10th Anniversary Publication
October 2002

Afesis-corplan turns 10 years old this month. This significant milestone has taken place during a remarkable transition in South Africa's history. In these complex and exhilarating times, Afesis-corplan has cast a solid footprint in community development in the Eastern Cape.

Development is never easy. There are inherent tensions that are difficult to manage. In the past decade, Afesis-corplan has moved from a responsive advice centre and training institution to one that has offered focused and specialist services around local government development and social housing. Although Afesis-corplan officially came into existence in 1992, Afesis a paralegal advice centre and training organisation was established in the mid-80s and Corplan was started as a housing and community development programme within Afesis.

In 1992 very little was certain. Mandela had been released, political organisations unbanned and a negotiated settlement was a possibility. Although an end to apartheid seemed likely, it was not certain. And so, in those early days, Afesis-corplan assisted communities to strategise around what the possible outcomes of a new South Africa might be. Prior to 1994, Afesis-corplan worked with community structures and trade unions, and organs of state were engaged mainly in an adversarial context. However heinous it was, the apartheid regime imposed a clear framework in which progressive non-governmental organisations operated and within this context of change, Afesis-corplan had to reflect on its possible role in a democratic South Africa.

In 1993 and 1994, Afesis-corplan acknowledged through their involvement in voter education, the need for fieldwork and follow-up work with structures they had trained. This was done to ensure that even with a democratic government, NGOs still had a role to play. It was at this time that it was resolved that communities could access advice centre services from a number of different organisations and that local government and housing delivery would be central to communities improving their quality of life. The local government and housing foci have shifted during the last 10 years to respond to pervasive trends or to harness efficiency more resolutely. In the earlier portion of the period, the organisation decided on a geographical focus including Queenstown, East London and Seymour in the two service areas, but later opted for a programmatic focus that was not geographically confined. The organisation was one of the first to submit a low-cost housing funding proposal to the Provincial Housing Board to access subsidies for 464 households in Seymour.

Post 1994 involved the shift of local government from being adversaries to partners. Although willing from the outset to engage local government it was clear that capacity problems were not going to make this an easy union. Unsure of their role and without a new institutional framework to operate in, early local government floundered. This provided the impetus to develop local government transformation programmes that would assist local government to understand their legal and policy obligations and to act as development agencies. Afesis-corplan's Settlement Unit has been instrumental in ensuring that housing is not only conceptualised as structures, but also a way of fashioning strong and resilient social networks that are community sensitive.

It was at this time that the importance of actively engaging in policy development and representing the interests of poor communities in policy formulation around local government transformation and social housing delivery crystallized. This has remained a focus of Afesis-corplan throughout. The organisation has received recognition for its research work and tendency to often be the first to comment on white papers.

In many instances Afesis-corplan has been the point of reference for how other CBOs and NGOs have responded or mobilized their constituencies to do so. It has also been the first nationally to register a formal social housing co-operative and despite delays in getting houses built, membership of the housing co-operatives has grown and gives every suggestion in the future that will become a blueprint as a model of best practice.

In the late 1990s, Afesis-corplan saw some of the legal frameworks it had helped develop, for example the Integrated Development Plans, being implemented. There were moments of truth when some models did not live up to policy expectations. There were moments too of maturity and realising that even though all had not worked well, it is so often from the harder lessons that the truer meaning emerges.

Also in the late-90s, civil society began to realise that casting their votes didn't automatically translate into government service delivery. With hat in back pocket and sleeves rolled up, communities began to take control of their own development. With assistance from Afesis-corplan, and within the context of participatory methodologies, much has been achieved. Since its inception, come key factors have contributed to the organisation's srength. These are its ability to operate at community level and at the same time take a long and strategic view at the implications of how national policy impacts on people.

Funding until recently had been comfortable. Given funding difficulties endemic to NGOs, this sound financial footing has enabled the organisation to view programme work as core function, rather than survival and fundraising. Key challenges that Afesis-corplan has faced include the brain drain of NGO activists into government or private consultancies and the difficulty to attract and retain strong organisational leadership. It is within these realities that Afesis-corplan has grown, developed, sometimes stumbled but never given up.

Like any organisation, Afesis-corplan has moved through periods of clarity and confusion. It has confronted the need to be leaner and more focused. Although this has placed pressure on the organisation, it will continue to engage meaningfully with communities, local government and the state at all levels in order to achieve its mission of good governance and sustainable settlements through participatory methods that empower the poor communities of the Eastern Cape.