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Posted on 10 June 2009 Afesis-corplan has been appointed by AsgiSA-EC to facilitate the process of preparing Social Charters for projects in the Mzimvubu Economic Development Zone. AsgiSA-EC is providing the necessary support to rural communities so as to revitalize agriculture in their farm lands. Afesis-corplan's role is to work in four administrative areas in the Mhlontlo Local Municipality, to ensure that the development process is inclusive, organised and orderly.
Posted on 10 June 2009 Ronald Eglin is attending 'Urban Food Security in Southern Africa: Strategic Policy Dimensions' hosted by African Food Security Urban Network (AFSUN) in partnership with South African Cities Network (SACN) and Municipal Development Partnership (MDP) to be held in Ekurhuleni Municipality from 10 to 12 June 2009. This conference will allow city officials to share knowledge about the extent of food insecurity amongst the urban poor; and workshop participants will develop strategies for addressing these challenges.
Posted on 08 June 2009 Afesis-corplan is a leading advocate of LANDfirst - an incremental approach to settlement development that promotes early settlement on land with basic services and tenure in a planned manner with further services and housing upgrading taking place over time. Ronald Eglin and Frederick Kusambiza will join a core group of invited NGOs/CBOs at a meeting in Johannesburg on 09 June 2009 to discuss future plans for the LANDfirst campaign. Click here to view the LANDfirst campaign strategy commissioned by Urban LandMark.
Posted on 04 June 2009 Thabile Sokupa facilitated a final Ward Key Performance Indicators (WKPI) workshop with Ward 5 in Great Kei on 02 and 03 June 2009. The workshop was deemed a success by the councillors as well as the ward committee members. The municipality has been doing a lot of introspection under the leadership of Mayor Tekile, and has recently set up a new public participation unit. The aim is for ward committees to be assisted by this unit to fully participate in the functions of the municipality as well as to enhance the democratic processes through public participation.
Posted on 01 June 2009 Afesis-corplan is pleased to announce that Esther Mason has joined the organisation in the position of Accounts Manager.
Posted on 25 May 2009 An exciting opportunity exists for a suitably qualified and motivated individual to join the organisation in the position of Resource & Information Co-ordinator. The closing date for applications is 03 June 2009. Click here to find out more.
Posted on 11 May 2009 Thabile Sokupa facilitated a Ward Key Performance Indicators (WKPI) workshop attended by the entire council, including the Honourable Mayor Tekile, from 06 to 08 May 2009, at the municipal offices in Great Kei. Click here to read more about this and other current local governance projects.
Posted on 29 April 2009 Afesis-corplan together with the Eastern Cape NGO Coalition is hosting a public participation workshop in Duncan Village tomorrow. The workshop seeks to capacitate civil society members with the necessary analytical tools to engage in municipal decision making processes and local government initiatives for enhanced community development.
Posted on 28 April 2009 Afesis-corplan is pleased to announce that Lievershia Rorich has joined the organisation as bookkeeper in our administration department. Lievershia will also be performing a frontline function at our reception. Click here to view her staff profile.
Posted on 28 April 2009 Afesis-corplan (as contracted by the DBSA) has been conducting development facilitation and helping to draft a Sustainable Development Plan with the communities residing in the KSD Functional Urban Areas, Mthatha and Mqanduli. The process has involved robust public participation in the form of community meetings as well as individual and joint stakeholder forums, meetings and workshops. The plan was approved and adopted by council on 31 March 2009 and a draft Development Charter outlining the vision, commitments and roles of the various stakeholders is now available. Click here to view.
Posted on 17 April 2009 The Community Based Financial Accountabilty (CBFA) project launch was held in Amahlathi Local Municipality yesterday. CBFA Working Group Members were formally introduced to officials from the Public Participation Unit, who pledged to support the group as well as engage with them in public participation processes such as the IDP and Budget. Amahlathi Municipality commented that it is looking forward to a fruitful working relationship with Afesis-corplan.
Posted on 31 March 2009 An opportunity has arisen for a suitably qualified and competent individual to provide reception and bookkeeping services to the organisation. The closing date for applications for this position is 09 April 2009. Click here to find out more.
Posted on 27 March 2009 A vacancy currently exists for the position of Accounts Manager at Afesis-corplan. Suitably qualified, experienced and committed individuals are invited to apply. Closing date for applications is Friday, 03 April 2009. Click here to find out more.
Posted on 26 March 2009 The newly appointed Premier of the Eastern Cape in his first address noted that health, education, local government, rural development and public service accountability were priorities for the province. At Afesis-corplan's first quarterly seminar for the year, we will be looking at the views of political parties on these issues. All interested stakeholders are invited to attend tomorrow at the Health Resource Centre starting at 09h00.
Posted on 26 March 2009 Gugu Mgwebi and Thabile Sokupa are giving their input at a workshop as part of the Civil Society Support Programme (CSSP) in Duncan Village today. The aim is to capacitate civil society to better engage in public participation processes mainly for improving water and sanitation facilities in the area.
Posted on 24 March 2009 The Board of Directors will meet for Afesis-corplan's Annual General Meeting tomorrow at 17h00 at our offices in Southernwood.
Posted on 23 March 2009 Thembi Mabhula is in Stutterheim this week facilitating workshops for about 50 participants in Project Management for Community-Based Organisations. Funded by the National Development Agency, this capacity building initiative will be followed by a final training in the Study Circle methodology.
Posted on 18 March 2009 Afesis-corplan, in cooperation with Urban LandMark, has invited other organisations involved in land and housing with a focus on poor South African communities to attend a LANDfirst Campaign Strategy Workshop in Gauteng on 19 March 2009. LANDfirst is an approach to settlement development that emphasises the provision of planned secure land with basic services as a first step towards a longer term housing and settlement upgrading process.The aims of this workshop are to share the concept of LANDfirst, build a platform for knowledge exchange between stakeholders, and plot an action agenda for the campaign.
Posted on 16 March 2009 Afesis-corplan staff member, Gugu Mgwebi will be live on the Morning Talk Show with Teboga Matima on SA fm tomorrow between 11h05 and 11h30. They will be discussing protection of the rights of children and exploitation on the African continent. Click here to read Gugu's article 'Nurturing them from the cradle and beyond'.
Posted on 16 March 2009 Peter Kimemia joined LogoLink international partners, as a Good Governance Learning Network representative, at a meeting in Mexico City from 9 to 13 March 2009. The meeting reviewed the ongoing LogoLink projects in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the USA and Central America and how these have contributed to greater public participation in local governance as well as democratic decentralization. The partners conducted a strategic planning exercise for LogoLink’s activities over the next two years and discussed future funding strategies. Peter shared insights on how Afesis-corplan’s local governance interventions are contributing to LogoLink’s overall objectives. There were expressions of interest for Afesis-corplan’s Good Governance Survey (GGS) tool, which will be emailed to the various partners.
Posted on 11 March 2009 Frederick Kusambiza met with Cordaid Programme Officer, Sef Slootweg of the Netherlands, in Johannesburg yesterday to discuss Afesis-corplan's programme activities.
Posted on 11 March 2009 Gugu Mgwebi and Thabile Sokupa are conducting a three-day workshop with the CBFA monitoring group in Amahlathi Local Municipality in Stutterheim from 11 to 13 March 2009. The workshop seeks to capacitate participants with the necessary monitoring and analytical tools to engage with municipal financial reporting conventions as well as to engender a sense of ownership and responsibility for financial management in local civil society.
Posted on 03 March 2009 Frederick Kusambiza is at a workshop in Johannesburg today giving input on a national research project initiated by the iKwezi Institute for Research and Development on 'The Township Services Protest: Challenging the Legitimacy of the Demoractic Local State' . Click here to view the website.
Posted on 27 February 2009 Thembi Mabhula and Nopiwe Ludidi were in Bedford this week facilitating workshops for about 50 participants in Human Resources and Administration for Community-Based Organisations. Funded by the National Development Agency, this capacity building initiative will be followed by further training in Project Management and Study Circle methodology.
Posted on 25 February 2009 Ronald Eglin will represent Afesis-corplan at the official launch of the Housing Development Agency (HDA) in Durban on 02 March 2009. A key player in the housing delivery value chain, the HDA will focus on the acquisition, management and release of well located land for human settlement development. Its aim is to assist government in realising its housing targets laid out in the Millenium Development Goals for 2014. Afesis-corplan plans to engage with HDA in future around its land first campaign. Click here to read the Business Day article 'Agency to accelerate housing delivery'.
Posted on 24 February 2009 Afesis-corplan is a member of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. To read more about this diverse global alliance of civil society organisations, click here.
Posted on 23 February 2009 Afesis-corplan is pleased to announce the appointment of Thabile Sokupa in our Programmes Unit. Click here to read more.
Posted on 18 February 2009 Peter Kimemia, Gugu Mgwebi and new staff member, Thabile Sokupa, met with the Municipal Manager, Directors and a Liaison Officer at the Public Participation Unit of Great Kei Local Municipality yesterday. Afesis-corplan introduced the Community Based Financial Accountability (CBFA) and the Ward Key Performance Indicators (WKPI) projects. The CBFA project seeks to capacitate civil society members with the necessary tools to participate in municipal decision making processes and monitor how public money is spent. The WKPI project outlines the legislative framework relevant to the use of key performance indicators for performance management at a municipal level. Click here to read more.
Posted on 09 February 2009 Afesis-corplan is one of seven organisations participating in a Cordaid 'slum dwellers' programme evaluation. The main purpose of this evaulation is to gain an overall insight on how Cordaid and its partners work in the field of urban development. Frederick Kusambiza is attending the one-day kick off meeting in Cape Town tomorrow. Field research in the Eastern Cape, including a site visit to a co-operative housing development project in St Lukes takes place on 16 February 2009.
Posted on 03 February 2009 Afesis-corplan, Urban Landmark and about six other NGOs and CBOs are meeting on 05 February 2009 in Johannesburg to plan and prepare for the launch of a Land First campaign that was initiated by Afesis-corplan. The aim of the campaign is to get government and other role-players to support settlement development approaches that allow homeless people to occupy land as a first step towards upgrading their living conditions. Read Ronald Eglin's article Land First: An innovative strategy to accelerate housing delivery. Find out more about Land First, click here.
Posted on 03 February 2009 Gugu Mgwebi is meeting with officials from Amahlati municipality tomorrow to introduce the Community Based Financial Accountability (CBFA) project . The project is aimed at assisting citizens and community groups to better understand how public money is managed and spent at municipal level. The main purpose of the CBFA project is to assist in ensuring that financial reporting and accounting by municipalities is strengthened.
Posted on 03 February 2009 Ronald Eglin attended a meeting in Johannesburg on 29 January 2009 where Urban Landmark (ULM) launched their project “Developing an approach to incremental security of tenure in informal settlements” This pilot project will work with the City of Johannesburg using ‘special zones’ within local government's town planning scheme and local land offices to recognise and formalise about 22 informal settlements in the metro. ULM also aims to test this model within another as yet to be identified municipality.
Posted on 28 January 2009 Frederick Kusambiza attended his first consultative meeting as a Member of the Border Rural Committee (BRC) at the Health Resource Centre in East London today. On the agenda was BRC's strategic plans for the years 2010 to 2015. The role of the Members is to give BRC direction and elect the Board of Directors. Click here to read more about the BRC.
Posted on 27 January 2009 Gugu Mgwebi will be attending a workshop hosted by the Eastern Cape NGO Coalition as part of the Civil Society Support Programme (CSSP) to be held in East London on 29 and 30 January 2009. The event aims to capacitate Civil Society Organisations to better understand the challenges of access to quality water and sanitation services currently facing communities in various municipal areas within the Amathole and Cacadu districts.
Posted on 21 January 2009 Applications are invited from suitably qualified and motivated individuals for the position of Researcher/Facilitator in our Programmes Unit. Closing date is 30 January 2009. Click here to find out more.
Posted on 20 January 2009 Afesis-corplan will welcome a GTZ-Ghanaian delegation to our offices on 23 January 2009. Programmes Manager, Peter Kimemia, will meet with the delegates to discuss and share experiences about best practices in decentralisation reforms and governance. The visiting group includes Mr Kwame Owusu Bonsu (Coordinator, Decentralisation Secretariat of Ministry of Local Government Rural Development and Environment), Mrs Esther Ofei-Aboagye (Director, Institute of Local Government Studies), Ms Audrey Dorway (Advisor, GTZ Support for Decentralisation Reforms) and Mr Ashley Losch (GTZ/DPLG).
Posted on 19 January 2009 Frederick Kusambiza is attending a Final Learning Forum for the Capacity Building CSO Strengthening Programme hosted by the National Development Agency (NDA) in Pretoria on 22 and 23 January 2009.
Posted on 12 January 2009 In October 2008 Afesis-corplan with the support of Urban Landmark conducted a series of four workshops around the country on land access for settlement development. The combined report for Johannesburg, East London, Pietermaritzburg and Cape Town is now available on our website. It outlines many of the valuable insights, ideas and suggestions generated by participants as they engaged with each other to find real solutions for the challenges facing the landless in South Africa. Click here to view.
Posted on 08 December 2008 Our offices will be closed from 15 December 2008 to 05 January 2009. We wish all our supporters, partners and stakeholders a peaceful and blessed festive season.
Posted on 02 December 2008 Peter Kimemia will be attending the GGLN’s Reference Group meeting in Cape Town on 04 December 2008. Key on the agenda is the vacant Co-ordinator’s position as well as the GGLN’s future activities in light of the recent changes at the Foundation for Contemporary Research, which currently hosts the Secretariat. The Reference Group will also be meeting officials from its key funders.
Afesis-corplan is a non-governmental organisation that has contributed to community-driven development and good local governance in the Amathole region of the Eastern Cape since 1992. Read more about us.
Afesis-corplan hosts a seminar every quarter dealing with emerging issues in local government. Our latest seminar on "The Rural Development Dilemma: What needs to be done?" happened on 26 June 2009. Find out more.
Afesis-corplan, together with Urban LandMark, introduces a simple yet innovative concept to speed up the process of settlement development: LANDfirst. LANDfirst provides previously disenfranchised South Africans with access to well-located, affordable and secure land for residential development.
Read more about LANDfirst.
The Transformer highlights development and governance issues locally and beyond. Read Ronald Eglin's article Guiding the urban agricultural donkey.
Afesis-corplan is a non-governmental organisation that has contributed to community-driven development and good local governance in the Amathole region of the Eastern Cape since 1992.
Afesis-corplan hosts a 
Afesis-corplan, together with Urban LandMark, introduces a simple yet innovative concept to speed up the process of settlement development: LANDfirst.