of delivering CPWA-related services to children is located within the Ministry of Social Development. By contrast, in Scenario 1 the Ministry of Social Development accounts for 59 per cent of costs. Taking into consideration that Scenario 1 is based on 2013 levels of services to children, the above table highlights the following: i. There are substantially more children in need of care and protection than children in conflict with the law. Hence, the resource requirements of the Ministry of Social Development far outstrip all other ministries. ii. The resource gap between what the Ministry of Social Development requires in Scenario 1 versus Scenario 2 and the Fixed Scenario is greater than for all other ministries. This indicates that the relative funding shortfall for the Ministry of Social Development in relation to its service delivery responsibilities is greater than for all other ministries, though the other ministries may also be facing significant resource constraints currently. Cost of facilities envisaged by the CPWA The following table summarises the cost of building the different kinds of facilities mentioned in the CPWA, as well as their annual operational costs: Table E5: Building and annual operational costs of facilities mentioned in the CPWA Maloti Juvenile Detention Facility Children's Court Place of Safety Remand Home Probation Hostel Male Female Permanent Prefab Number of places in facility Total start up costs Startup equipment Infrastructure Vehicles Total annual operational costs n/a n/a Personnel n/a n/a Goods and services n/a n/a Cost per child per month These costs need to inform decisions to construct any of the facilities mentioned by the CPWA. The actual demand for places in such facilities must also be considered, taking into account: i. Appointing social workers to manage processes to reunite children with their families, place them in foster care and facilitate adoptions would reduce the demand for places in places of safety. From the perspective of the best interests of children, all these arrangements are preferable to children spending time in institutional care. These options also cost significantly less than the M2 823 per child per month in a place of safety. ii. The CPWA emphasises restorative justice-type solutions for children in conflict with the law, with detention as a last resort. Government should therefore give preference to funding restorative justice-type interventions rather than building new facilities. If this route is followed, this should limit the demand for places in remand homes, probation hostels and juvenile detention facilities. iii. The 2013 data on the number of children in correctional services facilities does not suggest that the existing demand for detention facilities is significant. Places in the existing JTC facility could be better utilised by ensuring that remand periods are minimised, and that only boys who need to be detained are held in the facility. There is a need for a separate detention facility for girls, but the size of the facility needs to be carefully considered. It is estimated that, in 2013, the number of girls held in detention in the Maseru Woman s Prison was between four and ten. Given these small numbers, it may be more cost-effective to consider building a separate girls dormitory attached to the JTC. iv

12 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Key issues emerging from the costing 1. Operational setup costs are necessary to ensure proper implementation The operational setup costs cover the development of regulations, guidelines and forms, as well as setup training. This expenditure is necessary to put in place the processes and procedures to implement the CPWA, and to ensure officials are familiar with their new responsibilities in terms of the Act. Table E6: Operational setup costs by activity Maloti Operational setup cost by activity Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Registration of Vulnerable Children Prevention and early intervention programmes Children in need of care and protection Places of safety Fostering and adoption Master of the High Court Children's Court - social welfare and civil cases Oversight of Residential Institutions Role of police in respect of the CPWA Preliminary enquiries Diversion and Restorative Justice Processes Children's Courts - Children in conflict with the law Total setup operational cost Note that many of the costs in this table are uniform across the scenarios. This is because they relate to the development of regulations, guidelines, etc. and are therefore not demand driven. The relatively high cost for Prevention and early intervention programmes covers the cost of developing seven national programmes and piloting five of them. Similarly the cost of Diversion and restorative justice processes is for the development and piloting of programmes in these areas. The relatively high costs in the Fixed Scenario are due to the cost of initial training for staff working with children in need of care and protection, which is driven by the very high potential demand for these services, and hence the high number of staff requiring training. 2. Staff require furniture and equipment to do their work The successful implementation of the CPWA is going to depend on staff being motived. Part of motivating them involves ensuring they have access to properly equipped offices, computers (preferably laptops), telephones and cell phones. It also requires formalising processes, ensuring proper records are kept, ensuring data is collected, collated and used for monitoring, and that staff are able to co-ordinate and collaborate with colleagues. The following table sets out the cost of providing furniture and equipment for the head offices and district offices of the CPWA-related units and their staff: Table E7: Setup capital costs furniture and equipment by Ministry Maloti Setup capital costs - furniture and equipment Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Ministry of Social Development Ministry of Justice - probation unit Judiciary CGPU Total No. of officials requiring office furniture and equipment v

13 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO 3. Staff require access to vehicles to serve communities If the CPWA is to be implemented effectively, officials need to be able to get into communities to visit households, search for parents, settle disputes around estates, train Village Child Justice Committees, facilitate restorative justice processes, etc. In Lesotho, the preferred mode of transport for government officials is a Toyota Hilux 4X4 bakkie. This is understandable given the rough terrain, especially in the highland areas. However, it does mean that providing vehicles in sufficient numbers is probably the greatest financial obstacle to the implementation of the CPWA. For instance, in the Fixed Scenario, providing one vehicle for every three of the officials required would cost M1.3 billion Given that one can buy about 35 motorbikes for the price of one bakkie, the costing explored what it would cost to provide the majority of social workers, auxiliary social workers, probation officers and other officials with motorbikes so that they can get out into communities? Motorbikes are not suitable in all circumstances, for instance when children need to be transported to a place of safety. Therefore the following table still includes bakkies, but the ratio of staff to bakkies is greatly reduced. Table E8: Cost of providing staff with motorbikes Maloti Setup capital costs - vehicles Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Ministry of Social Development Ministry of Justice - probation unit Judiciary CGPU Total Assumptions: No. of officials requiring access to a vehicle No. of staff in department per 4X4 bakkie % of staff in department allocated motorbikes 90% 90% 90% Number of 4X4 bakkies Number of motorbikes There are clear cost savings to providing more staff with motorbikes and fewer with bakkies. The Scenario 1 and Scenario 2 costs are within the bounds of what the Government can realistically afford, and would ensure that all officials who require access to a vehicle in order to carry out their duties in relation to implementing the CPWA would have access to a vehicle. Further advantages associated with using motorbikes include a substantial reduction in travel operating costs, a very substantial reduction in the number of drivers that need to be employed, and a reduction in travel time for staff. Obviously, there are safety risks associated with staff using motorbikes, which makes it essential to ensure proper safety-gear is provided and used, and riders are trained and subject to regular competency tests. 4. The subventions to places of safety need to be re-evaluated The costing shows that to keep a child in a place of safety costs M2 822 per month. This means that the current subvention of M100 per child per month that the Ministry of Social Development pays to designated places of safety only covers 3.5 per cent of the actual cost. Indeed, the subvention only covers about a third of the estimated cost of feeding a child in a place of safety per month (taking into account own food production by the place of safety). There is no problem where a place of safety can raise the balance of the required funds from donors. There is a very serious problem when it can t, because it means that there is only vi

14 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY M3.33 per child per day, which is simply not enough to meet even children s most basic needs, namely food, water and warmth. This raises a number of issues: i. The value of the subvention is woefully inadequate, and the Government needs to prioritise increasing it significantly (see below). ii. The Ministry of Social Development needs to consider targeting the subvention to those places of safety that do not have access to adequate donor funding so as to ensure greater funding equity between the existing places of safety. iii. The Ministry of Social Development needs to consider whether it is in the best interests of children to allocate the subvention to an increasing number of places of safety, or increase the subvention to a limited number of places of safety. If the latter strategy is followed the Ministry: will need to close down those places of safety that cannot demonstrate that they have the funds to provide an acceptable level of care for children, will need to ensure the measures set out in the CPWA to regulate the placement of children in places of safety are activated and enforced, and will need to appoint more social workers dedicated to working on reunification, family foster care, fostering and adoptions so as to limit the length of time children stay in places of safety. The following table shows the cost of increasing the subvention from M100 to M300, M1 400 and M2 800 per child per month respectively. The Fixed Scenario estimates the number of places required at 25 per cent of the vulnerable children entering the child protection system, with each child only remaining in the place of safety for six months before they are either reunified with their families, placed in family care, fostered or adopted. Scenarios 1 and 2 reflect the current number of places in the 29 places of safety that the Ministry of Social Development has designated for Table E9: The cost of increasing the subvention for places of safety Maloti Summary of costs Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Number of places in places of safety M100 per child per month - level in M300 per child month - enough to cover child's food M1400 per child per month - half the cost of keeping a child in a place of safety M2800 per child per month - full cost of keeping a child in a place of safety Scenario 1 shows that to pay the subvention of M100 per child per month for the places in the 29 designated places of safety will cost M2.246 million. If the subvention were increased to cover the M300 per child per month required for food, the Ministry would have to increase its budget to M6.74 million. Implementation priorities for the CPWA The recently-completed National Multisectoral Child Protection Strategy /5 2018/19 provides the overall vision and strategy for protecting children in Lesotho. The implementation of the CPWA is an important component of this broader strategy. Within this context, and given the insights gained from building the costing models, 22 implementation priorities for the CPWA were identified. These are presented in order of priority, along with their respective costs, in the following table. Note that the activities for vii

15 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO which there is a funding requirement in the first year only are once off and do not have recurrent funding implications. Table E10: Costed implementation priorities for the CPWA for 2015/16 to 2017/18 Maloti Cost of implementation priorities Priority Activities to implement the CPWA 2015/ / /18 1 Development of regulations, forms, SOPs and guidelines Setup five early intervention programmes Setup child protection case management system Training of social workers: prevention and early intervention Appoint one social worker in each district to do permanency assessments Provide training to Village Child Justice Committees Training of social workers: case management Put in place systems to ensure Children's Courts make placement orders Establish unit to register and exercise oversight of residential institutions Training of police officers on the CPWA and dealing with children Take on the funding responsibility of the national child helpline Appoint one legal officer per district to work on children's matters in the Office of the Master of the High Court 13 Appoint two additional social workers to the adoptions unit to work on fostering Training of social workers: alternative care and permanency Training of social workers: children in contact with the law Develop formal standard diversion programmes Appoint one probation officer in each district Training of probation officers, prosecutors and magistrates on the CPWA Increase subventions to places of safety to 50% of cost per child (phased in at M100 increase per year) 20 Establish central authority for adoptions Establish the preliminary enquiries process Training of child care workers in places of safety Total new funding required to implement above priorities Given limited funds and capacity to implement, the respective ministries may consider phasing these implementation activities over a longer period. Phased implementation plan for the CPWA In the CPWA Costing Model there is space for the user to define a three-year Implementation Plan for 2015/16 to 2017/18 according to what funds are likely to be made available, and according to the priorities of the different ministries. This Implementation Plan is currently set up to progressively increase the quantity of services provided effectively providing a roll-out plan to get from Scenario 1 to Scenario 2. The following table shows the overall cost of this proposed roll-out, differentiating between setup costs and operational costs. Table E11: Overall cost of the Implementation Plan 2015/16 to 2017/18 Maloti Implementation plan 2015/ / /18 Total annual operating cost Government expenditure on CPWA services in 2012/ Funding Gap Funding gap as % of estimated annual operating cost 58% 71% 78% Total setup costs Operational setup cost Setup capital cost - furniture Setup capital cost - vehicles Setup capital cost - buildings no funds provided viii

16 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In 2015/16, the main emphasis is on the operational setup costs required to put the CPWA systems, processes and guidelines in place, and on the initial setup training of staff. The first year also provides for the cost of buying vehicles so that staff can do their work. The annual operating cost also increases relative to the 2012/13 budget as more staff are appointed and services expanded. In 2016/17 the setup costs are for the development of further early intervention programmes and training, furniture and vehicles for new staff. Moving forward The key outputs of this project are the CPWA Costing Model and the CPWA Capital Model. It is envisaged that the ministries responsible for the different CPWA-related services will use these models as tools to assist in the development of plans and budgets for the implementation of the CPWA. These models can also be used to explore whether or not there are more cost-effective ways of delivering certain services or performing certain activities. Indeed, the real success of this project depends on the extent to which staff within ministries take ownership of the project outputs and use them in the management of the implementation of the CPWA. In order to facilitate the dissemination of this report and these tools, they have all been placed on Cornerstone Economic Research s website: ix

17

18 SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION Section 1 Introduction Following recommendations from the Committee on the Rights of the Child issued in 2001, the Government of Lesotho initiated the development of the Children s Protection and Welfare Bill. The Bill was passed by Parliament in 2011 to become the Children s Protection and Welfare Act No. 7 of The Act strengthens mechanisms for the protection of children from abuse, neglect and exploitation in all their forms, and provides for the welfare of children who are in need of care. The Act also introduces a new criminal justice system for children by establishing institutions modelled according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. To facilitate the progressive implementation of the Act, the Government of Lesotho, supported by UNICEF and the Global Fund, commissioned the costing of the Act. The intention is that the information generated by the costing will inform decisions regarding the phasing-in of the different services provided for in the Act. 1.1 The purpose of costing legislation Although there is no legislative requirement for costing new legislation in Lesotho, the exercise of costing the Act produced a number of planning tools that the Government of Lesotho can use to develop plans and budgets to facilitate short, medium and long term implementation. A well-executed costing provides for structured option analysis and allows for the relative costs of achieving the desired outputs to be considered in the short-term. In addition, costing legislation gives Government the opportunity to gather information on the direct fiscal and financial impacts of the legislation over the medium term. This further provides Government the opportunity to establish whether or not the measure is fiscally affordable and sustainable by assessing the direct costs of the legislation/policy. The information gathered also allows Government to better plan and budget for the implementation of the legislation. 1.2 Description of the CPWA costing project Objective of the project The primary aim of this costing project is to estimate the cost to the Government of Lesotho of implementing in a phased manner the different services provided for in the Children s Protection and Welfare Act No. 7 of 2011 (CPWA) Project elements Based on the terms of reference, the project comprised the following elements: 1. Training officials and other interested parties on costing methodology. 2. Interviews and gathering information from stakeholders. 3. Reviewing current spending by ministries on services covered by the Act. 1 Note that the Sexual Offences Act of 2003 and the Anti-Trafficking of Persons Act of 2011 also deal with child protection issues. This project did not specifically aim to cost the implementation of these acts, although many of the services they envisage are also covered by the CPWA and so were, in fact, costed. 1

19 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO 4. Describing the current and ideal systems, processes, practices and norms and standards underpinning the services covered by the Act. 5. Developing implementation scenarios based on differing levels of demand for services. 6. Developing a costing model. 7. Developing a phased implementation plan. 8. Writing the final project report. The following figures set out how these different project elements relate to each other. Figure 1: Project elements and process Training on costing methodology Interviews and gathering information Review of the current spending Describe systems, processes, practices norms and standards Costing models Implementation scenarios Phased implementation plan Final Report Scope and focus of the costing Currently, when a ministry itself provides services to children, it pays the full cost of doing so, whether the service provision is cost-effective or not. When a ministry contracts a company to provide services (e.g. training), it pays the full-cost of the service plus a profit margin. By contrast, the subventions that ministries pay to NGOs for the provision of services to children rarely cover the full cost of providing such services. Those NGOs that can, raise funds privately to cover the shortfall. Where this is not possible, the under-funding impacts negatively on the quality of the services, and ultimately on the sustainability of the NGOs. This situation is inequitable from the perspective of the children who are the recipients of these services. Therefore a key assumption underpinning the scope of the costing is that the Government needs to take full responsibility for funding the services envisaged by the CPWA. This point of departure to costing the services envisaged by the CPWA anticipates the need for ministries to develop a procurement system that pays the full cost of providing such services according to prescribed norms and standards; does not discriminate between provision by Government, companies and NGOs; and ensures children receive services that comply with the prescribed norms and standards, irrespective of who the service provider is. 2

20 SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION Three further factors were considered when determining the scope of the costing, namely: if the provision of the Act placed a positive obligation on the Government to deliver a service or take some other form of action; if the service or action envisaged by the Act forms part of the child protection or juvenile justice systems (which were costed), or whether they are part of some other system that is governed separately and in greater detail by other legislation, for instance the health and education systems, policing and population register; if the number of children likely to require the service is negligible (i.e. less than ten children per year). Based on a detailed analysis of the CPWA and discussions with the project Reference Group, it was agreed that the primary areas the costing would cover should include: 1. Care and protection of children The following processes: a. Provision of early intervention programmes b. Processes relating to children in need of care and protection c. Rehabilitation and reunification services d. Fostering and adoption processes e. Children s Court processes related to: i. Placement of children in alternative care ii. Making and reviewing maintenance orders iii. Parentage, custody and guardianship The following institutions: f. Places of Safety g. Office of the Master of the High Court h. Unit to monitor and supervise institutions 2. Children in conflict with the law The following processes: a. Probation officer responsibilities and processes b. Processes related to arrest and detention c. Preliminary enquiries d. Diversion and restorative justice processes e. Children's Courts processes relating to children in conflict with the law The following institutions: f. Remand homes g. Approved schools h. Probation hostels 3. Initial and on-going training of: a. Social workers b. Police officers c. Probation officers d. Magistrates e. Village Child Justice Committees f. Managers of residential institutions g. Officials in the Master's Office It was also agreed that the costing project would NOT INCLUDE the following areas: Ministry of Home Affairs responsibilities in relation to the population register. 3

21 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO Ministry of Health s responsibilities with regards to medical examinations and treatment of children. These are covered in detail by health policies. The cost of court cases, other than the Children's Courts. The numbers are negligible 2. The cost of building and running a designated school. The number of children likely to be sentenced to such a school is negligible. The cost of imprisonment although the cost of operating the Juvenile Training Centre (JTC) is covered. Inspections and processes relating to the employment of children. These fall within the Ministry of Labour and Employment s normal monitoring and enforcement responsibilities. The cost of office accommodation for the proposed units and newly-appointed staff. These costs depend directly on the availability of office space. The costing project also does not evaluate or cost the expected benefits of the CPWA to individuals or to society. Needless to say, working out such benefits in monetary terms would be exceptionally difficult and entail making some heroic assumptions about the value of protecting children. The absence of such information means that it is not possible to show that the expected benefits of the Act outweigh the expected costs of the Act, or vice versa. Nor can one evaluate whether the calculated cost of implementing the CPWA is high or low, as there is no benefit information to which the costs can be compared directly Costing methodology The costing methodology used in this project can be called activity-based implementation costing. This method of costing seeks to establish the annual resources costs of implementing a given policy (such as the CPWA) using agreed approaches to delivering the envisaged services. Two Excel costing models were developed to cost the CPWA. The CPWA Costing Model is structured to calculate the setup and operational costs of providing the services envisaged by the CPWA. The CPWA Capital Model calculates the cost of building and running the different types of institutions named in the Act. For more information on the overall project approach and costing methodology, see Appendix A Norms and standards used in the costing A critical input into the costing of legislation is the service norms and standards. These are the foundation on which any costing is built, because they describe the quantity and quality of a good or service, and they provide a measure of service delivery. In budgeting and costing, norms and standards provide an objective description of the nature of the service or good that needs to be provided. This gives a clear understanding of what is being costed. A detailed description and discussion of the norms and standards used in the CPWA Costing Model and the CPWA Capital Model is provided in Appendix B. It is worth noting that very few of the processes for delivering the different CPWA-related services have been codified into regulations, standard operating procedures or guidelines. 2 Sections 168 to 172 of the CPWA deal with the appeal and review processes of cases where a residential sentence has been imposed on a child. These review processes generally happen in chambers. Based on the reported number of children being held in prison in 2013, it is estimated that about 80 cases would be subject to such review per year. 4

22 SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION Therefore most of the service norms and standards are based on the current way of doing things Both the costing models are highly flexible, allowing users to specify assumptions in relation to both the demand for services and how the services are delivered. This means that users can develop their own costing scenarios for particular services or institutions, or for the entire costing of the CPWA, by varying the specified demand variables and the service norms and standards. The purpose of developing different scenarios is to gain a better understanding of the range of costs and the impact that different assumptions and input variables have on the costing outcomes. The CPWA Costing Model is set up with three scenarios. Each scenario is distinguished by the set of assumptions driving the demand for CPWA-related services. 1. Fixed Scenario: This scenario is based on assumptions that reflect the actual potential demand for the different CPWA-related services based on the best information available and assuming full take-up of the services. The costing outcomes of this scenario describe an upper boundary to the cost of fully implementing the CPWA in accordance with the intentions of the policymakers. These costing outcomes can be viewed as the vision that the Government of Lesotho is working towards achieving over the next twenty years as it implements the CPWA and expands services to vulnerable children. It is called the Fixed Scenario because all the assumptions in this scenario have been locked in order to serve as a reference point when a user begins changing assumptions in the other scenarios. 2. Scenario 1: This scenario is based on demand assumptions that reflect the 2013-level of provision of CPWA-related services by the respective ministries. The costing outcomes from this scenario reflect what it would cost to implement the norms and standards envisaged by the CPWA while maintaining the current level of service provision. This scenario provides an initial target for the respective ministries to work towards over the next two years namely to ensure that the services they do deliver comply with the norms and standards envisaged by the CPWA, and to fill any service gaps that exist. 3. Scenario 2: This scenario is based on assumptions that provide for a tenfold increase in the 2013-level of provision. Note that a tenfold increase does not imply a similar increase in costs due to economies of scale and the fact that certain costs are not driven by the number of clients served. The costing outcomes from this scenario reflect what it would cost to provide the services envisaged by the CPWA and serve ten times the current number of children. This scenario provides a five-year target for the respective ministries to work towards namely to significantly expand their capacity to reach vulnerable children. The differences between the scenarios revolve around the demand assumptions. The norms and standards that describe how the services are delivered are identical across the three scenarios with one exception: the value of the monthly subventions paid to places of safety differs in each scenario. For more on this, see the discussion in section The CPWA Capital Model calculates the cost of building the various residential institutions envisaged by the CPWA, and the annual operating cost of running them. Only two of the sheets are set up with scenarios, namely Opex R Inst and Capex R Inst. The purpose of the scenarios in these sheets is to allow the user to test options for plans to build the residential institutions 5

23 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO envisaged by the CPWA, and the cost to Government of operating both the existing and any newly-built institutions. 1.3 Sources and types of information Five categories of information were collected to carry out the project, namely: i. Information on the demand for the services covered by the Act. In most instances this information was obtained from secondary sources, mostly previous studies relating to the status of children in Lesotho. The work done by Maestral International on the project Mapping and Assessment of the Child Protection System and Development of a Child Protection Strategy and Plan of Action for Lesotho was a very valuable source. In addition, some information was obtained directly from the relevant stakeholders, such as the adoptions unit within the Ministry of Social Development, the probation unit within the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Service, the Children s Court in Maseru and Child Helpline. ii. Information on how the services and institutions covered by the Act are structured. This information was obtained primarily from a close reading of the CPWA itself, the available forms, guidelines and the draft CPWA regulations. This was supported by information on current practice obtained from the structured interviews with officials and stakeholders working in different areas of the child protection and child justice systems. The team also visited three children s homes, the Child Helpline offices and the Maseru Children s Court. Based on these sources of information, we developed a set of service process maps that were then discussed with the Reference Group. iii. Information on the cost of government personnel. The Government of Lesotho is currently reviewing public servants salaries. The Ministry of Justice and Correctional Service provided the team with Circular Notice No. 6 of Salary scales for public servants dated 13 March It was, however, established that this circular was withdrawn prior to implementation. 3 Despite requests for information on current salary scales from the Ministry of the Public Service, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Service and the Ministry of Social Development, none were provided. The costing of government personnel is therefore based on this circular, which is probably appropriate given that the salary scales set out in the circular are likely to reflect the direction the current salary review process is moving. iv. Information on the cost of other inputs. Information on the cost of general operating expenditures associated with the provision of the different services covered by the CPWA was drawn from the budget and expenditure data obtained from the Ministry of Finance. Information on the operating costs of children s homes is based on the budgets of two existing children s homes and discussions with stakeholders. Other information on input prices is based on surveying retailer prices in Maseru. v. Information on current spending by ministries. This information was sourced directly from the Ministry of Finance. vi. Information on building costs. The cost per square meter of building rooms, halls, kitchens, bathrooms, etc. was obtained from a South African-based quantity surveyor. Discussions with builders in Maseru indicated that the higher cost of building materials in Lesotho 3 6

24 SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION tended to be off-set by the lower cost of labour. Therefore these prices were used unmodified in the CPWA Capital Model. 1.4 Challenges and limitations of the project All projects experience certain challenges. In the case of this project the primary challenges were: i. The lack of data, or consistent data, on the current provision of services to children. Stakeholders willingly shared whatever data they had, but there was very little available. The collection of accurate service delivery information by the ministries responsible for implementing the CPWA should be prioritised going forward. ii. Generally, information on the status of children in Lesotho is poor. A number of studies exist, but there are significant gaps. For instance, information on the abuse and abandonment of children is very sketchy, as is information on family/community fostering arrangements. To fill these gaps assumptions were made, so the accuracy of the costing outcomes depends heavily on the credibility of these assumptions. iii. The current budget and expenditure information of the ministries is not structured to show spending on specific services. This made it very difficult to identify what the ministries are already spending on delivering services covered by the CPWA. Again, to fill this gap assumptions had to be made, so the accuracy of the expenditure gap depends on the credibility of these assumptions. iv. Related to the above point, the Ministry of Social Development only separated from the Ministry of Health in mid This means that the 2012/13 budget was for the Ministry s first year of operation. It is therefore very unlikely to accurately reflect the real cost of running the Ministry, since the first year involved setting up structures and appointing staff. It is expected that future budgets of the Ministry will increase as it defines its role and strategic direction. v. The team doing the costing are not fully familiar with the customary practices and way of doing things in Lesotho, and possible regional variations (e.g. between lowland and highland areas). We therefore had to rely on stakeholders to provide accurate accounts of how things are done for instance, the role of chiefs in dealing with family matters involving children, orphaned children, children in conflict with the law and estates where children are the beneficiaries. It was, however, evident that many stakeholders were reticent to discuss certain issues for instance, sexual violence against children. vi. The time limitations on the project restricted the time available to visit different regions of Lesotho to gather information. Most of the interviews were therefore conducted with stakeholders based in Maseru or Thaba Tseka in the mountainous interior. However, we sought to offset this limitation by drawing on the work done by Maestral International, whose research had a wider footprint. The above factors do impact on the robustness of the costing estimates of this project. However, where it was possible to compare the costing outcomes with existing budgets (e.g. for Child Helpline and the cost of running places of safety), we found there were only small differences. This indicates that the costing is in the right order of magnitude. The costing models have been developed in a way that allows users to alter any of the demand assumptions, process variables and price information. This means that the current costing outcomes are not cast in stone. Therefore, should more accurate information become available, 7

25 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO users can change the relevant assumptions and generate more accurate costings based on this new information. 1.5 Structure of this report This report consists of the following sections: Section 1 introduces the project and draws attention to key aspects of the costing exercise and limitations of the project. Section 2 reviews government spending on CPWA-related services. Section 3 presents information on the estimated cost of implementing the CPWA. Section 4 presents information on the phased national implementation plan for the CPWA. Section 5 describes how the results and tools produced by the project can be used by ministries to plan and budget for the implementation of the CPWA. In addition to this report, four other documents make up the package of tools developed in the course of the project. These are: i. CPWA Process Maps. This Excel document sets out process maps for each of the CPWA services. These were developed in consultation with the Reference Group and informed the structure of the costing model. ii. CPWA Costing Model. This is the main product of this project. It is an Excel model/tool that can be used to test different implementation scenarios based on user-defined demand assumptions and service norms and standards. iii. CPWA Capital Model. This Excel model/tool can be used to estimate the cost of building and operating the different kinds of facilities mentioned in the CPWA based on user-defined variables. iv. CPWA Implementation Prioritisation Tool. This Excel tool facilitates the structured prioritisation of different implementation activities. In order to facilitate the dissemination of this report and these tools, they have all been placed on Cornerstone Economic Research s website: 8

26 SECTION 2 REVIEW OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON CPWA-RELATED SERVICES Section 2 Review of government spending on CPWA-related services 2.1 Introduction It is estimated that the Government of Lesotho spent M28.4 million on services envisaged by the CPWA during the financial year 2012/13. To place this in perspective, this is about 0.32 per cent of the Government of Lesotho s total budgeted expenditure of M8 749 million 4. The CPWA requires various Government ministries to deliver services aimed at protecting the welfare of children. The greatest responsibilities are placed on the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Service and the Ministry of Police (the role of the police is very much integrated within normal policing activities). The Judiciary also plays an important role. Lessor responsibilities are placed on the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Home Affairs, and to a large extent their CPWA responsibilities are part of their normal operations. The following table shows the cost centres in the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Service and the Judiciary responsible for delivering the main CPWArelated services to children, and estimates what proportion of the spending goes to those services. Table 1: Overall government spending on CPWA-related services Maloti Cost centres that deliver CPWArelated services Warrant releases Estimated spending on CPWA-related 2012/13 services Assumptions Ministry of Social Development Administration Child welfare services share of Administration plus 10% of salaries Child welfare services % - mainly funds subsidies to places of safety Orphans and vulnerable children Goes to children, but not for CPWA-related services Districts services Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services Administration Proportional share of administration Legal aid Assume 30% of spending benefits children in conflict with the law Probation Assume 75% of spending relates to CPWA-related services Lesotho Correctional Services Assume 4% of correctional services spending relates to children District correctional services Assume 1% of correctional services spending relates to children The Judiciary Court of Appeal Assume 2% of spending relates to children High Court Assume 2% of spending relates to children Subordinate/magistrates courts Assume 10% of spending relates to children Master of the High Court Assume 60% of spending relates to CPWA-related services Estimated spending on CPWA-related services The above table shows that in 2012/13 the Government of Lesotho is estimated to have spent M14.5 million on services relating to children in conflict with the law, and M13.9 million 5 on services related to protecting and assisting vulnerable children. This indicates that spending is strongly oriented to combatting crime as opposed rather than addressing the needs of 4 5 IMF, Kingdom of Lesotho Country Report No. 13/294, September accessed on 17 May Based on the amounts for the Ministry of Social Development and the amount for the Master of the High Court. 9

27 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO vulnerable children given, that there are significantly fewer children in conflict with the law than there are children in need of care and protection. To give a concrete example of this: in 2012/13 the Ministry of Social Development spent M1.09 million to subsidise an estimated 910 places in children s homes at M100 per month. Compare this to the M4.8 million spent by Lesotho Correctional Services in 2012/13 to detain at most 80 children in prisons, mostly in the JTC. This works out to an average cost of M4 996 per month per detained child, which is fifty times the monthly subsidy provided to vulnerable children living in places of safety. Information sources on budgets and expenditures Information on the budgets and expenditure of the following ministries was received from the Ministry of Finance: Ministry of Social Development budget ending 31 March 2013 Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Rehabilitation budget ending 31 March 2013 Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Rehabilitation budget ending 31 March 2012 Judiciary budget ending 31 March 2013 Ministry of Police budget ending 31 March 2012 Ministry of Health budget ending 31 March 2012 The fact that, in most instances, the information only covered one year meant it was not possible to do a meaningful time series analysis. In addition, the structure of the information for the Ministry of Police and the Ministry of Health does not allow for any meaningful assumptions to be made regarding what these Ministries spend on CPWA-related services. Therefore the spending by these Ministries is not covered by this analysis. 2.2 Ministry of Social Development The Ministry of Social Development was established as a standalone ministry in June 2012, having previously been part of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Among the reasons for establishing the new Ministry was to enable it to focus on social development priorities and not be overshadowed by the pressing health priorities that were the primary focus of the combined ministry. Whenever a new ministry is established, it takes a number of years to set up. On the one hand, time needs to be spent developing a vision and strategy to address the service delivery challenges that confront it, while on the other hand the administrative and service delivery capacity of the ministry needs to be built up to deliver its programmes. This means that the ministry s budget can be expected to grow rapidly over the first five years of its existence. The 2012/13 budget of the Ministry of Social Development was its first full-year, standalone budget. Consequently, it is very unlikely that it accurately reflects the spending requirements of the Ministry going forward. This is highlighted by the fact that the Ministry of Social Development s personnel spending is calculated to have increased by 55 per cent between 2013 and 2014 (see Table 2 below). In 2012/13 the Ministry of Social Development had approved estimates 6 totalling M37 million and warrant releases 7 to the value of M65 million (these amounts include district spending). The following table provides a breakdown of the Ministry s 2012/13 budget by cost centre. 6 7 Approved estimates are the budgeted amounts approved for spending. Warrant releases are the amounts that the Ministry of Finance actually releases to the Ministry for spending. In most instances, the warrant releases equal the approved estimates, but there were notable exceptions. 10

28 SECTION 2 REVIEW OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON CPWA-RELATED SERVICES Table 2: Ministry of Social Development budget by cost centre 2012/13 Maloti Approved Estimates Warrant Releases to date Total expenditure & commitments Exp as % of warrant releases Exp as % of approved estimates National Social welfare % 0.0% General administration % 80.0% Child welfare services % 100.8% Orphans and vulnerable children % 0.0% Elderly care services % 51.1% Rehabilitation % 93.1% Rehabilitation of Ithuseng % 0.0% Disabled support % 0.0% Sub-total national % 133.6% Districts Districts (Maseru) % 97.1% Districts (Butha-Buthe) % 28.3% Districts (Leribe) % 15.7% Districts (Berea) % 30.4% Districts (Mafeteng) % 15.6% Districts (Mohale's Hoek) % 22.3% Districts (Quthing) % 17.7% Districts (Qacha's Nek) % 43.4% Districts (Mokhotlong) % 5.7% Districts (Thaba Tseka) % -3.3% Sub-total districts % 34.5% Total % 74.5% The services covered by the CPWA are likely to be located in the cost centres that deliver services to children, namely Child welfare services, Orphans and vulnerable children and possibly Social welfare. The allocations to the districts are for the delivery of welfare services to all vulnerable groups, and so they also fund services to children. The question is: how much of these cost centre budgets fund services envisaged by the CPWA? The Ministry s budgets do not provide details on the funding of different services. Consequently, it is not possible to answer the above question directly. It is therefore necessary to explore the nature of the expenditure in each of the cost centres in greater detail in order to establish whether or not the spending relates to services envisaged by the CPWA. The following table provides a breakdown of the General administration cost centre by expenditure category for 2012/13: 11

29 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO Table 3: Ministry of Social Development general administration by expenditure category 2012/13 Maloti Approved Estimates Warrant releases to date Total Expenditure & Commitments Exp as % of warrant releases Warrant releases as % of total Salaries % 63.8% Allowances % 1.3% Vehicle maintenance & repairs % 1.5% Fuel & lubricants % 1.2% Short term hire of vehicles % 8.8% Subsistence local % 1.8% Fares international % 3.5% Subsistence international % 3.2% Power % 0.1% Communications % 2.3% Printing % 0.8% Stationery % 0.9% Maintenance of public assets % 0.3% Purchases of production material % 2.9% Water supply % 0.1% Sewerage & sanitation % 0.1% Vehicles, cycles & equine % 4.4% Office equipment % 1.9% Office/Residential furniture % 1.2% Total cost centre % 100.0% Most of the Ministry s salaries are located in this cost centre, as are expenditures relating to transport and other typical programme expenditures, such as Purchases of production materials. The following table shows the budget by expenditure category of the national cost centres that may deliver services covered by the CPWA. The purpose is to explore the nature of the spending in these cost centres to see whether they do indeed relate to the CPWA or not. Table 4: Breakdown of selected national cost centre budgets by expenditure category 2012/13 Maloti Approved Estimates Warrant Releases Total expenditure & commitments Social Welfare Witholding tax Commission on deductions payable Total cost centre Child Welfare Subsistence local Communications Transfer to institutions - orphans Total cost centre Orphans & vulnerable children Purchases Purchases Total cost centre Total With reference to the above table: 12

30 SECTION 2 REVIEW OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON CPWA-RELATED SERVICES i. The expenditure categories for Social welfare relate to the employment of consultants by the Ministry. There is no information available in the budget document to indicate what these consultants worked on. ii. The Subsistence local and Communications expenditure categories below Child welfare services relate to the general operations of the cost centre. It is assumed that these are directly or indirectly related to delivering services envisaged by the CPWA. The spending on Transfer to institutions orphans covers the subvention that the Ministry pays to designated places of safety to subsidise the care of orphans, and so falls directly within the ambit of the CPWA. iii. The only expenditure category in the Orphans and vulnerable children cost centre is for Purchases with no further details on the nature of these purchases given. This is unusual, given the large amount allocated. It is also noted that the amount was not appropriated by the budget, but was allocated to the Ministry directly. This indicates that the funds come from a grant, which was confirmed by further enquiries. The M26 million shown is a grant from the Global Fund 8. The grant is intended to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and mitigate the impact of AIDS among orphans and vulnerable children by providing them with school fees and other school requisites. Of concern is that spending against this grant was only 22.2 per cent as at 31 March Although these funds are intended to benefit orphans and vulnerable children, they do not fund services envisaged by the CPWA and so are not taken into account when estimating what the Ministry spends on services envisaged by the CPWA. iv. These three cost centres do not show a salary expenditure category. This indicates that the budget for the salaries of the staff that manage or work in these cost centres is located under General administration. The following table shows the district cost centre spending (warrant releases) by expenditure category. Table 5: District cost centre warrant releases by expenditure category 2012/13 Maloti Butha- Mohale's Mokhotlong Qacha's Thaba % of Berea Buthe Leribe Mafeteng Maseru Hoek Quthing Nek Tseka Total total Salaries % Allowances % Vehicle maintenance & repairs % Fuel &lubricants % Fares local % Subsistence local % Equine hire % Communications % Printing % Stationery % Maintenance of public assets % Purchases % Public assistance in cash % Public assistance in kind % Total districts % With reference to the above table: i. Of the district cost centre spending, 69.7 per cent is on Public assistance in cash and Public assistance in kind. This spending covers small cash donations, food parcels, assistive devices, crutches, wheelchairs, coffins, etc. A significant proportion of this spending benefits vulnerable children, and so is associated with the protection of such children as envisaged by the CPWA. 8 Information comes from the Grant Agreement for grant number LSO-H-MoFD, which is found under SSF HIV (Consolidation of Round 7 and Round 9 HIV grants). accessed on 24 May

31 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO ii. Spending on Salaries accounts for 13.8 per cent of total spending by the district offices. Note that Maseru and Mokhotlong do not show any allocations for salaries, which are probably captured under General admin. Information on the Ministry s organisational structures shows that staff were allocated to these district offices in 2014 (see below). iii. Other expenditure categories are associated with the general operations of the district offices and the services they render. Again, it can be assumed that a significant proportion of the services rendered by the district offices cover services to children envisaged by the CPWA. The following table gives a breakdown of the Salaries expenditure category by cost centre for 2013 and 2014, and the number of staff for Table 6: Ministry of Social Development spending on salaries by cost centre Maloti No. of staff % change in 2014 National Administration % 80 Rehabilitation services % 32 Elderly care services Children's services Total national salaries % 120 Districts Maseru Berea % 10 Butha-Buthe % 8 Leribe % 10 Mafeteng % 9 Mohale's Hoek % 8 Mokhotlong Qacha's Nek % 10 Quthing % 9 Thaba Tseka % 9 Total districts salaries % 94 Total % 214 Source: The 2013 figures are from the 2012/13 budget. The 2014 figures are calculated based on the April 2014 provisional organisational structure of the Ministry of Social Development. Overall spending on personnel increased by 55 per cent between 2013 and This is very rapid growth, especially within the current economic environment. Clearly the Government is intentionally building up the capacity of the Ministry of Social Development so as to enable it to deliver on its mandate as a new ministry. National office spending on personnel increased by 27 per cent, largely in the service delivery cost centres. Spending on personnel in the district offices increased by 123 per cent. The district offices are the Ministry s main implementing arm, so this rapid growth in personnel spending indicates a strong commitment to improving service delivery. The following table shows the district cost centre spending divided by the number of children in each district. The purpose is to assess the equity of spending across the districts with reference to spending per child. 14

32 Maloti per child per year SECTION 2 REVIEW OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON CPWA-RELATED SERVICES Table 7: District cost centre spending per child 2012/13 Maloti Butha- Mafeteng Mohale's Mokhot- Qacha's Thaba Berea Buthe Leribe Maseru Hoek long Quthing Nek Tseka Lesotho Salaries Public assistance in cash Other District spending per child Although table 5 shows that the number of staff allocated to each district is very similar, the spending on staff per child is quite disparate. The highland districts such as Qacha s Nek, Mohale s Hoek and Butha-Buthe have lower child populations, so their spending on staff per child is significantly higher. There are also significant differences in per child spending on Public assistance in cash. The differences may correlate with differences in the incidence and depth of poverty, but this was not analysed. The following figure shows the total district spending per child. Figure 2: Ministry of Social Development district cost centre spending per child 2012/ It clearly shows that district spending per child is generally lower in the lowland districts and higher in the highland districts. One of the factors that could explain this difference is that it takes longer for social workers to travel to communities in the highland districts. 2.3 Ministry of Justice and Correctional Service The Ministry of Justice and Correctional Service s role in delivering the services to children required by the CPWA is primarily in the area of child justice, covering probation services, restorative justice, diversion and detention (note the costs related to the Children s Courts are located under the Judiciary). The following table shows that the Ministry was allocated a budget (approved estimate) of M148 million in 2012/13 and, of this amount, M147 million was released for spending. 15

33 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO Table 8: Ministry of Justice and Correctional Service budget 2012/13 Maloti Total expenditure & commitments Exp as % of warrant releases Exp as % of approved estimates Approved estimates Warrant releases Administration % 88% 7% Legal Aid % 92% 3% Probation Unit % 90% 2% Lesotho correctional services % 100% 80% Districts - correctional services % 100% 9% Total cost centre % 99% 100% Exp as % of total Of the Ministry s budget, 89 per cent goes to correctional services, while just two per cent goes to probation services. Services to children envisaged by the CPWA are located in the Probation unit, Lesotho correctional services and Districts correctional services cost centres. The CPWA does not require the Government to provide children in conflict with the law with legal representation 9. Nevertheless, the Government does assist children in conflict with the law who are facing serious charges. The following table provides a breakdown of the Probation unit cost centre by expenditure category for 2012/13. Table 9: Ministry of Justice probation unit by expenditure category 2012/13 Maloti Total Expenditure & Commitments Exp as % of warrant releases Exp as % of approved estimates Approved Estimates Warrant Releases Exp as % total Salaries % 89% 49.3% Vehicle maintenance & repairs % 100% 7.7% Fuel & lubricants % 100% 3.2% Motor mileage allowance % 15% 0.2% Fares local % 0% 0.0% Subsistence local % 0% 12.5% Fares international % 0% 1.3% Subsistence international % 0% 9.4% Power % 74% 1.4% Communications % 95% 5.3% Printing % 100% 0.1% Stationery % 26% 0.1% Maintenance of public assets % 43% 0.8% Purchases of production materials % 95% 8.3% Official entertainment % 99% 0.2% Total cost centre % 90% 100.0% The probation unit consists of seven probation officers, all based in Maseru. Consequently, they travel extensively to service other districts. This explains the high level of spending on Subsistence local and the categories related to transport. It was reported that most of their work relates to children in conflict with the law rather than with adult offenders or probationers. 9 Section 147(1) of the CPWA reads: A child has a right to legal representation of his own choice and at his own cost in any legal proceedings. 16

34 SECTION 2 REVIEW OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON CPWA-RELATED SERVICES Some figures on Lesotho s correctional services There are 12 prisons in Lesotho with an official capacity of In 2013 the prison population was reported by the prison administration to be This gives a reported occupancy rate of 81.8 per cent per cent of the prison population in 2013 were pre-trial/remand prisoners. In prisoners were reported to be below the age of 18 years. This is about 3.1 per cent of the prison population. Most of these are boys. The JTC in Maseru is the only facility that serves juvenile prisoners exclusively. It has a capacity of 60. A study in 2010 recorded that 9 of the inmates were female and 51 were male. According to probation officers interviewed for the project, girls are no longer detained at the JTC, but in Maseru Women s Prison. No numbers were given, but based on the overall number of female prisoners reported for 2013, there are probably between 3 and 10 prisoners that are girls. Sources: International Centre for Prison Studies, accessed on 17 May 2014 Kimane, I, et al. Situation Analysis of the System of Justice for Children in Lesotho with a particular Focus on Young Offenders in Detention at the Juvenile Training Centre (JTC). Report for the JTC and UNICEF, 10 October 2010 The following two tables provide a breakdown of the Lesotho correctional services and the Districts correctional services cost centres by expenditure category for 2012/13: Table 10: Ministry of Justice Lesotho correctional services by expenditure category 2012/13 Maloti Total expenditure & commitments Exp as % of warrant releases Exp as % of approved estimates Approved estimates Warrant releases Exp as % total Salaries - Established Posts % 100% 84.9% Allowances Non Statutory Posts % 100% 2.5% Vehicle Maintenance and Repairs % 100% 2.3% Fuel and Lubricants % 100% 0.9% Short Term Hire of Vehicles % 100% 0.0% Fares Local % 91% 0.0% Subsistence Local % 100% 0.2% FaresInternational % 100% 0.1% SubsistenceInternational % 100% 0.2% Power % 100% 1.3% Communications % 100% 0.3% Printing % 100% 0.0% Stationery % 100% 0.1% Maintenance of Public Assets % 100% 0.1% Food, Fodder and Beverage Supplies % 100% 3.4% Purchases or Production of Material % 100% 2.1% Minor Works % 100% 0.2% Drugs % 100% 0.1% Official Entertainment % 100% 0.0% Ammunition % 100% 0.0% Membership Subscriptions % 100% 0.0% Water Supply % 100% 0.4% Rent and Lease of Buildings % 100% 0.9% Legal Compensation % 100% 0.0% Total Cost Center % 100% 100% 17

35 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO Table 11: Ministry of Justice districts correctional services warrant releases 2012/13 Maloti Berea Butha- Buthe Leribe Mafeteng Mohale's Hoek Mokhotlong Quthing Qacha's Nek Thaba Tseka Total % of total Fares local % Subsistence Local % Power % Communications % Stationery % Maintenance of Public Assets % Food. Fodder and Beverage Supplies % Purchases or Production of Material % Minor Works % Drugs % Water Supply % Rent & lease of buildings % Total cost center % In the correctional services cost centres, most of the expenditure is on salaries and food supplies, followed by power. Note that correctional services spending for the Maseru district is reflected under Lesotho correctional services, therefore the expenditure on the JTC is located within this cost centre (as opposed to the district cost centres). If 3.1 per cent of the prison population is below the age of 18 years, then about M4 million of the total budget for correctional services can be attributed to spending on children, which would therefore fall within the broad ambit of the CPWA. 2.4 The Judiciary The Judiciary is an independent branch of Government. In recognition of this, the Judiciary s budget allocation is separate from that of the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Service. The table below summarises the Judiciary s budget for 2012/13 by cost centre. Table 12: The Judiciary s budget by cost centre 2012/13 Maloti Approved Warrant estimates releases % of total High court/recurrent/expenditure % High court/recurrent % Automated case management % Court of appeal/recurrent/expenditure % Appeal court/administration % Subordinate Courts/recurrent/expenditure % Subordinate Courts % Master of the High Court % Master of the High Court/Admin of Guardians Fund % Judicial commissioners/recurrent/exp % Judicial commissioners/administration % Community service/recurrent/exp % Community service % Total % In 2012/13 the Judiciary was allocated a budget of M92 million (approved estimates), of which M88.9 million was released for spending. Most of the CPWA-related services are provided by the subordinate courts (Magistrates courts) and the Master of the High Court. In 2012/13 the subordinate courts accounted for over 55 per cent of spending by the Judiciary, while the Master of the High Court s share of spending was almost 6 per cent. 18

36 SECTION 2 REVIEW OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON CPWA-RELATED SERVICES The following table shows the expenditure by category (warrant releases) by the subordinate courts by district for 2012/13. Table 13: The Judiciary subordinate courts by district and by expenditure category 2012/13 Maloti Butha- Mohale's Mokhotlong Qucha's Thaba % of Berea Buthe Leribe Mafeteng Maseru Hoek Quthing Nek Tseka Total total Salaries - established posts % Allowances - non statutory posts % Vehicle maintenance & repairs % Fuel & lubricants % Motor mileage allowance % Fares local % Subsistence local % Fares international % Subsistence international % Power % Communications % Printing % Stationery % Maintenance of public assets % Food, fodder, & beverage supplies % Purchases of production materials % Minor works % Official entertainment % Membership subscriptions % Water supply % Sewerage & sanitation % Rent & lease of building % Total cost centre % A total of M46 million was released for spending on subordinate courts in 2012/13. Of this amount, nearly 75 per cent was for the payment of salaries. Note that all salaries are reflected under the Maseru district. There is no specific information in the budget for the subordinate courts that indicates what percentage of the spending can be attributed to CPWA-related services. However, at most it will be in the order of 10 per cent, given that 3.1 per cent of prisoners are children and there is likely to be a higher ratio of cases to custodial sentences for children, given the preference in the CPWA for the use of restorative justice approaches. Furthermore, the Children s Courts also deal with civil cases relating to maintenance, custody and guardianship, which represent a large proportion of their work. The following table shows the budget and expenditure by category for the Master of the High Court for 2012/13. 19

37 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO Table 14: The Judiciary budget for The Master of the High Court by expenditure category 2012/13 Maloti Approved Estimates Warrant Releases Exp % of total Salaries - established posts % Allowances - non statutory posts % Vehicle maintenance & repairs % Fuel & lubricants % Fares local % Subsistence local % Freight charges % Fares international % Subsistence international % Power % Communications % Printing % Stationery % Maintenance of public assets % Purchases of production materials % Minor works % Books & publications % Sewerage & sanitation % Rent & lease of building % Cash losses % Vehicles, cycles & equine % Office equipement % Office/residential furniture % Total cost centre % Salaries account for 48 per cent of the expenditure by the Master of the High Court. The Master of the High Court is represented by a Deputy Master of the High Court in each district, who is largely responsible for the delivery of services to children. 2.5 How is this expenditure information used in costing the CPWA? The above analysis of expenditures shows that in the 2012/13 financial year the Government of Lesotho spent M28 million on CPWA-related services. Of this amount: the Ministry of Social Development was responsible for M10.9 million, the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services was responsible for M8.9 million, and the Judiciary was responsible for M8.5 million. The analysis of the ministries spending feeds into the costing of the CPWA in three ways: i. The current budgets of the ministries and the estimates of how much is currently being spent on CPWA-related activities provides important order of magnitude information that is used to evaluate whether the cost outcomes calculated by the CPWA costing models are in the right order of magnitude or not. This does not imply that the costing model should produce similar cost estimates to those reflected in the existing budgets, but rather that the existing budgets provide a baseline benchmark that the costing outcomes can be compared to; and where there are significant differences, the assumptions that drive such differences need to be assessed to see if they are robust. 20

38 SECTION 2 REVIEW OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON CPWA-RELATED SERVICES ii. The estimated expenditure on CPWA-related activities is used as the baseline for calculating the gap in spending that needs to be addressed by the implementation plan. See section 3 below in this regard. iii. The CPWA costing model does not cost all inputs in detail. It focusses instead on calculating the required number and cost of staff, travel costs, training and certain other specific inputs, such as transfers and the cost of running public education campaigns. The other inputs are costed as a proportion to salaries, broken down into specific items based on a weighting calculated from the respective ministries existing budgets. For a more detailed explanation of these assumptions, see Annexure B. 21

39 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO Section 3 Cost of implementing the CPWA 3.1 Introduction The costing outcomes of the CPWA Costing Model and the CPWA Capital Model are best viewed in the models themselves. This section presents summaries of the key outcomes for the three costing scenarios (see section above) used to cost the implementation of the CPWA. The following table shows the overall estimated cost of implementing the CPWA according to the three scenarios. Table 15: Overall cost of implementing the CPWA and funding gap Maloti Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Total annual operating cost Government expenditure on CPWA services in 2012/ Funding Gap Funding gap as % of estimated annual operating cost 98% 31% 85% Total setup costs Operational setup cost Setup capital cost - furniture Setup capital cost - vehicles Setup capital cost - buildings costs are presented separately below With reference to the above table: i. The Fixed Scenario estimates the annual operational cost of implementing the CPWA at M1.4 billion. This means that in 2012/13 the funding gap was 98 per cent. In other words, government s 2012/13 level of expenditure was only sufficient to provide two per cent of what is required. It needs to be noted that this scenario provides an upper boundary to the cost of fully implementing the CPWA. This costing outcome should therefore be viewed as the vision the Government of Lesotho is working towards achieving over the next twenty years. ii. Scenario 1 estimates the annual operational cost of implementing the CPWA at M40 million. This means that in 2012/13 the funding gap was 31 per cent. An additional M12.5 million per year is required to implement the service norms and standards envisaged by the CPWA while maintaining the current level of service provision. As noted above, this scenario provides an initial target for the respective ministries to work towards over the next two years, namely to ensure that the services they do deliver comply with the norms and standards envisaged by the CPWA and to fill any service gaps that exist. iii. Scenario 2 estimates the cost of increasing the capacity of the relevant ministries to serve ten times the number of children they are currently serving. It estimates the cost of doing so at M195 million. This means that in 2012/13 the funding gap was 85 per cent. To close the gap would require an additional M167 million. This would mean increasing spending from 0.32 per cent to 2.31 per cent of the Government s total budget. This is an achievable five-year target within the context of the Government s budget and MTEF. 22

40 SECTION 3 COST OF IMPLEMENTING THE CPWA iv. The total setup costs range from M46 million to M1.46 billion depending on the scenario. The primary cost driver is the cost of providing social workers and other officials with the vehicles they require to perform their duties. This cost is probably the greatest financial obstacle to the effective implementation of the CPWA. However, see the discussion in section below as to how this obstacle could possibly be overcome. v. The operational setup costs cover the development of regulations, guidelines and forms, as well as setup training. It is estimated that these activities would cost between M8.4 million and M14.5 million depending on the scenario. Both of these amounts are relatively modest compared to the overall setup costs, and well within the Government s capacity to fund. 3.2 Setup costs of implementing the CPWA The setup costs of implementing the CPWA fall into four categories: Operational setup costs. These cover the development of regulations, guidelines and forms, as well as setup training. These expenditures are necessary to put the processes and procedures to implement the CPWA in place, and to ensure officials are familiar with their new responsibilities in terms of the Act. Setup capital costs on furniture. The implementation of the CPWA will require the respective ministries to expand their service delivery capacity by appointing additional staff. These new staff will need to be provided with office furniture and equipment to enable them to function effectively. Setup capital costs on vehicles. Most of the services envisaged by the CPWA require staff to travel to communities. Therefore officials require access to vehicles to perform their duties. Setup capital costs on buildings. The CPWA identifies places of safety, remand homes, probation hostels and designated schools as institutions required to provide services to different groups of children. These costs are discussed in section Operational setup costs by activity The following table shows the operational setup costs by activity for each of the scenarios: Table 16: Operational setup costs by activity Maloti Operational setup cost by activity Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Registration of Vulnerable Children Prevention and early intervention programmes Children in need of care and protection Places of safety Fostering and adoption Master of the High Court Children's Court - social welfare and civil cases Oversight of Residential Institutions Role of police in respect of the CPWA Preliminary enquiries Diversion and Restorative Justice Processes Children's Courts - Children in conflict with the law Total setup operational cost These operational costs cover the development of regulations, guidelines and forms, as well as setup training. These respective costs are shown separately by activity in the following two tables. 23

41 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO Table 17: Operational setup costs for developing regulations, guidelines, etc. by activity Maloti Setup cost of developing regulations, guidelines, etc Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Register of Vulnerable Children Prevention and early intervention programmes Children in need of care and protection Places of safety Fostering and adoption Master of the High Court Children's Court - social welfare and civil cases Oversight of Residential Institutions Role of police in respect of the CPWA Preliminary enquiries Diversion and Restorative Justice Processes Children's Courts - Children in conflict with the law Total The costs in the above table are the same across the three scenarios because the cost of developing regulations, guidelines, etc. is not linked to levels of service delivery. The relatively high cost for the prevention and early intervention programmes covers the cost of developing seven national programmes and piloting five of them. Table 18: Operational setup costs for initial training to implement the CPWA by activity Maloti Cost of setup training by activity Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Registration of Vulnerable Children Prevention and early intervention programmes Children in need of care and protection Fostering and adoption Master of the High Court Children's Court - social welfare and civil cases Oversight of Residential Institutions Role of police in respect of the CPWA Preliminary enquiries Diversion and Restorative Justice Processes Children's Courts - Children in conflict with the law Total The high cost of initial training for staff working with children in need of care and protection is driven by the very high potential demand for services, and hence the high number of staff required to provide those services Setup capital costs furniture and equipment The following table sets out the cost of providing office furniture and equipment for the head offices and district offices and staff in the respective ministries: Table 19: Setup capital costs furniture and equipment by ministry Maloti Setup capital costs - furniture and equipment Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Ministry of Social Development Ministry of Justice - probation unit Judiciary CGPU Total No. of officials requiring office furniture and equipment

42 SECTION 3 COST OF IMPLEMENTING THE CPWA The cost for each scenario is directly related to the total number of staff required to deliver the quantity of services envisaged in that scenario. Note that certain categories of staff are assumed not to require office furniture and equipment, e.g. drivers Setup capital costs vehicles The cost of providing social workers and other officials with the vehicles they require to perform their duties is probably the greatest financial obstacle to the effective implementation of the CPWA. However, if the CPWA is to be implemented effectively, officials need to be able to get into communities to visit households, search for parents, settle disputes around estates, train Village Child Justice Committees, facilitate restorative justice processes, etc. In Lesotho the preferred mode of transport for government officials is a Toyota Hilux 4X4 bakkie. This is understandable given the rough terrain, especially in the highland areas. However, it does mean that providing vehicles in sufficient numbers is unaffordable. Against this background, the team was introduced to the Riders for Health in Thaba Tseka who transport medical samples from outlying clinics to the testing labs on motorbikes. This raised a thought: What would it cost to provide a large number of social workers, auxiliary social workers 10, probation officers and other officials with motorbikes so that they can get out into communities? This question requires serious consideration, given that one can buy about 35 motorbikes for the price of one bakkie. The following two tables compare the cost of providing bakkies and motorbikes to staff in different ratios. Table 20: Option A: Setup capital costs vehicles: only bakkies Maloti Setup capital costs - vehicles Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Ministry of Social Development Ministry of Justice - probation unit Judiciary CGPU Total Assumptions: No. of officials requiring access to a vehicle No. of staff in department per 4X4 bakkie % of staff in department allocated motorbikes 0% 0% 0% Number of 4X4 bakkies Number of motorbikes In Table 15 the cost of vehicles is slightly higher than shown in Table 20 because in Table 15 it is assumed that, in addition to providing one vehicle for every three staff members, 50 per cent of staff will be allocated motorbikes. The difference between the two tables reflects the cost of providing the motorbikes. This highlights that over 96 per cent of the cost of vehicles shown in Table 15 is for bakkies, and the remaining 4 per cent covers the cost of motorbikes for 50 per cent of the staff requiring access to a vehicle. 10 In 2011 UNICEF procured ten motorbikes for the auxiliary social welfare officers in the Ministry of Social Development. Somewhat strangely, none of the government officials interviewed for this project mentioned this. 25

43 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO Motorbikes are not suitable in all circumstances for instance, when children need to be transported to a place of safety. Therefore Scenario B still includes bakkies, but the ratio of staff to bakkies is greatly reduced. Table 21: Option B: Setup capital costs vehicles: mostly motorbikes Maloti Setup capital costs - vehicles Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Ministry of Social Development Ministry of Justice - probation unit Judiciary CGPU Total Assumptions: No. of officials requiring access to a vehicle No. of staff in department per 4X4 bakkie % of staff in department allocated motorbikes 90% 90% 90% Number of 4X4 bakkies Number of motorbikes Comparing the above two tables shows that there are clear cost savings in providing more staff with motorbikes and fewer with bakkies. The Scenario 1 and Scenario 2 costs in Option B (Table 21) are within the bounds of what the Government can realistically afford, and would ensure that all officials who require access to a vehicle in order to carry out their duties in relation to implementing the CPWA would have access to a vehicle. Further advantages associated with using motorbikes include a substantial reduction in travel operating costs, a very significant reduction in the number of drivers who need to be employed, and a reduction in travel time for staff. Obviously, there are safety risks associated with staff using motorbikes, which makes it essential to ensure that proper safety-gear is provided and used, that riders are trained and subject to regular competency tests. 3.3 Annual operational cost of the services envisaged by the CPWA The annual operational cost of implementing the different services envisaged by the CPWA is set out in the following table. Table 22: Annual operational cost of services by activity Maloti Annual operational costs by activity Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Registration of Vulnerable Children Prevention and early intervention programmes Children in need of care and protection Places of safety Fostering and adoption Master of the High Court Children's Court - social welfare and civil cases Oversight of Residential Institutions Role of police in respect of the CPWA Preliminary enquiries Diversion and Restorative Justice Processes Children's Courts - Children in conflict with the law Total The following table presents these same costs by ministry. 26

44 SECTION 3 COST OF IMPLEMENTING THE CPWA Table 23: Annual operational cost of services by ministry Maloti Annual operational costs by Ministry Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Ministry of Social Development Ministry of Justice - central administration Ministry of Justice - probation unit Ministry of Police Judiciary - magistrates courts Judiciary - Master of the High Court Total Relative share of annual operational costs Ministry of Social Development 93% 59% 78% Ministry of Justice - central administration 0% 0% 0% Ministry of Justice - probation unit 1% 6% 5% Ministry of Police 2% 15% 4% Judiciary - magistrates courts 1% 4% 2% Judiciary - Master of the High Court 3% 17% 11% Total 100% 100% 100% In the Fixed Scenario, 93 per cent of the annual cost of delivering CPWA-related services to children is located within the Ministry of Social Development. By contrast, in Scenario 1 the Ministry of Social Development accounts for 59 per cent of costs. Taking into consideration that Scenario 1 is based on 2013 service levels, the above table highlights the following: iii. There are substantially more children in need of care and protection than children in conflict with the law. The resource requirements of the Ministry of Social Development therefore far outstrip all other ministries. iv. The resource gap between what the Ministry of Social Development requires in Scenario 1 versus Scenario 2 and the Fixed Scenario is greater than for all the other ministries. This indicates that the Ministry of Social Development is currently more underfunded than other ministries, i.e. the relative funding shortfall for the Ministry of Social Development in relation to its service delivery responsibilities is greater than for all other ministries, though the other ministries may be also facing significant resource constraints currently. The above two points confirm that current service provision is strongly oriented towards combatting crime as opposed to addressing the needs of vulnerable children, which corroborates one of the key conclusions from the expenditure review in section Personnel costs and requirements The CPWA Costing Model focuses on estimating the number of personnel required to deliver the services envisaged by the CPWA, given that they are the primary cost driver. Note on full-time equivalent staff Activity-based costing aims to calculate the number of full-time equivalent staff based on the time required to carry out the specified activities, i.e. it is assumed that the staff work full-time on the specified activities and do not have other responsibilities. Consequently, the estimated number of full-time equivalent staff is not intended to correlate with existing organisational structures, administrative districts or regions. So for instance, there are 12 CGPU officers (one per policing district) who are assumed to spend 60 per cent of their time on CPWA activities, so the full time equivalent number shown in the costing is seven CGPU district officers. The following table gives a breakdown of full-time equivalent staff costs by activity, while Table 25 gives a breakdown of the full-time equivalent staff in the different personnel categories required by each ministry to implement the CPWA. 27

45 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO Note that in both tables, these costs and staff numbers are not additional to existing staff they incorporate existing staff currently providing CPWA-related services. Table 24: Cost of personnel by activity Maloti Total personnel costs by activitty Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Registration of Vulnerable Children Prevention and early intervention programmes Children in need of care and protection Places of safety Fostering and adoption Master of the High Court Children's Court - social welfare and civil cases Oversight of Residential Institutions Role of police in respect of the CPWA Preliminary enquiries Diversion and Restorative Justice Processes Children's Courts - Children in conflict with the law Total Table 25: Categories of personnel required to implement the CPWA Personnel numbers Summary of personnel by Ministry Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Ministry of Social Development Management Senior social workers Social workers Auxilary social workers Finance official Administrative assistants Drivers Ministry of Justice - probation unit Director: Probation services Deputy Director: Children's Diversion Services Probation officer Administrative assistants Ministry of Police Head of the CGPU (full time) Assistant Head of CGPU (full time) Administrative Assistants CGPU District Officer CGPU assistant officer Police officers - for doing social welfare related work Judiciary - Children's Courts Magistrate Prosecutor Clerk of the Court Court Intermediary Court Manager Judiciary - Master of the High Court Master of the High Court Deputy Master of the High Court Assistant of the High Court Admin assistants Total

46 SECTION 3 COST OF IMPLEMENTING THE CPWA The greatest need for additional personnel is within the Ministry of Social Development. This reflects the findings of other research that there are a very large number of vulnerable children requiring care and protection. It also poses an enormous challenge to the human resource development strategy of the sector: are enough auxiliary social workers and social workers being trained to meet the need? Is the training appropriately structured with sufficient focus on the services of envisaged by the CPWA? Is the Ministry giving priority to employing more social workers and auxiliary social workers? Cost of on-going training To ensure service delivery norms and standards are maintained and implemented, as well as to induct new staff properly, the CPWA Costing Model costs the provision of on-going training. Table 26: Total cost of on-going training by activity Maloti Cost of ongoing training by activity Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Prevention and early intervention programmes e. Ongoing training on early intervention programmes Children in need of care and protection g. Ongoing training on care and protection processes Fostering and adoption i. Ongoing training on fostering and adoption processe Master of the High Court h. Ongoing training on Master's responsibilities with re Children's Court - social welfare and civil cases f. Ongoing training on Children's Court processes Oversight of Residential Institutions e. Training of staff of institutions f. Ongoing training of unit staff Role of police in respect of the CPWA e. Ongoing training of police on CPWA Preliminary enquiries f. Ongoing training of preliminary enquiry role-players Diversion and Restorative Justice Processes f. Training of Village Child Justice Committees g. Ongoing training of probation officers Children's Courts - Children in conflict with the law f. Ongoing training of children's court role-players Total Ongoing training as a % of total operational costs 0.58% 2.21% 1.20% In the different scenarios the cost of providing this on-going training represents a very small percentage of the overall costing of the CPWA around 0.6 per cent in the Fixed Scenario and 2.2 per cent in Scenario 1. However, it is very important for the Government to allocate sufficient funding to on-going training to ensure consistent implementation of the CPWA services across the country and compliance with the relevant service norms and standards Cost of subventions to places of safety The CPWA Capital Model calculates that it costs M2.54 million per year to run a place of safety with 75 children. This correlates with the budgets of the two places of safety in Maseru visited by the team, namely Beautiful Gate and Maseru Children s Village. To keep a child in a place of safety therefore costs M2 822 per month. This means that the current subvention of M100 per child per month that the Ministry of Social Development pays to designated places of safety only covers 3.5 per cent of the actual cost. Indeed, the subvention 29

47 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO only covers about a third of what it is estimated to cost to feed a child in a place of safety per month (taking into account own food production by the place of safety). This is no problem for a place of safety that can raise the balance of the required funds from donors. There is a very serious problem when it can t, because it means that there is only M3.33 per child per day, which is simply not enough to meet even children s most basic needs food, water and warmth. This raises a number of issues: iv. The value of the subvention is woefully inadequate and the Government needs to prioritise increasing it significantly (see below). v. The Ministry of Social Development needs to consider targeting the subvention to those places of safety that do not have access to adequate donor funding so as to ensure greater funding equity between the existing places of safety. vi. The Ministry of Social Development needs to consider if it is in the best interests of children to allocate the subvention to an increasing number of places of safety, or if it should increase the subvention to a limited number of places of safety. If the latter strategy is followed, the Ministry: will need to close down those places of safety that cannot demonstrate that they have the funds to provide an acceptable level of care for children, will need to ensure the measures set out in the CPWA to regulate the placement of children in places of safety are activated and enforced, and will need to appoint more social workers dedicated to working on reunification, family foster care, fostering and adoptions so as to limit the length of time children stay in places of safety 11. The following table shows the cost of increasing the subvention from M100, to M300, to M1 400 to M2 800 per child per month. The Fixed Scenario estimates the number of places required at 25 per cent of the vulnerable children entering the child protection system, with each child only remaining for six months in the place of safety before they are either reunified with their families, placed in family care, fostered or adopted. Scenarios 1 and 2 reflect the current number of places in the 29 places of safety that the Ministry of Social Development has designated for Table 27: The cost of increasing the subvention for places of safety Maloti Summary of costs Fixed scenario Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Number of places in places of safety M100 per child per month - level in M300 per child per month - enough to cover child's food M1400 per child per month - half the cost of keeping a child in a place of safety M2800 per child per month - full cost of keeping a child in a place of safety Scenario 1 shows that to pay the subvention of M100 per child per month for the places in the 29 designated places of safety will cost M2.246 million. This is a significant increase on the M1.012 million the Ministry budgeted for subventions in 2012/13 (see Table 4). If the subvention were increased to cover the M300 per child per month required for food, the Ministry would have to increase its budget to M6.74 million to cover the places in designated places of safety This would be in line with the Foster Care and Adoption Policy of Lesotho, 7 August See Government Gazette Volume 59 Number 15, Legal Notice 18 of 2014 dated 7 March

48 SECTION 3 COST OF IMPLEMENTING THE CPWA To cover the full cost of M2 800 per child per month would require M62.9 million to cover the existing places of safety, and M157 million would be required to cover the estimated places that are required in the Fixed Scenario. This highlights the extent of the cost savings Government can realise through the Ministry of Social Development prioritising family support services, reunification, family foster care, fostering and adoptions as required by the CPWA. 3.4 Cost of facilities envisaged by the CPWA The CPWA Capital Model is set up to calculate the cost of building the different kinds of facilities mentioned in the CPWA, as well as the annual operational cost of running them 13. The following table summarises these costs by facility. Table 28: Building and operational costs of facilities mentioned in the CPWA Maloti Juvenile Detention Facility Children's Court Place of Safety Remand Home Probation Hostel Male Female Permanent Prefab Number of places in facility Total start up costs Start up equipment Infrastructure Vehicles Total annual operational costs n/a n/a Personnel n/a n/a Goods and services n/a n/a Cost per child per month Note that the CPWA Capital Model allows for the size of facilities to be varied. So, for instance, the size of a place of safety can be reduced to 30 places, in which case the total startup cost would be M6.3 million and the annual operational costs would be M1.35 million. The cost per child per month would be M3 754, which is substantially higher than for a place of safety with 75 places, due to a loss of economies of scale. The above information would serve as an input into any process designed to determine if there is a need for the Government to construct any of the facilities mentioned by the CPWA. Another crucial piece of information in such a decision process would be the actual demand for places in such facilities. In this regard, the following needs to be taken into account: iv. Appointing social workers to manage processes to reunite children with their families, place them in foster care and facilitate adoptions would reduce the demand for places in places of safety. From the perspective of the best interests of children, all these arrangements are preferable to children spending extended periods of time in institutional care. These options also cost significantly less than the M2 823 per month it takes to support a child in a place of safety. v. The CPWA emphasises restorative justice-type solutions for children in conflict with the law, with detention as a last resort. Government should therefore give preference to funding restorative justice-type interventions rather than building new facilities. If this route is followed, this should limit the demand for places in remand homes, probation hostels and juvenile detention facilities. vi. The 2013 data on the number of children in correctional services facilities does not suggest that the existing demand for detention facilities is significant. Places in the existing JTC facility could be better utilised by ensuring that remand periods are minimised, and ensuring that only boys who need to be detained are held in the facility. 13 Note that designated schools are not included in the list since the number of children likely to be sent to such schools is negligible. 31

49 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO vii. There is a need for a separate detention facility for girls, but the size of the facility needs to be carefully considered. In 2010 there were only nine girls being held in detention in the JTC. It is estimated that in 2013 the number of girls held in detention in the Maseru Woman s Prison is between four and ten. Given these small numbers, it may be more costeffective to consider building a separate girls dormitory attached to the JTC. 32

50 SECTION 4 PHASED IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR THE CPWA Section 4 Phased implementation plan for the CPWA 4.1 Introduction A stated priority of government is probably not a priority unless it is funded in the budget. The implementation of the CPWA is a long term initiative. This costing project as a whole provides clear pointers regarding where the demand for services lies and the cost of developing appropriate programmatic responses. As indicated, the Fixed Scenario provides a 20-year vision, Scenario 2 outlines the cost of a tenfold increase in the number of children served, while Scenario 1 sets out the cost of maintaining current levels of service delivery but ensuring that the services comply with the norms and standards and processes envisaged by the CPWA. However, there are clearly things that need to be done first, and others second. In this regard, the National Multisectoral Child Protection Strategy provides important guidance. 4.2 Links to the National Multisectoral Child Protection Strategy While this costing project was underway, another team was working on developing a National Multisectoral Child Protection Strategy / /19. The outcomes of this process provide the overall vision and strategy for protecting children in Lesotho. The phased implementation plan for the CPWA is only one component of this broader strategy, and therefore needs to be properly aligned with its Vision, Goal and Strategic objectives. These are set out in the text box below. National Multisectoral Child Protection Strategy 2014/ /19 Vision Children in Lesotho live in an environment free from abuse, violence, exploitation and neglect, within supportive family settings, so that they have their rights fulfilled and their full potential realised. Goal By 2019, provide a comprehensive coordinated system that prevents and responds to abuse, violence, exploitation and neglect of children and protects children in contact with the law. Strategic objectives Strategic objective 1: By 2019, all social sector strategies developed by government and civil society will express clear, accountable and measurable commitments to protecting all children in Lesotho from abuse, violence, exploitation and neglect. The same commitments will be a central element of leadership demonstrations from traditional and faith-based representative bodies. Strategic objective 2: By 2019, effective mechanisms at community council, district and national level will deliver coordinated planning, delivery and monitoring of child protection actions in Lesotho. Strategic objective 3: By 2019, there will be increased national coverage and quality of services that strengthen family and community capacity to protect children, prevent child abuse, exploitation violence and neglect, and provide a timely and accountable response to child protection violations. Source: National Multisectoral Child Protection Strategy / /19 33

51 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO Many of the activities proposed for the National Multisectoral Child Protection Strategy involve creating an environment that will facilitate effective implementation of the CPWA, including strong leadership and oversight, proper co-ordination and accountability. Then there are various specific activities to strengthen the systems required to implement the CPWA, including: 2.2 By 2019, establish a functional child protection Information Management System within the Ministry of Social Development. 2.3 By 2019, ensure that all key stakeholders involved in the child protection workforce have enhanced capacities, through establishment of core competencies and standard performance indicators. 3.1 By 2019, strengthen family strengthening interventions for families where children are at risk of child protection violations in at least five districts. 3.2 By 2019, implement the alternative care components of the CPWA of 2011 to scale up support for children without adequate parental care. 3.3 By 2019, design, pilot and scale up a child protection reporting and case management process. 3.4 By 2019, establish a national restorative justice process with community-based diversion and rehabilitation implemented in at least half of all community councils. Against the backdrop of these activities, as well as the information gathered during the course of the costing project and insights gained from building the costing models, the costing team proposed a list of 22 implementation priorities for the CPWA. These were discussed with the Reference Group and then circulated to all stakeholders for comment. Finally the project team developed the CPWA Implementation Prioritisation Tool to assist with prioritising the 22 activities Prioritising the implementation activities The CPWA Implementation Prioritisation Tool is designed to facilitate structured thinking around priorities, focussing on balancing the social urgency for certain services against services that add value to an individual child s life. By asking users to rank the value or impact of a particular activity against a set of five weighted criteria, the matrix calculates an index score that is used to rank the different activities in order of priority. The following table provides the outcome of this exercise. 34

52 SECTION 4 PHASED IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR THE CPWA Table 29: Priority ranking of activities for implementing the CPWA Choose Weight 25% 25% 20% 10% 20% The combined weights are less than 100% Catalytic value Foundational Give each activity a rank for each category between 1 and 10 using the descriptions as a guide To what extent will this activity spark the start of other activities Does this activity lay the foundation for others, or is it dependent on other activities being completed first? 10 Very catalytic A very important foundation 5 Somewhat catalytic A moderately important foundation 1 Is not catalytic This is not foundational Preventative Impact To what extent does completing this activity help prevent harm to children? High impact - very preventative Low preventative impact - but prevents further decline No preventative impact - this is a purely reactive activity Scale of impact How many children are affected by this activity? Large numbers of children Few children Level of harm How significant is the harm to children that this activity is intended to address? Significant harm Medium level of harm Low level of harm Score Rank Actions that can be taken to implement the CPWA Development of regulations, forms, SOPs and guidelines Training of social workers: prevention and early intervention Training of social workers: case management Training of social workers: alternative care and permanency Training of social workers: children in contact with the law Training of police officers on the CPWA and dealing with children Training of probation officers, prosecutors and magistrates on the CPWA Training of child care workers in places of safety Setup child protection case management system Setup five early intervention programmes Take on the funding responsibility of the national child helpline Put in place systems to ensure Children's Courts make placement orders Appoint a social worker per district to do assessments for 5 permanency arrangements Increase subventions to places of safety to 50% of cost per child Establish central authority for adoptions Appoint two additional social workers to the adoptions unit to work on fostering Appoint one legal officer per district to work on children's matters in the Office of the Master of the High Court Establish unit to register and exercise oversight of residential institutions Children in conflict with the law Establish the preliminary enquiries process Develop formal standard diversion programmes Provide training to Village Child Justice Committees Appoint one probation officer in each district Furniture, computers and vehicles Buy furntiture and other office equipement for staff Buy computers/laptops for staff Buy vehicles for use by social workers Buy vehicles for use by probation officers Buildings Build additional places of saftey Build a remand home Build a probation hostel Build children's courts Additional Priorities 0 31 Additional Priority Note that the activities from 23 onwards were not ranked. These relate to purchasing furniture/equipment and building various facilities Evaluating the practicality of implementation priorities Simply because a proposed activity is a priority does not mean it will be practical to implement. This varies for each activity, taking into consideration ease of implementation and demand for funding. Similarly, certain lower-ranked priorities might be far easier to implement and require less funding. To evaluate the practicality of the 22 implementation priorities, the following tool was developed. 35

53 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO Table 30: Tool to assess the practicality of the proposed implementation activities First fill in the priority worksheet and then complete this one. Give each activity a rank for each category between 1 and 10 using the descriptions as a guide Choose Weight 40% 60% Ease of implementation How easy is it to implement this activity? Extent of funding requirement What is the likely extent of the funding requirements for this activity? 10 easily implemented low funding requirement 5 moderately difficult to implement moderate funding requirement 1 difficult to implement high funding requirement Practicality Priority Actions that can be taken to implement the CPWA Development of regulations, forms, SOPs and guidelines Setup five early intervention programmes Setup child protection case management system Training of social workers: prevention and early intervention Appoint a social worker per district to do assessments for permanency arrangements Provide training to Village Child Justice Committees Training of social workers: case management Put in place systems to ensure Children's Courts make placement orders Establish unit to register and exercise oversight of residential institutions Training of police officers on the CPWA and dealing with children Take on the funding responsibility of the national child helpline Appoint one legal officer per district to work on children's matters in the Office of the Master of the High Court Appoint two additional social workers to the adoptions unit to work on Training of social workers: alternative care and permanency Training of social workers: children in contact with the law Develop formal standard diversion programmes Appoint one probation officer in each district Training of probation officers, prosecutors and magistrates on the CPWA Increase subventions to places of safety to 50% of cost per child Establish central authority for adoptions Establish the preliminary enquiries process Training of child care workers in places of safety 7 7 Note that in the above table the activities are listed in the order of priority determined using the priority ranking established through use of the CPWA Implementation Prioritisation Tool. The intention of the colouring is that the results of the tool should be evaluated in the same way as those of a traffic light: Green = Go Amber = Wait, slow down, think is it feasible? Red = Stop, watch, wait re-evaluate it against other priorities Obviously, if Government allocates funding for a specific activity, then the implications of this practicality assessment fall away. It is really only relevant where the activities have to be funded from a limited pool of common funds, which is often the case. In such circumstances, the Government or ministry would consider doing those things where it can realise a number of quick wins, i.e. the green priorities Costed implementation priorities Drawing on the information in the CPWA Costing Model, the cost of implementing each of the identified priority activities was either calculated or taken from the costing model directly. The sheet Impl Budget in the CPWA Costing Model gives the detailed assumptions that were used in this regard. 36

54 SECTION 4 PHASED IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR THE CPWA Table 31: Costed Implementation priorities for the CPWA for 2015/16 to 2017/18 Maloti Cost of implementation priorities Priority Activities to implement the CPWA 2015/ / /18 1 Development of regulations, forms, SOPs and guidelines Setup five early intervention programmes Setup child protection case management system Training of social workers: prevention and early intervention Appoint one social worker in each district to do permanency assessments Provide training to Village Child Justice Committees Training of social workers: case management Put in place systems to ensure Children's Courts make placement orders Establish unit to register and exercise oversight of residential institutions Training of police officers on the CPWA and dealing with children Take on the funding responsibility of the national child helpline Appoint one legal officer per district to work on children's matters in the Office of the Master of the High Court 13 Appoint two additional social workers to the adoptions unit to work on fostering Training of social workers: alternative care and permanency Training of social workers: children in contact with the law Develop formal standard diversion programmes Appoint one probation officer in each district Training of probation officers, prosecutors and magistrates on the CPWA Increase subventions to places of safety to 50% of cost per child (phased in at M100 increase per year) 20 Establish central authority for adoptions Establish the preliminary enquiries process Training of child care workers in places of safety Total new funding required to implement above priorities The activities for which there is a funding requirement in the first year only are once off and do not have recurrent funding implications. Given limited capacity to implement, the respective ministries may consider phasing this implementation plan over a longer period. This may be a necessity, given the limited availability of additional funding. In such circumstances it would be advisable to identify implementation priorities with reference to the practicality tool discussed above. 4.3 Phased implementation plan In the CPWA Costing Model there is space for the user to define a three-year Implementation Plan for 2015/16 to 2017/18 according to what funds are likely to be made available, and according to the priorities of the different ministries. Currently, this Implementation Plan is set up to progressively increase the quantity of services provided effectively providing a roll-out plan to get from Scenario 1 to Scenario 2. The following table shows the overall cost of this proposed roll-out, differentiating between setup costs and operational costs. 37

55 COSTING THE CHILDREN S PROTECTION AND WELFARE ACT, 2011 OF LESOTHO Table 32: Overall cost of the Implementation Plan 2015/16 to 2017/18 Maloti Implementation plan 2015/ / /18 Total annual operating cost Government expenditure on CPWA services in 2012/ Funding Gap Funding gap as % of estimated annual operating cost 58% 71% 78% Total setup costs Operational setup cost Setup capital cost - furniture Setup capital cost - vehicles Setup capital cost - buildings no funds provided In 2015/16 the main emphasis is on the operational setup costs required to put the CPWA systems, processes and guidelines in place and on the initial training of staff. The first year also provides for the cost of buying vehicles so that staff can do their work. The annual operating cost also increases relative to the 2012/13 budget as more staff are appointed and services expanded. In 2016/17 the setup cost funds are for the development of further early intervention programmes and training, furniture and vehicles for new staff. The following table gives a more detailed breakdown of the Implementation Plan s operational setup costs by activity. Table 33: Implementation Plan operational setup costs by activity Maloti Implementation plan Operational setup cost by activity 2015/ / /18 Registration of Vulnerable Children Prevention and early intervention programmes Children in need of care and protection Places of safety Fostering and adoption Master of the High Court Children's Court - social welfare and civil cases Oversight of Residential Institutions Role of police in respect of the CPWA Preliminary enquiries Diversion and Restorative Justice Processes Children's Courts - Children in conflict with the law Total setup operational cost The emphasis of the operational setup costs is on the development and piloting of programmes for prevention and early intervention, the establishment of the unit in the Ministry of Social Development to exercise oversight of residential institutions, and the development of structured diversion programmes. The CPWA Costing Model provides a lot more detail regarding the proposed priorities and costs for the Implementation Plan. 38

56 SECTION 5 THE WAY FORWARD Section 5 The way forward As already noted, the implementation of the CPWA is a long term initiative. It is going to require committed and sustained leadership from the Minister of Social Development and the Minister of Justice and Correctional Service, as well as all other role-players in the child protection sector. It is envisaged that this costing of the implementation of the CPWA will provide useful information that the respective ministries will use in the development of their strategic plans, budgets and implementation plans going forward. More importantly, the CPWA Costing Model and CPWA Capital Model are tools that the ministries can use on an on-going basis to generate current costings of different aspects of the CPWA implementation process. These models can be used to explore whether or not there are more cost-effective ways of delivering certain services or performing certain activities. For instance, the example of enabling staff to use motorbikes might point to an innovative and costeffective approach of overcoming the perennial transport problem in the sector. 39