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.