Day 60/100
The 100-Day Challenge team in the Garden Route District started by responding to the challenge to expand and improve current data management systems to include all relevant stakeholders in the child sexual and related offences case ecosystem by looking at ways to effectively use the data collected to improve not only conviction rates, but the quality of service provided to victims, survivors, and their families by better tracking the flow of data through justice and all related systems.
Pillar 6 of the NSPGBVF is mandated to oversee research and information management. This includes dealing with data, and the usage of data, and the integration of data. The team has, very quickly, identified where the first blockages are, which is basically the first point of entry into the system. They have also mapped the data flow to be able to identify gaps. Having set out with a very ambitious goal in the beginning, not realising how complex the data movement is within the system, they have realigned themselves so that their goal is more achievable given the current situation.
The team discovered that there is currently no actual tracking of Form 22s, the first point of entry into the system for children who have been abused, neglected, are pregnant, or malnourished. This means that there is no way of knowing how many reported cases have in fact been attended to by a social worker nor how many of these should be regarded as criminal matters. There is also currently no clear process for the officials who filled in the Form 22s to know whether a social worker has been assigned. All these barriers need to be corrected before quality of service provision can be accurately measured or tracking cases through the system is possible.
‘Learning is positive. Even learning bad things is positive because what you don’t know will hurt you,’ said Nadim Matta, one of the project leads who is fondly known as a 100-Day guru thanks to his vast experience using this process.
‘With so many departments involved everybody needs to contribute to ensuring that there is a positive outcome when this case eventually goes to court. So we had to quickly realign ourselves to understand where the blockages are and what we could do to facilitate an easier flow of information from the entry point and namely, from the time that the case is actually reported, whether it be at SAPS or whether it be through a social worker or whether it be through a school or directly at a hospital. And I think that was critical because there are numerous entry points and whoever starts the process needs to actually ensure that the flow then carries on from there,’ said Mark Willemse, Deputy Mayor of Knysna and one of the Team Mentors.
If interdepartmental data flow is unknown, it makes it difficult to draw true statistics so that resources can be allocated correctly. He explained that currently, each department has its own system but these are not integrated which makes it quite haphazard. And sometimes, obviously, this is why cases fall through the cracks, and victims and survivors are not dealt with correctly or procedurally, and this causes a headache in general for the case.
‘Just for one point, we actually discovered that social workers were not assigned to every single case as one of the points of context. That is just not right. And that is due to a lack of proper data flow. There is a uniform Form 22 that is the initial collection of data either before or when the case is actually opened and that form needs to flow through the entire system. But there isn’t one specific data collection app or program that collects everything from the very start,’ concluded Willemse.
‘We are confident that the work of this team will start the necessary processes towards true integrated data management. We are very happy with the team that we have.They are the correct people to be able to make the changes and to identify what the changes should be. But those people’s caseloads are also very hectic, which means that we are competing for their time to be able to see the challenge through,’ said Herman Nieuwoudt, Bitou Mayor’s Office & team mentor.
‘I think discovering the scope of the problem and the different aspects of it is hugely impactful because it’s the basis for moving forward. So in some cases, discovery may be more important than the actual progress on impact and results because it sets the stage for proper work towards that,’ concluded Matta.
‘As the team working on integrated information management systems started presenting, they were worried that they’re not doing so much and other teams are moving. But the issues that you’ve brought forward are so key in the national strategic and collaborative platform. I also serve under pillar six. And we’ve been struggling because some of the interventions that we are using in South Africa are not South Africa based. They are coming from outside, informed by information that is from the other countries. The system itself. We’ve been trying to build an ecosystem because different departments have been storing information differently that is not talking to the other departments. Ultimately, it is just us making sure that those systems communicate to each other and the victims,’ said Sibs Mthembu, Office of the President.
For questions or to arrange an interview with any of the team leaders, please contact Candice Ludick on [email protected] or 060 715 3607.