The DGMT Learning Lunch
The Learning Lunch is an opportunity for NPO teams to be exposed to new ideas, discover what others are learning, and reflect on what that means for their implementation and strategy. Visit www.dgmt.co.za/resources/learning-lunch for the full experience and to access the podcasts and instructions for a ±30-minute group reflection.
The DGMT Learning Lunch
The Learning Lunch - Maternal Support Grant: It's social justice
What comes to mind when you hear the term ‘social protection’? For many, it’s social grants or government assistance programmes. But at its core, social protection is a safety net that keeps people from falling deeper into poverty, benefiting individuals and society.
In South Africa, even though this principle is embedded in the Constitution, there are still gaps in our social protection system. Pregnant women living in poverty are falling through the cracks. Without financial support during pregnancy, women living in poor communities face greater economic hardship, limiting their ability to work and making it harder to afford nutritious food and healthcare. Right now, South Africa doesn’t have a dedicated social grant for expectant mothers living in poverty. Yet research shows that providing financial assistance during pregnancy leads to healthier babies and better long-term outcomes.
This matters for NGOs working on the frontlines of social development. The people most in need of social protection are often the very same communities that NGOs serve — whether in maternal health, early childhood development, or food security.
A Maternal Support Grant (MSG) wouldn’t just change lives at an individual level; it could also ease the burden on NGOs because stronger state support for pregnant women has the potential to break cycles of intergenerational poverty.
In this Deep Dive conversation, we look at what a Maternal Support Grant could mean for South Africa, why it’s a social justice issue, and how NGOs can help push this conversation forward. We speak to Wanga Zembe-Mkabile, senior specialist scientist at the South African Medical Research Council; Julie Mentor, Project lead of Embrace and Daniel McLaren, a public finance economist at Ilifa Labantwana.
Visit www.dgmt.co.za/maternal-support-grant-its-social-justice to read more and access the takeaway instructions.
The Learning Lunch podcast features three types of episodes: Deep Dives; Nourish & Flourish; and Best Bites.
Each podcast/learning lunch session is structured as follows:
The Main Meal - A ±30-minute podcast
The Takeaways - Instructions for a ±30-minute group reflection based on what you listened to.
To learn more about the work that we do, go to www.dgmt.co.za