Implementation Evaluation of the Older Persons Act, 2006 (Act 13 of 2006)

The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) and the Department of Social Development (DSD) commissioned an implementation evaluation of the Older Persons Act, 2006 (Act 13 of 2006), hereafter referred to as ‘the Act’, in 2016 to assess if the Act was being implemented as intended, and to identify how it could be strengthened. The findings and recommendations of the evaluation would be used to strengthen the implementation, and to inform the amendment of the Act. Concurrent with the evaluation process, DSD undertook a process to review the Act. Creative Consulting and Development Works (CC&DW) employed a design and implementation evaluation following a mixed-method approach, which included quantitative and qualitative data. Evaluation questions were determined in consultation with the Steering Committee (SC) and aimed to answer questions regarding efficiency, effectiveness, institutional and implementation capacity, resource allocation, learning and best practice pertaining to the respective chapters, aspects and thematic areas of the Act. The evaluation further considered the extent to which responsiveness to issues related to gender, disability and geographical location could be improved. Thematic focus areas covered in the five chapters of the Act are: the implementation, application and general principles; creating an enabling and supportive environment for older persons; community care and support services; residential care facilities and outreach programmes; and protection for older persons. The evaluation included a design component and accordingly a Theory of Change (ToC) was developed as a first step, in consultation with key stakeholders. Subsequently an updated 3-tier ToC (national, provincial and local level) was developed. The implementation evaluation made use of both primary and secondary data. The latter was used in a literature review, comparative analysis with three (3) countries and a document review. Various primary data collection methods were used in this evaluation, and appropriate sampling strategies and sizes were determined for each data collection method and participant groups, which included national and provincial government departments, Chapter 9 Institutions, non-governmental organisations and beneficiaries in various geographical locations in all 9 provinces.