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October 2012 marked Afesis-corplan’s 20 years of existence. To commemorate this milestone, a two day event consisting of various activities including field visits to some of the areas that Afesis-corplan has worked and a seminar on “smarter land access” was held on October 25th and 26th 2012.

Field Visits to Amalinda and Kei Mouth projects
The celebration kicked off with a trip to Amalinda where Afesis-corplan piloted a 216 unit Housing Cooperative project. This project was one of the first housing cooperative initiatives to be successfully carried out in South Africa. The project aimed to provide people staying in informal areas with adequate housing. A savings co-operative was formed whereby individuals had to save some money to add to the government housing subsidy.

Ronald Eglin the current Programme Manager of Afesis-corplan who was the project Coordinator at that time explained how the project had been implemented over a number of years with the support of the Swedish Co-operative centre.  He explained that many lessons had been learnt from the project and a report is available that records some of these lessons:

http://www.afesis.org.za/Sustainable-Settlements-Articles/housing-co-operatives-lessons-learned

After the Amalinda site visit the team proceeded to Kei Mouth. In Kei Mouth Afesis-corplan is promoting the concept of LANDfirst or managed land settlement (MLS). The concept of MLS promotes the idea of giving people the land first instead of them waiting for government RDP houses which in most cases takes long to acquire. The concept also capacitates the community to be self-reliant and not to wait for the government to provide them with everything. Currently some of the people allocated land on phase 2 has started to build strong structures instead of “shacks”. For more information on the concept of incremental settlement or LANDfirst visit the following sites:
•    http://www.incrementalsettlement.org.za/
•    http://landfirst.wix.com/landfirst#!home/mainPage

Seminar: Smarter Land Access
The second day started off with a seminar on ‘Smarter land access’ in East London. The seminar provided an opportunity to share and deliberate on the challenges and opportunities for land access and settlement development. The diverse participants in the room also tried to came up with possible interventions to improve on settlement development. During the seminar civil society organisations shared experiences on accessing land for low income housing.

For Afesis-corplan, of course, the Amalinda Cooperative settlement project and the iCwili phase 2 managed land settlement pilot project provided a lot of lessons to share. Ronald Eglin detailed the experience with settlement development with special reference to the two projects.

Evelyn Benekane shared the Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor’s (FEDUP) experience in accessing land for its members in the Eastern Cape and specifically in East London.

This was followed by Cameron Brisbane sharing Built Environment Support Group’s (BESG) experience in supporting land access projects in Kwa-Zulu Natal.
Steve Topham from National Upgrading Support Programme (NUSP) presented on government policies and programmes governing settlement development.
For more information about the seminar please click here to access the presentations for the day.

Gala dinner
The celebrations were concluded with a gala dinner with invited guests.
During the gala dinner the former Executive Director Fredrick Kusambiza outlined a brief history of Afesis-corplan. Nontando Ngamlana the current Executive Director made a presentation on the future positioning of Afesis-corplan.
A walk through history of Afesis-corplan’s work was displayed as well as a Compact Disk highlighting Afesis-corplan’s work. The CD also consisted of a book entitled ‘NGOs and Change: examining the future role of South African NGOs in a changing environment’ was also attached. The hardcopy of the book will be available beginning of the year 2013.

Acknowledgements:
Special thanks go to our sponsors who made this a memorable occasion.
    Kempston Car Rental
    Openform
    BMD Stationery
    Kate Leisure - Osner
    CopyWorld
    Budget Car Rental
    B.B. Telesystem
    U – Rent
    Daily Dispatch
    Eastern Cape Today
    Airport shuttle
    Chelsea Square B&B
    Ruliv Chelsea Square B&B
    All our Partner organisations
    All our seminar guest speakers:
    Evelyn Benekane of Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor’s (FEDUP)
    Cameron Brisbane of Built Environment Support Group’s (BESG)
    Steve Topham of National Upgrading Support Programme (NUSP)

June 16 represents an integral part of our history and the shaping of our young democracy as South Africans. It marks a unity amongst students who mobilised themselves for a common cause. Unfortunately young people, and especially in Higher Learning Institutions, have lost the “cause” factor of mobilising youth groups and standing for what they believe in. Student movements have now been marred by greed and the political intolerance. Students are no longer able to define the cause of their formations which then leads to multiple power struggles and incoherent activism.

Photo by blog.childreninc.org

Afesis-Corplan has started a Civic Education project in response to numerous requests received over the past few years to mediate in political standoffs between youth political formations. What has become obvious over the past few years is that political differences amongst party political organizations infiltrates through to student politics. The Civic Education project aims to bring young people together to plug the gaps and to participate actively in student politics but in a harmonious and responsible manner. Civic Education is not just focussed on rectifying the ill trajectory of democratic principles within Higher Learning Institutions, but also focuses on the lack of political awareness and involvement amongst the youth. This is more of an issue amongst the “so called” bourgeoisie generation that could not care less about the political climate of South Africa. Civic Education needs to also work through this political ‘apathy’ in order to ensure a future where ‘your’ and ‘my’ democratic rights are upheld. If we look at the reality out there, the governance of this country does not lie in the hands of academics, but in the hands of those who are politically inclined. Therefore to ensure that Higher Learning Institutions produce well rounded academics that are politically responsible and involved, Civic Education needs to be adopted as part grooming tomorrow’s leaders. Afesis-Corplan commemorate June 16, and we actively hope to get to a place were the South African student can well-define the struggles of today, and do so in a politically tolerant and cohesive manner, just like the Students of 1976.

Colloquium on Rural Development

Peter Kimemia attended a three day Colloquium on Rural Development, hosted by the Fort Hare University at the Bisho Campus.

Afesis-corplan is interested in matters of rural development and has contributed towards the provincial rural development strategy. With the focus of government currently being on rural development, Afesis-corplan has a role to play: rural development is in line with the organisation’s principles of alleviating poverty.

With regard to agriculture, Afesis-corplan is planning to identify appropriate markets and as a result the Colloquium’s proceedings were important in this light.

Afesis-corplan has projects directly linked to rural development and being invited to participate in the Colloquium on Rural Development enabled the opportunity to share information and hear the views of other participants.


Interacting with the ECPSDP

During the month of May, Afesis-corplan attended the Eastern Cape Provincial Spacial Development Planning (ECPSCP) Strategic Conference, held by the Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs assisted by UN-HABITAT. The purpose of the conference was to review the Eastern Cape Provincial Spatial Development Plan (ECPSDP), to help shape the PSDP and to create a better understanding of development trends, to achieve consensus on a spatial development philosophy and strategies to achieve this.

Towards the end of May, Afesis-corplan hosted a meeting with the ECSDP consultants. The meeting involved the Eastern Cape Non-Governmental Organisation Coalition (ECNGOC) as well as three or four other ECNGOC affiliates. The purpose of the meeting was to find out what progress was being made in the provincial spacial development planning and to discuss how civil society can become more involved in the planning process.

For Afesis-corplan, it is important to find out what is happening in the Eastern Cape in terms of provincial special development, especially since it is the focus of one of our core projects. The conference and subsequent meeting helped to identify opportunities for civil society organisations in order to propose effective plans for future projects. It is important for the ECPSDP to realise that the NGO sector is still very much alive and active.

Because ECPSDP is not structured to promote community development, Afesis-corplan is involved to influence the outcome of future plans, to make sure that future planning exercises incorporate a strong public participation element, to see to it that the needs of the poor are addressed in the plan, and that land is made available for low cost housing and small business development. 

Capacity Building Workshop

Afesis-corplan was invited to participate in a capacity building workshop organized by the Foundation and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. Peter Kimemia represented Afesis-corplan at the workshop, which took place at the Osner Hotel, East London, on Wednesday, 24 February 2010.

The purpose of the workshop was to give information regarding the types of support the Department of Justice has to offer NGOs, CBOs and other organisations. Any organisation need only apply, which would then increase their potential to facilitate information sharing.

The workshop was also used as a platform by the department to elaborate on the types of products they have on offer to various organisations, and to remind participants of how to access these products.

The workshop was indeed beneficial, because of the type of work Afesis-corplan does, particularly in the field of promoting good governance and participatory democracy, and training. Afesis-corplan is pleased about the potential opportunity this workshop has created for the organisation. The organisation has already identified two key calls for proposals, to which it is responding, in the areas of Participatory Democracy and Capacity Building for CSOs.

Visit to Villages in Mhlontlo Local Municipality

On Wednesday, 17 February 2010, Nontlantla Skenjana and Thembi Mabhula met with the people of the Mdibanisweni village of Mhlontlo Local Municipality where Afesis-corplan is rendering Social Facilitation services in the Asgisa-funded Agricultural Projects.

Afesis-corplan asked the chief of the village to organise a meeting with the community so that the organisation would have a chance to introduce itself, the work it does, the ASGISA project and Afesis-corplan’s role in the project. The meeting was also vital to discuss the expectations on the participants in the project.

These meetings are beneficial to the community in that they have a clear understanding of the role of Afesis-corplan as social facilitators, which results in better cooperation with the villagers and better coordination in terms of the work plan. Afesis-corplan provides social facilitation services to the villages on behalf of ASGISA.

The community was quite excited and enthusiastic about the project; they are eager about development in their areas and see the ASGISA project as a beam of hope. It was a successful meeting and the chief was quite positive about the discussions. ASGISA has ploughed the lands in the Mdibanisweni village, in the Eastern Cape, which have lain fallow for more than ten years.

Afesis-corplan interacts regularly with community members in this area and the organisation is well received.

Civil Society Support Programme (CSSP) Evaluation

Gugu Mgwebi participated as the Amatole District Mentor for the CSSP evaluation, held on 17 February 2010. The evaluation was conducted by Themba Nkwinika and sought to determine what the impact of the project over the past three years, and how has the methodological approach to the implementation of the project impacted on the project.

Gugu was questioned on the role of mentorship Afesis-corplan provided and the impact it had on the CSSP Project. The capacity building aspect of the project was achieved in the sense that the community and working group members were empowered with tools and are more familiar with municipal structures so as to engage with local government. Many members feel that they are listened to by the municipality as a result.

The purpose of the CSSP project is to promote a partnership between the community and the local government, and to help close gaps in communication and participation that currently exist through capacity building and facilitation.

Some of the challenges identified in the project were as follows:
• Chain of reporting on activities was too long, and communicating was difficult.
• A decline in the number of people involved in the working group.
• Members of the working group were representatives of organisations and were taking part in the CSSP project on a volunteer basis. However, there was very little ownership taken by the members of the working group and there was no accountability as a result.
• The CSSP project doesn’t have a monitoring mechanism in place. While the role of the working group was to promote advocacy, there was no follow up procedure on the impact and sustainability of what was advocated.
• The working group members were not community members in the area where the project was based. Future working groups need to find ways to get community members more involved in the processes so that what is advocated is impactful, and it gives community members an opportunity to take ownership of the project and be accountable for its objectives.

In general, the CSSP project is a good project with lots of potential. As long as it advocates and creates activities the community will take ownership of and sustain, for example projects benefitting the community and the individuals concerned, the CSSP project working group will have an positive impact in the community.

Environmental Impact Assessment Course

WESSA together with the Southern African Institute for Environmental Assessment (SAIEA), WWF-SA, the Mazda Wildlife Fund and the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIAsa) conducted a two and a half day course on understanding Environmental Impact Assessment: Contributing to Sustainable Development and Decision Making. Ronald Eglin and Fred Kusambiza attended the course from Wednesday to Friday, 10-12 February.

The course addressed what an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is and what the purpose of it is, as well as how to engage with EIAs done by other individuals and organisations. Aspects of an EIA covered in the course included in what circumstances an environmental impact assessment is necessary, what the impact of the environmental assessment should be and how to more thoroughly evaluate the contents of an EIA.

Afesis-corplan often receives EIAs and staff members need to be equipped to read and evaluate them effectively. EIAs are important to the LANDfirst pilot project Afesis-corplan is currently involved in and it is important that the project leaders are competent to engage with EIAs at a local and national government level.

The participants felt they have a better understanding of EIAs as a result of the course.

EIAs have quite an impact on project development, because they involve a slow process, which in turn slows down the entire project. EIAs are typically very time-consuming and are quite costly exercises since all EIAs need to assess the environmental, social and economic aspects as well as the effects on the people living in the area. Despite the slow process, EIAs are very necessary to ascertain the short-term and the long-term impact of the project.