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Translation Services for Migrants Project
City of Johannesburg (Dept of Health)
South Africa

The Problem

The City of Johannesburg’s Region F has a population of an estimated 488,022, with an estimated 13% of that population being migrants (63,442 of the total population of the region). The two clinics, Rosettenville and Yeoville provide healthcare to primarily foreign nationals. They are constantly faced with the unique challenges of communication that greatly compromise quality of care for migrants, result in long queues due to increased consultation times and some tension between health workers and foreign nationals.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The project initiative is about translation services for foreign nationals at the Rosettenville and Yeoville clinics. The innovation is the provision of translation services to migrant communities in the selected health care facilities of the City of Johannesburg. The languages covered are Swahili, French, Portuguese, Lingala and Tshiluba. The suitable foreign nurses conduct the translations. The program was implemented in partnership with African Migrants Solidarity and Refugee Nurses Association and has assisted 3480 beneficiaries over a period of nine months. The program has also been introduced to three more facilities until 2012 with funding from the Foundation for Human Rights through African Migrants Solidarity – a Population Council’s grantee. The project has indirectly offered employment opportunity to migrant nurses in a form of allowance to them for their translation services. They are trained in basic HIV and AIDS and counselling, and also briefed on service delivery issues and the Code of Conduct of the City of Johannesburg.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The City of Johannesburg in collaboration with the Communities of Rosentteville and Yeoville as well as the translation nurses.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The translation services were seen as lacking and thus the initiative to establish a translation services facility at the clinics. The languages covered are Swahili, French, Portuguese, Lingala and Tshiluba. Suitable foreign nurses were selected and appointed to conduct the translations. The program was implemented in partnership with African Migrants Solidarity and Refugee Nurses Association and has assisted 3480 beneficiaries over a period of nine months. The program has also been introduced to three more facilities until 2012 with funding from the Foundation for Human Rights through African Migrants Solidarity – a Population Council’s grantee. The project has indirectly offered employment opportunity to migrant nurses in a form of allowance to them for their translation services. They are trained in basic HIV and AIDS and counselling, and also briefed on service delivery issues and the Code of Conduct of the City of Johannesburg.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The situational analisys was conducted in the catchment areas of the two clinics, Yeoville and Rosettenville to determine the predominant foreign languages spoken by migrants. The recruitment process for suitable foreign health worker nationals followed the pattern of foreign languages spoken by the foreign nationals in these catchment areas.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The main obstacles encountered on this project were: funding,foreign health worker nationals not recognised by Health Professions Councils of the Republic South Africa unless the foreign nationals health workers can pass the examinations before the could be allowed to register to practice.The absence of IEC materials in foreign languages at health facilities. The partnership with Population Council which was funded by the Ford Foundation(USA) then made it possible for funds to be available to kick-start the project for a period of one year. It became much easy to get the second donor for the project to be extended to other clinics in the Region because of the successes of the project at the two original sites, namely Yeoville and Rosettenville clinics. The challenge of non-availability of foreign health workers at health facilities was overcome through the partnership with NGOs, the Refugee Nurses Association and the African Migrants Solidarity who recruited volunteer foreign health professionals, who despite not been registered to practice in South Africa were affair with the health terminology and served as good translators. The obstacle around the non-availability of IEC materials at health facilities was overcome by prioritising key health policy documents and pamphlets
for example TB,STI, The Batho Pele Principles, The Patient Rights & Responsibilities Charter and translating them into different foreign languages spoken in respective catchment areas of the two clinics.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
The volunteer foreign health worker nationals were used for translation at the reception area, the waiting area as well as in consulting rooms at the health clinics. The benefits of this translation came in the form of improved communication between foreign national patients/clients and the South African health workers at clinic level. The improvement in communication led to reduction in waiting time for all patients at the clinics. The improved communication also led to effective treatment of foreign nationals patients/clients by healthcare workers because of better understandings since language was a barrier. There are now fewer incidents of conflict between migrants and local communities as well as healthcare workers at clinic level. The translation project has indirectly offered employment opportunity migrant nurses in form of allowances to them for their translation services. These translators are further exposed to how the South African Health system functions and this exposure stands them in good chance to pass their examinations for registration to practice as health care workers as is the case currently. The translation project has been extended to three more clinics in Region F because of its successes and benefits at the two original sites, Yeoville and Rosettenville clinics.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
In no more than 500 words, describe how the initiative is being sustained (for example in terms of financial, social and economic, cultural, environmental, institutional and regulatory sustainability). Describe whether the initiative is being replicated or disseminated throughout the public service at national and/or international levels and/or how it could be replicated.
The City of Johannesburg has its own migration policy. It has established a migrant help desk to facilitate assistance of migrants by linking them to appropriate service providers. The Joburg Migrants Advisory Committee (JMAC) is a political structure within the City of Jahannesburg that deals with migrants related issues. The Joburg Migrant Advisory Panel (JMAP) consists of role players and stakeholders in the migrant sector. The above creates an ideal environment and frame work for sustainability of the translation project for migrants. The City of Johannesburg has put aside resources dedicated for migrants and donor funding from international organisations like Population Council, Ford Foundation (USA) and national NGOs like Foundation For Human Rights do give assurance on the sustainability of the project. The foreign health care workers who get registered to practice in the Republic of South Africa come as an added value to the sustainability of the translation project. The initiative has already been extended to other three health facilities in Region F. The City of Johannesburg’ Health Department has already taken a decision to roll out this project in all seven administrative Regions of the City.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The project has to a large extent reduced the numbers of xenophobic violence against foreign nationals in Region F of the City of Johannesburg. The project has been running successfully since May 2010.The project has since been rolled over to three other clinics (Esselen, Joubert Park and Mayfair). There are now fewer incidents of conflict between health workers and migrant clients/patients. The waiting times have also improved at clinics where this project is implemented because of the use of translators. The clinics where the translation service has been implemented experienced an increase in utilisation by migrant population. The key lesson learned from this initiative is the fact that difficulty in communication between service providers and foreign nationals can serve as a barrier for migrants to access services including healthcare services, and subsequently mismanagement of clients in health care.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   City of Johannesburg (Dept of Health)
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Oupa Montsioa
Title:   Mr  
Telephone/ Fax:   011 681 8130 Mobile: 082 467 9423
Institution's / Project's Website:   www.joburg.org.za
E-mail:   oupamont@joburg.org.za  
Address:   Eureka House,92 Marlborough Road,Springfield
Postal Code:   2130
City:   Johannesburg
State/Province:   Gauteng
Country:   South Africa

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