Afesis-corplan officially came into existence in October 1992 when it was registered as a Trust. In 1999 its status changed to a Section 21 Company.

The name Afesis-corplan stems from Afesis (Aphesis meaning 'liberation' in Greek), a paralegal advice centre and training organisation established in the mid-80s, and Corplan, a housing and community development programme started within Afesis.

Read our article Ten Years Down the Line.

Picture shown: Clean-up operation by staff and members from the community on the organisation's 10th Anniversary in 2002.

Afesis-corplan's early operations reflected a broad spectrum of activities including:

• Housing development and management
• Institutional development
• Local economic development
• General adult education and training
• Paralegal advice
• Information resource centre
• Local government support
• Policy intervention and formulation

More recently, the organisation has focused its considerable development experience on its four core programmes:

Local Governance
Promote and support democratic and participatory local government processes

Sustainable Settlements
Promote and support community-based approaches to sustainable settlement development

Development Facilitation
Promote and support community-based projects aimed at poverty alleviation

Public Awareness
Create awareness of development and governance issues