"Mainstreaming" means that each government department incorporates children's issues into their respective portfolios. It calls upon each department to reflect its commitment to South African children, with corresponding budgetary allocation. With this approach, there is no single "children's budget." Rather, children's issues are part of every deparment's budget.
Often, children are thought of as a welfare issue, or as a concern that affects only certain government departments. The NPA: 2000 & Beyond wants to alter this perception.
The NPA encourages government departments to thing about who they deliver to, and not just what they deliver. Children require, and receive, services from every single department. For example, the Department of Transport is responsible for roads in the country. What the department is delivering seems unconnected to children. But, in order for a child to get to school or to a hospital, she or he requires the use of the roads. And along with the road, there are other issues to consider: Is public transport available for that child to use? Is that public transport affordable?
Thinking about service delivery in this way clearly illustrates that children are served by every department. Every department has a responsibility to children, and every department must reflect that responsibility in the delivery of its services, and through a concrete budgetary commitment.