During the next few months, the government will be making important decisions about how to fight poverty in South Africa and ensure that everyone has access to social security. This will be a critical time for those who support a Basic Income Grant (BIG) to end extreme poverty to make their voices heard! Here are some tips for communicating effectively with public officials.

1. Contact the right people

When deciding which public officials to contact, consider two questions:

• Whose views are likely to influence others in government?
• Who has a particular reason to listen to my opinion on this matter?

With respect to the BIG, the most influential officials are likely to be those dealing with Finance and Social Development, so try to contact the Ministers and MECs responsible for these portfolios. The Members of Parliament responsible for your constituency should be most interested in hearing your views on the BIG. You might know other national, provincial or local legislators or officials through church, community or professional contacts who would also be particularly open to your opinions.

2. Visit or letter?

Meeting with a public official is usually the best way to get your views across. It gives you a chance to get feedback and to respond to questions or concerns. If you plan to visit an official, call her or his office in advance to arrange an appointment. (If you do this a week or more in advance, you may want to call the day before to reconfirm.) Schedule conflicts may prevent the person from seeing you when you want, but try to negotiate an mutually agreeable time and date. Members of Parliament are supposed to make themselves available for meetings in their constituency offices during the Parliamentary constituency period (9-13 December 2002 is the next constituency period), so ask your constituency MPs for appointments during that week. Ministers and MECs are more likely to agree to meet you if you involve senior church officials in your delegation.

If you are not able to arrange a suitable meeting with a particular official, you can write to the person instead. Ask the official to respond to your letter and offer to provide more information on request.

3. Organise your argument

Whether you are visiting or writing, decide what are the most important messages to communicate. (See ideas below.) Think about what arguments are likely to be the most persuasive to the person you are contacting. Make sure you get these key points across in your visit or letter.

If you are planning a group visit, get together before to agree on what you want to say. You might want to jot down some "talking points" and make specific members of the group responsible for raising each one. Pick someone to act as facilitator who can introduce the members of the group, get the discussion started, ensure that all of your points come out, and express the group's thanks at the end of the visit. You can also ask someone to take notes on the responses you receive and any commitments to further action (on either side).

4. Leave a record of your concerns

If you are visiting an official, it is a good idea to take something written to leave at the end of your visit. This could be an article from a newspaper, magazine, or church publication that talks about the extent of poverty in the country or the potential benefits of a BIG. (In a long article, it may help to highlight important passages.) Or it could be a memorandum you have prepared or even just a summary of the points you planned to raise. Such documents will remind the official of the issues you raised after you have gone.

5. Follow up

There may be more to do after you write or visit. It is helpful if you let the SACC know what you have done. If you can, send a copy of your letter or a brief report on your visit to the Provincial Council of Churches and the SACC Parliamentary Office. If, during a visit, you have offered to supply additional information on any matter, make sure that you do this. Has the official offered a further meeting or promised to report to you on anything? If so, someone should be responsible for following this up.

Suggested talking points on the Basic Income Grant

The points you choose to emphasise in a letter or visit will depend on many factors: what arguments you find most convincing, what you know about the official you are contacting, local needs and experiences, how well prepared you feel you are to raise particular issues, etc. Here are a few of points you might wish to consider:

• South Africa desperately needs a BIG: Over half of our population lives in poverty. Roughly 12 million people live in households that currently receive no social assistance.
• A BIG would lift more people further out of poverty than other options: A BIG would close the "poverty gap" by an estimated 74% - double the potential of existing grants.
• A BIG would combat dependency: Poverty creates dependence. A BIG would give people resources to be self-reliant. Because it is not means-tested, no one would be penalised for trying to find work or to improve their living standards in other ways.
• A BIG would build dignity: Poverty robs people of dignity, not grants. A BIG would eliminate extreme poverty and ensure that no one falls below a minimum living standard.
• Public works programmes are a complement to, not a substitute for, a BIG: The Taylor Committee endorsed public works programes, but warned that they are expensive to administer and unlikely to make substantial and sustained inroads into unemployment.
• A BIG would stimulate job-creating economic growth: Poor households are likely to spend the grant on locally-produced goods produced by relatively labour-intensive industries.
• South Africa can afford a BIG: The estimated net cost of a BIG is R24 billion. The tax cuts made since 1995 would be sufficient to finance the BIG twice over.