PARK - Amazon Web Servicespmg-assets.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/docs/Spark1112.pdf · Zaheedah Adams from the Parliamentary Monitoring Group and Tholakele Nene from String

That more than a million jobs have been lost at a time when government has made

job creation a national priority says much about the impact of the current global crisis. For families and communities, where so many depend on so few breadwinners, the loss of even a single job can be enough to plunge a family into poverty.

For municipalities, already struggling with low levels of revenue, an increasing number of people unable to pay their municipal accounts or requiring free basic services means spreading limited resources even more thinly.

Within integrated development plans and at ward committee meetings, much more emphasis needs to be placed on finding ways to encourage projects, programmes and investments that create jobs either in the formal sector or by allowing people to create their own sustainable livelihoods.

One way that it can happen is if councillors and officials build stronger partnerships with civil society organisations and start listening to and working together with them in a more creative way.

In many cases, this may mean changing attitudes from justifying why something can’t be done to looking at what can be done.

This is not to say that there are not challenges. For example, labour-intensive means of delivering services, and building and maintaining infrastructure and facilities are not always easy to get right. Many municipal officials argue that there is inevitably a trade-off between efficient, speedy service delivery and using local labour with all the skills development and training that is required. But this is one

SPARKDecember 2011 Issue 2

a newsletter for civil society and local government

About SparkSpark is published quarterly and distributed with DELIVERY magazine to all municipalities, provincial and national departments, Members of Parliament and a network of civil society organisations. It’s a partnership between the Parliamentary Monitoring Group and String Communication, publishers of DELIVERY, with support from the Ford Foundation.

igniting local action

Tackling the livelihood crisisGovernment alone cannot create jobs for the millions of unemployed, but municipalities working with civil society can come up with innovative ways to ensure people can put food on the table.

of the major policy approaches of government and can at least generate work experience, some short-term employment, and skills, if done correctly.

This issue of Spark aims to profile some ways that civil society organisations, working in

partnership or with the assistance of municipalities and government agencies, can help to provide income for people. The hope is that this will inspire community-based organisations, councillors and officials in other areas to adopt and adapt the ideas in their areas.

A partnership between Straatwerk and the Central City Improvement District in Cape Town trains and creates employment opportunities for the homeless to keep the inner city clean.

Inside this issueWays of funding job creation 2Young people create a viable agri-business 3Involving citizens in water issues 4Working together for water and sanitation 7Linking the poor to child support 8Improvement districts boost employment 10Kodumela’s piggy bank 13Sweet success for beekeepers 14Build your community 16

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‘There is considerable scope for municipalities to generate more

employment through their activities. A range of opportunities for labour intensive programmes and service delivery practices have not been adequately explored. Domestic solid waste and public cleansing activities, in particular, seem to provide good opportunities for using comparatively unskilled labour,’ the review said.

Some of the mechanisms for funding these programmes are as follows:

The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP)This is one of government’s main programmes aimed at providing income through temporary work

for the unemployed to carry out socially useful activities.

In Parliament recently Minister Gordhan said there was money available that wasn’t being taken up, as it should. He announced EPWP funding of R73 billion over the medium term period (the next three years) for community based projects, environmental and social programmes and maintenance of roads and infrastructure.

The programme is run by the national Department of Public Works and councillors, officials or civil society organisations can find out more by visiting the website www.epwp.gov.za

The Community Works ProgrammeCommunity Works Programme (CWP) is a government programme aimed at tackling poverty and unemployment. The programme provides an employment safety net by giving participants a minimum number of regular days of work, typically two days a week or eight days a month, thus providing a predictable income stream. The CWP is designed as an employment safety net, not an employment solution for participants. The purpose is to supplement people’s existing livelihood strategies by offering a basic level of income security through work. It is an ongoing

programme that does not replace government’s existing social grants programme but complements it.

CWP sites are being established in marginalised economic areas, both rural and urban, where unemployment is high. Unemployed and underemployed men and women qualify to apply for work. The daily rate paid at present is R60. Communities are actively involved in identifying ‘useful work’ needed in the area. The first target is one site per municipality operating in at least two wards to reach 237 000 people by 2013/14.

BackgroundThe CWP was initiated by the Second Economy Strategy Project, an initiative of the Presidency located in Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS), a policy research non-governmental organisation (NGO). In 2007, a pilot programme to test the approach was implemented under the auspices of a partnership between the Presidency and the Department for Social Development, which established a steering committee and provided oversight. The pilot was successful, and the CWP was accepted in 2008 as part of the new non-state sector of the second phase of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP II), with access to the funding of wages through this. By mid-2009, it was decided that, as the CWP contributes to a number of key strategic goals of government to address poverty and unemployment, it should become a fully-fledged government programme. Its steering committee was expanded to include National Treasury, the Department of Cooperative Governance and the Department of Public Works. The CWP is an area-based programme that is established in a defined local area, called a site. Sites are usually a

ward or municipal area and need formal support from relevant local government structures.

The programme is implemented at a national and local level. The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG) handles overall management and contracting. Implementing Agents (IAs) contracted by DCoG roll out the programme at a local level in partnership with local implementing agents. The IA is appointed to develop the site, provide financial, logistics and project management, while building local capacity through partnerships with local non-governmental organisations (NGO) and community-based organisations (CBOs).

These agents also work with the community and other stakeholders to identify ‘useful work’ that will benefit the community as a whole.

job creAtion

Contact our Spark team

CONTACT DETAILS:

Zaheedah AdamsEmail: [email protected]: 021 465-8885

Tholakele NeneEmail: [email protected]: 021 461-9692

Funding opportunities for labour-intensive jobsThe message from national government is that municipalities need to be more focused on creating employment opportunities. In the Local Government Budget and Expenditure Review, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan identified this as one of the key issues.

Zaheedah Adams from the Parliamentary Monitoring Group and Tholakele Nene from String Communication, publishers of DELIVERY magazine, are responsible for putting the content of Spark together.

Contact them if you are working with projects that you would like to share with other communities.

Road building in Zululand creates employment.

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In Lihaseng village a group of young people aged 12 to 15 have started an egg-laying

business with the support of an NGO and the Matatiele Municipality.

‘This project keeps us very busy as we have to check on the chicks now and again. You’ll find us here during school breaks and after school, feeding the chicks, giving them water and collecting the eggs,’ says 14 year-old project leader, Noncedo Gaba.

The project which is a year old, has managed to unite the community and encourage an entrepreneurial culture in this group of youngsters.

It started when 99 egg-laying chickens were provided by World Vision, the eggs from the chickens were then sold to the community and neighbouring villages for R32 per tray of 30 eggs. The profit this generates is saved in the business’s bank

account while the rest goes into medication and feed for the chickens.

The young entrepreneurs run their business from a donated one-room premises where they work under the supervision of an elected community committee member and World Vision. To help develop the business World Vision provides technical and business management skills.

‘World Vision officials conduct training sessions for us, where they teach us project management skills. They teach us about record keeping, pricing and the importance of cleanliness,’ said Mpolokeng Welem (15), one of the group members.

Meanwhile the Matatiele Municipality, impressed and pleased with the initiative facilitates meetings with potential sponsors to try and source more capital for the project.

Like all businesses the egg-

laying business has also had its share of ups and downs. The business, being located in Eastern Cape, has experienced difficulty purchasing new livestock supplied in KwaZulu-Natal due to transport and other expenses. Sometimes there are delays in delivery or the chickens arrive in a poor state. Despite these problems the business is still running and shows potential for further growth in the future.

‘Years down the line this project can provide a breakthrough in addressing poverty in this area, where approximately 90% of the population lives in poverty,’ said World Vision South Africa’s National Director and CEO Lehlohonolo Chabeli.

World Vision is now helping the group to register the business with the local authorities and will facilitate the signing of a memorandum of understanding

to ensure that ownership of the project remains with the children when World Vision ceases to operate in the area said Chabeli.

SmAll buSineSS development

Young people create a viable agri-businessAn egg-laying project is now a profit-making business for a group of teenagers in Lihaseng in the Eastern Cape.

Working togetherThis project is a partnership between• Matatiele Municipality• World Vision• The community• Funders

For more informationOlwetu MafuthaCommunications: World Vision 011 671 [email protected]

Mapontso MokeritlaProject manager: World Vision073 325 1604

Website www.worldvision.co.za

The youngsters have learnt key skills about running a business, with profits saved in the business bank account and the rest spent on medication and feed for the chickens.

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Involving citizens in water issues

The Citizen’s Voice programme has been developed by Mvula Trust,

the country’s leading water and sanitation NGO and implemented in many municipalities. The focus is on improving the health and livelihoods of poor and disadvantaged citizens using community-based approaches

to facilitate the delivery of integrated and sustainable water, sanitation and related services, while ensuring that people's voices are heard. ‘The most important aspect of the Citizens' Voice programme is building trust between municipalities – councillors and officials – and communities so that an attitude

of working in partnership to develop policy, plan for implementation, implement, solve problems, and regulate water services is generated,’ says Lindy Morrison, the Mvula Trust’s Regional Director in Durban.

The goal is to set up ongoing ‘user platforms’ where meetings and dialogues would

be held between municipal water departments and their surrounding communities.

How it startedThe programme was piloted in the City of Cape Town in 2006 in the areas of Crossroads, Langa, Manenberg and Mitchells Plain. It was so successful that it was upscaled to a municipal programme and the City took over funding it from the Department of Water Affairs.

Subsequently, the programme was implemented in Ekurhuleni in Gauteng, Msunduzi and eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal.

The eThekwini programme was the first Citizens' Voice programme funded by a municipality as part of a public outreach project. It was implemented in partnership with the Durban regional office of the Mvula Trust, premised on the idea that greater public involvement in service delivery could contribute to a better understanding by citizens of how service delivery works. The aim was to create a platform with civil society organisations (CSOs) for discussion around the strategic planning of water services.

The Council approved the initiative and the Department of Water Affairs assisted by training CSOs. The municipality trained their infrastructure and procurement committee, 30 ward councillors and 30 organisations, so that the level of engagement could be more informed. In 2009 a CSO user-forum was started, where the CSOs that had received training could interact on a quarterly basis with the

Providing reliable water services is a problem experienced by many communities and municipalities all over the country. A public education initiative developed to actively involve residents in monitoring water and sanitation services is proving successful in many areas.

The Citizens Voice Programme helps build trust between local government and communities to improve the delivery of water services.

User forums encourage interaction betwen officials, councillors, communities and civil society organisations and helps to ensure that the municipalities are more responsive and accountable.

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municipality. This helped improve the relationships between the municipality and civil society.

‘The Mvula Trust starts training councillors, municipal officials, civil society organisations and community members. Once training is completed, the municipality is expected to take over. This was the case in eThekwini. Mvula helped to set up the first user-platform and the municipality took over after that. We also provide mentoring services for trainers,’ says Morrison.

Sharing successMunicipalities such as eThekwini have realised that informed citizens could play a valuable monitoring role regarding the performance of officials, particularly when services were below par. Once residents improved their knowledge and understanding of how water services work, they were more eager to engage with municipal

authorities. This assisted the municipality in improving the provision of adequate and affordable services in a sustainable manner.

There were also noticeable reductions in water losses for all municipalities and increased payment levels. The programme helped to improve and nurture inter-governmental co-operation between the three spheres of government.

‘In eThekwini the main success is that the municipality is running the programme in-house and has rolled it out from the initial implementation to 17 zones in the city, according to area-based management zones, with regular meetings being held between citizens and the municipality,’ says Morrison.

‘Although initially the discussion was largely relating to individual problems experienced by citizens, as the process matured the discussion has moved more towards policy

development and review.’ The programme also assisted

in training communities in their rights and responsibilities in water services, and has strengthened community development workers (CDWs) and in some cases councillors’ capacity in managing water issues. It has also helped to deepen democracy by giving true meaning to public participation in local government.

The key to implementing the programme successfully was to build trust between councillors, officials and the community and the process of engaging with residents has become invaluable. Municipal officials and government as a whole now has a better understanding of service delivery problems in previously neglected areas.

Confronting challengesOne of the challenges encountered in eThekwini was that the role of civil society organisations seemed to confuse

government officials, sometimes to the point where it hindered progress. It is recognised that CSOs play an important role in implementing policy and highlighting the need for public participation. On the other hand, some councillors and other politicians only recognise ward structures as representative structures of communities. This is why it is important to gain the support and approval from councils and other relevant government structures before the programme is piloted.

It is also important for CDWs and councillors to understand the boundaries of their roles and responsibilities in public engagement. In cases where roles were not defined, CDWs sometimes crossed the line by calling meetings and bypassing councillors. Stakeholder management programmes need to be implemented.

‘The Citizens' Voice programme is not just about training. It is

By educating residents, the initiative has helped achieve a reduciton in water loss and increased payment levels.

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How the programme works

a process. If you don't have a partnership between citizens and the state then there won't be any trust between the two. Citizens start to think that the municipality just wants to get money out of them,’ says Morrison.

If the process is not managed properly to ensure that people know about the meetings, participation can be confined to ward committees only. ‘The programme can be costly in resources and time. The challenge is to work out ahead of time what the municipality can commit to in terms of resources and develop a model appropriate to these resources rather than commit to something unaffordable,’ says Morrison.

public pArticipAtion

Municipalities choose areas for a pilot project, usually where there are high levels of water losses so that the community can be educated about water conservation as well.

An important step is to obtain Executive Committee or Mayoral Committee resolution in support of the process to establish buy-in. The Mvula Trust then revises training material to ensure that it is in line with the policies of the municipality, before training councillors, officials, civil society organisations and communities.

The programme has 10 training modules that are adapted for each municipality. They include:• Introduction and people's

rights• Different spheres of

government• The life cycle of water from

dams to taps to toilets• Using water wisely and

meter reading• Pollution and water quality• Tariffs, billing and meter

reading• Poverty and affordability• Regulation and monitoring

and evaluation• Identifying gaps and planning

the way forward

The municipality and residents meet quarterly, providing an opportunity for real engagement. There are high levels of community participation in the planning and training. Community development workers work with municipal water departments to determine the dates and venues for training, which usually happens over 10 consecutive weeks. It is important for municipal officials to attend these meetings so the community members' questions can be answered.

The ‘user platforms’ encourage interaction between officials, councillors, communities and civil society organisations, and ideally has both officials and councillors represented. This encourages the municipality to be responsive and accountable.

The Citizens' Voice programme is based on the premise that the better people understand their rights and responsibilities in relation to water services, the more likely they are to provide an oversight role to ensure their political representatives are carrying out their duties.

Working together The project is a partnership between the following:• Municipalities• Community development

workers• Civil society organisations• The Mvula Trust

For more informationLindy MorrisonThe Mvula [email protected] 201 5255

Websiteswww.mvula.co.za

ABOVE RIGHT: In eThekwini, the municipality has assumed responsibility for the Citizens Voice Programme with regular meetings between the municipality and the community helping residents to understand how water services work and their rights and responsbilities.

ABOVE: The local community provide catering services for the Citizens Voice Programme in eThekwini.

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The Department of Water Affairs (DWA) is one government department

that realises the critical role that civil society can play. Their Masibambane programme, the third phase of which is now coming to a close, is a water sector support programme that aims to improve access to adequate, safe and affordable basic water supply and sanitation services, thereby improving the quality of life of poor communities.

The role of CSOs cannot be emphasised enough, says Nomsa Teffo, deputy director for monitoring, evaluation and reporting in the DWA. ‘They assist communities teaching them awareness of using water effectively and efficiently. Their involvement in local government and the communities is very strong. They work with municipalities, clinics and schools, because the Masibambane programme uses a sector-wide approach,’ she says.

Community organisations are well placed to facilitate community involvement, particularly with local government, many are equipped to assist with water service delivery and have the appropriate skills. This partnership approach has yielded results.

‘We've managed to reduce the water and sanitation backlog through the Masibambane programme and we're making sure people are provided with these services. If you compare the position to the backlog in 1994, you will see a big difference.’

As the programme comes to a close, the department continues to advocate for CSO participation at the local level to ensure that their role as a resource and potential partner in service delivery is recognised, thereby creating space for their participation.

An example of this is Cape Town’s water leaks project, in which the Environmental Justice Networking Forum (EJNF) played a key role. The aim was to save water by reducing wastage through water leaks, tackling community awareness and increasing community capacity for saving and managing their water. The EJNF, Ilitha Lomso Children and Youth Organisation, and the Environmental Monitoring Group were awarded a three-month contract by the DWA to develop and implement an awareness-raising component of the project.

‘Water activists’ were trained in water demand management and research skills, and developed and implemented a general awareness-raising

programme about water. Training, skills transfer and mentoring were part of the project. The City of Cape Town provided the project with a list of areas, such as Khayelitsha, where there were leaks to be fixed and the DWA provided R120 000 from the Masibambane programme for training.

Working with CSOsWithin the Masibambane Civil Society Support Programme, organisations have several roles to play in water and sanitation planning and service delivery. They are expected to:• Work in partnership with

municipalities to organise the community to ensure consultative water service development processes

• Act as a consumer body to engage with municipalities around service improvements

• Participate in the design of appropriate technologies and levels of service, especially ones that are sensitive to the

needs of vulnerable groups• Participate in skills

development and capacitation initiatives for local community members

• Provide support services to water service providers and liaise with ward committees on important service delivery issues

• Raise relevant community concerns, and convene public focus groups to inform stakeholders, raise awareness and support social behaviour change

• Act as a community voice in relation to municipal service delivery issues

Working together for water and sanitationCivil society organisations are playing a major role in programmes dealing with water and sanitation. The Masibambane programme – let’s work together - is a good example of how organisations can become not only the eyes, ears and voice of communities, but partners in service delivery.

For more informationNomsa TeffoThe Mvula TrustDeputy director: monitoring, evaluation and reporting, Department of Water [email protected] 336 8910

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Linking the poor to child supportA project in uMkhanyakude in KwaZulu-Natal is helping parents and other caregivers of children get the official documents they need to access the child support grants they qualify for.

As many as 60% of poor households in rural areas that qualify for child

support do not receive the grants they are entitled to. The reasons for this include difficulties experienced by poor households in accessing the official documents they need to apply, as well as a lack of information about who qualifies, what the criteria are and which departments or agencies are responsible for processing applications and distributing grants. Recognising this, the

Alliance for Children’s Entitlement to Social Security (Acess) launched the Enabling Documents Campaign in uMkhanyakude in rural KwaZulu-Natal to help vulnerable and disadvantaged households benefit from this avenue of social support. The vital enabling documents include identity documents, marriage certificates, children’s birth registration and death certificates. While citizens need these documents to access health care, schooling, housing and free basic

services, they are also needed to access child support and other social grants.

Through the project, Acess recruits and educates a small group of local people from each community who are tasked with spreading this knowledge in their communities. This includes the importance of enabling documents and help with applying and accessing child support grants by linking them to the relevant government departments and agencies. This includes the

Department of Home Affairs, where enabling documents can be accessed, and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), where citizens can apply for child support and other grants.

The municipality has helped by providing information about birth registrations and grants at municipal offices and Thusong Centres, where locals can now apply for both enabling documents and grants.

One recruit believes the project has made a world of

Acess recruits and educates a small group of local people from each community who are tasked with spreading knowledge to their communities.

Acess also works with the health department and Home Affairs to ensure that grants are allocated to deserving people.

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difference and that ‘people’s lives change before my very eyes when they have access to grants via the work of Acess’. Fikilephi Ngubane is a resident of uMkhanyakude who recently benefited from the work Acess is doing. She suffers from epilepsy and has for years been unable to access a grant for her two children, because she didn’t have the necessary documents to apply. Ngubane’s family is just one of hundreds who have benefited from the project since it launched in 2009.

Acess also works closely with the Department of Home Affairs and Sassa to ensure that grants are allocated to deserving people and that those monies are helping to improve social conditions in impoverished, rural areas.

‘Through workshops, we have been afforded the opportunity to isolate the problems that individuals have with the Home Affairs department and ascertain how these can best be dealt with,’ says Makhosi Zondi, programme manager of civil society organisation Edi Community Development, which has assisted with education workshops on child support grants. Gugu Masondo from Sassa

Current legislation provides for three child-specific grants.

Child support grantThe child support grant (R200 per month) is for children under the age of 14 years whose caregivers qualify in terms of an income-related means test. Total household income must not exceed R13 200 in rural areas/informal dwellings and R9 600 in urban areas). Once a grant is approved, the child’s caregiver will receive the money until the caregiver dies (at which point the child’s new caregiver must reapply), the child dies or the child reaches the age of 14.

Foster care grantThe foster care grant (R620 per month) is for children under the age of 18 years who have been placed in foster care with a legally appointed foster parent by order of the court. Foster placements are reviewed every two years.

Care dependency grantThe care dependency grant (R870 per month) is for children between the ages of one and 18 years who require permanent home care due to a severe disability or chronic illness. To qualify, the combined income of the child’s caregiver and his/her spouse cannot exceed R48 000 per year.

How child support grants work

Working together The project is a partnership between:• Alliance for Children’s

Entitlement to Social Security (Acess)

• uMkhanyakude Municipality

• The community• Home Affairs and South

African Social Security Agency

• Edi Community Development

For more informationAlliance for Children’s Entitlement to Social Security (Acess)Tel: 021 761 0117

Website www.acess.org.za

• Your identity document • Your child’s birth certificate• If you are married, the ID

document of your husband • Your marriage certificate

or divorce order saying you have custody of the child

• A salary payslip or if you are unemployed a UI-19 form or discharge paper.

• If you are married but don’t have a marriage certificate, you can complete an affidavit provided by Sassa

• An affidavit provided by Sassa stating how much you earn

What documents do you need to apply for a child support grant?

The project has helped hundreds of families obtain enabling documents and access child support grants.

has praised the project, saying that it has helped the agency ‘reach a whole new area of need that before could not even be identified. Many of those who require grants live far from where

they needed to lodge applications, particularly for children’s grants. Acess provided assistance in the forms of funds for transport and the follow ups required on the outcomes of the applications

launched’. Since April 2010, the campaign has helped 164 families obtain identification documents, register their children and apply for child support grants. It has also contributed substantially to a 60% increase in birth registrations and 30% increase in child support grants in uMkhanyakude.

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‘Around 1998 there was a crisis in Cape Town in terms of

massive decentralisation and disinvestment in the CBD, with big businesses leaving for other areas,’ says the CCID’s chief operating officer Tasso Evangelinos. ‘Crime and grime increased. The streets were dirty, there were not enough services in place, and it attracted a bad element of people. There was a concern that the CBD was dying.’

It was then that the City of Cape Town, the South African Property Owners’ Association (SAPOA), the Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry and other stakeholders came together to discuss ways of rescuing the CBD. The Cape Town Partnership was formed on this basis. The Cape Town Partnership looked at case studies in other countries, such as Times Square in New York and cities in Britain. ‘They took on some of the ideas that these cities had implemented,’ says Evangelinos.

The mandate of the Cape Town Partnership is to develop, promote and manage the central city and is the managing agent of the Central City Improvement

District (CCID), established in 2000. The City of Cape Town plays a governance role as well as a financial monitoring role over the CCID. All properties in the central city pay a ‘top-up’ levy on their property rates, which is collected by the City and paid over to the CCID monthly to provide additional services and programmes.

The CCID focuses on four areas – safety and security, urban management, social development and marketing. The CCID’s services are mostly outsourced, but for the social development programme partnerships are formed with NGOs. ‘We form partnerships with various NGOs in the surrounding area. Our strength lies with fieldwork. Our fieldworkers go out and interact with homeless people and try to convince them to get off the streets and go to various institutions for help,’ Evangelinos says.

Teaming upIn 2003, an organisation called Straatwerk was looking for extra work for people that came through their faith-based programme, Jesus Saves. ‘They

Improvement districts boost employmentWith the government calling on all sectors to assist with poverty alleviation and most importantly, job creation, Cape Town’s Central City Improvement District (CCID) seeks to do this. The CCID and the NGO Straatwerk are working together to provide homeless people with training, skills and employment giving them a role in the formal economy.

Straatwerk provides the homeless with a second chance at life.

Charlotte Januarie lived on the streets for three months before being introduced to the project.

Cleaning drains is one of a range of tasks participants are trained to do.

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believe that working is one of the ways to deal with social problems such as alcoholism and drug addiction. The beneficiaries receive a decent wage for a few hours work. The work is not permanent, it is voluntary but it is good for health, mental stability, and restores dignity to people,’ says Evangelinos.

‘We help the unemployable become employable,’ says Straatwerk manager, Hannes van der Merwe. ‘When they earn cash people can buy their own food. We tell them to take responsibility and work hard. It is through hard work that you will get what you need. This is what we are trying to teach.’

At the time, the CCID needed people to clean parts of the city. People from the Straatwerk programme were hired for four hours at a time at just above minimum wage, and received cash at the end of the day. To discourage them from buying alcohol or drugs, a system was developed where if workers fell off the wagon they would be moved to the back of the queue and would have to prove themselves again in order to get another shift. Those that stayed on track were rewarded with more shifts.

Over the years, the service

has expanded. From 2007, more specialised work was offered for people with more experience. Currently, just over 300 people are employed on a rotational basis.

How the programme worksThere are three divisions in the programme. The first division, called ‘Op Help’, is the entry level where fieldworkers recruit people off the street and give them a guaranteed job with pay. These jobs consist of cleaning and sweeping streets, removing litter and material from illegal dumping. This is where the largest group of people are employed.

Straatwerk runs the rehabilitation programme without interference from the CCID. The CCID informs Straatwerk how many workers they need and what they will be doing, and the NGO selects the workers, deciding who will work. This is based on qualifications, and who has followed the programme and should be rewarded with more work. The second division, called technical services, involves work such as painting, removing graffiti, tree trimming, drain cleaning and minor technical repairs to telephone or electrical poles. These workers get paid a slightly higher wage than the first

group and get more regular shifts because the work is a little more complicated.

‘There are approximately 20 services offered in this division that are managed very well in terms of daily, weekly and monthly services. For example, there is a weeding session twice a year, so for two weeks a weeding team will go out and de-weed the CBD. People working in the rodent unit, or rat pack, have been trained by the City’s Health Environment Office to deal with rodent problems. Together with the City’s inspectorate, they bait drains and openings, which had not been possible before due to a lack of manpower. The programme allows these workers to be trained, to gain experience and find work.

When one person finds permanent work, it creates an opening for another homeless person to come in and get training and work experience. ‘We try to create openings and recycle the positions as much as possible,’ says Evangelinos.

The third division was created for a group of individuals that were already skilled. Workers went on a three-week course with the City’s roads department learning how to dig trenches, fix potholes and repair and

maintain public spaces. A maintenance trolley was built to carry all the equipment and the workers go around the CBD fixing minor or aesthetic defects. The maintenance team consists of six men working five days a week on a full-time basis. They are also qualified to paint road signs. The City of Cape Town provides the CCID with materials such as tar, cement and paint. Photos are taken of the projects and submitted to the City on a monthly basis. Every six months one or two members of the team must find alternative employment to make space for two new members to join the team for training.

‘The results have been phenomenal. People are so happy to be working and gaining some of their self-respect back. They have money in their pockets at the end of the day without having to beg on the street corner. They’ve earned it and it has helped to restore their dignity. That’s important,’ said Evangelinos.

The CCID provides workers with care bags twice a year with toothpaste, razors, shampoo, combs, socks and deodorant. The CCID is also negotiating with another NGO to provide workers with hairdressing or barber

Working together The project is a partnership between the following:• The Central City

Improvement District• Straatwerk • People living on the

streets

For more informationCCIDTasso [email protected] 419 1881

StraatwerkHannes van der Merwe072 607 4508

Websiteswww.capetownpartnership.co.za/ccidwww.straatwerk.org.za

Street sweeping is considered entry-level work. As the individual becomes more skilled, he or she moves on to the next division.

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services, so they can prepare for job interviews. This will be paid for by the CCID and will help these individuals to build confidence and social skills.

The job creation programme is also linked to the CCID’s ‘Give Responsibly’ campaign. ‘We don’t want people to give money on the streets but we do want people to give – but give responsibly and donate their time, goods, services and money to the various NGOs out there. 99% of the money given on the streets goes to drugs and alcohol. The money disappears in a matter of minutes and goes to the back pocket of some drug-dealer. Working with Straatwerk on this job creation project is one of the ways to give responsibly,’ says Evangelinos.

He says that there had to be a willingness to try something different and to make a commitment to it. ‘It was an opportunity to do some good.’ It helped that there was funding allocated to the programme, but there also had to be a partnership between the organisation and

the community and a hunger to make it work. ‘There will always be obstacles, but for every problem there has to be two or three solutions. You have to be solutions-driven as opposed to just identifying problems. It has been a win-win for everybody. As long as you don’t have unrealistic expectations and your achievements are measurable, it

is like any other business.’ A number of the beneficiaries

have since moved on to find jobs in hotels as concierges, security and cleaning staff. Although the CCID is not a placement agency, they try to help the workers where they can.

‘Municipalities need to consider working with local NGOs in their areas in a creative way

and find a meaningful programme that the workers can take ownership of. These workers are hardworking – sometimes more than others in the job market, because they’ve been given a second chance for which they are very grateful. They are so committed, it is wonderful to see and it’s a pleasure to work with them.’

Phillip Stoltz found himself homeless in July when

he had to move out of the Happy Valley shelter in Simon’s Town. He had been promised a place to stay but this had not come to fruition. After two days of sleeping at a police station a friend told him about Straatwerk and the work they do. Straatwerk found him a shelter at the District Six Shelter and gave him a few shifts on the Jesus Saves Daily programme created for persons with disabilities. Phillip had hurt his foot on a fishing trawler and after six operations it was amputated.

‘To come here every day gives me a sense of responsibility and keeps me focused. It takes my mind off my situation. The programme has helped me to cope. It is wonderful. I wish there was a programme like this in every city across the country,’ he says.

Charlotte Januarie feels the same way. She lived on the street for three months before some friends told her about Straatwerk. She started on a volunteer basis and worked shifts soon after. ‘It opened my eyes and I realised that to earn money, I must do something. I’ve built myself up again. I’ve even bought my own TV and microwave.’

She has become the store manager, heads the organisation’s social work and development team and has managed to buy her own house.

Success storiesHaving a job changes lives, as these people have discovered through the Straatwerk programme.

A small group of people are tasked with fixing minor and aesthetic defects.

Removing litter and nurturing plants is part of the programme.

Spark 13locAl economic development

In Enable Village, which is part of Maruleng Municipality, Limpopo, the local

government, the community and World Vision have invested in a pig project. World Vision is a non-governmental organisation that offers financial and skills assistance to community based initiatives.

The main purpose of the project is to generate an income by providing a product that can be sold to the local market, says World Vision project manager Ledile Mphahlele.

Initiated in 2006 the project has sparked local interest and provided employment for 11 people.

‘When World Vision Kodumela provided us with capital to embark on this pig farm adventure, I never thought pig farming would eventually become my passion,’ says Phafogang Piggery Project Secretary France Kgabo.

The Phafogang Piggery Project is owned and managed by a group of community members and has employed eight women and three men who are paid R660 a month for 11 days work. In this poor community this has made a significant difference in their lives. These employees are able feed their families and send their children to school.

‘We have not made a lot of profit so far, but the fact that I am able to feed my children and take

them to school means so much to me,’ says one of the women working in the project.

‘The most fulfilling part for us is to see people emerge from poverty. The lives of the men and women who work in this project have truly changed and this in turn means better lives for the children in these families,’ says Mphahlele.

To help the beneficiaries realise their dream, roles were divided between the community, World Vision and the local municipality.

The village chief or traditional leader of the village provided a stand for the project to use, World Vision, provided four female pigs while the project beneficiaries made bricks and built pig houses.

The municipality’s Local Economic Development officer, Mocks Mpokane provided

technical support and continues to conduct regular visits to the project to give advice and tips on the management of the business.

Since its initiation the Department of Agriculture has also helped arranging for the pigs to be taken to the Phalaborwa abattoir.

The piggery has sold 15 piglets earning R10 000, with the money going directly into the project account.

Like other projects this one had to find ways to maintain and feed their pigs. With limited resources and pig food being expensive the beneficiaries opted to build a vegetable garden ‘so that feed can be supplemented by vegetables. World Vision helped them to buy feed but the budget was not enough. As from next year they will use some of their profits to maintain the piggery,’ says Mphahlele.

Working togetherThis project is a partnership between• The Department of

Agriculture• The community• World Vision

For more informationOlwetu Mafutha

Communications: World Vision 011 671 [email protected]

Ledile Mphahlele Project manager: World Vision011 671 [email protected]

Website www.worldvision.co.za

Kodumela’s piggy bankSome people want to open a salon, some to sell chickens, but the people of Enable Village in Kodumela prefer getting muddy in their piggery project.

Piggery project secretary France Kgabo makes sure that the pigs are in good shape and well taken care of.

Spark14enterpriSe development

Beekeeping is major business all around the world, but has not reached its full

potential locally. ‘Beekeeping in South Africa over the last 20 years has not progressed further than pilot projects consisting of a few beekeepers each with a few hives,’ says Guy Stubbs, founder of African Honeybee development enterprise.

This social franchise business has a mission to alleviate poverty in communities through building economically viable clusters of beekeepers. It has partnered with the Bushbuckridge Municipality

and the community to equip and empower 500 beekeepers by providing technical, logistical and marketing support in beekeeping franchises. The area has an ideal mixture of indigenous bush, fruit trees and blue gum plantations.

At present the project trains a 100 family-owned beekeeping businesses, each employing a beekeeper and two family member assistants who are trained in beekeeping and entrepreneurial skills. A further 120 members of the local community will be employed in their own businesses to make

Sweet success for beekeepersAn innovative beekeeping initiative has brought hope to an impoverished community in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, creating environmentally friendly job opportunities arising from a global shortage of organic honey.

There are over 300 jobs that have been created since the launch of the project.

The project has created unity and brought together the community and government.

In the education and training phase the community is taught more about the beekeeping franchise.

Spark 15

the hives, protective suits and other equipment required for the programme.

‘They will also receive ongoing training, mentorship, advance payment on their future honey production, equipment at preferential prices and access to global and South African markets for their produce,’ says Stubbs.

This first phase of the five-phase plan aims to create 420 new jobs and 120 new businesses that will produce honeybee products that meet organic, environmental and fair trade standards. At the same time the objective is to ensure real skills transfer, economic and social development and raise environmental awareness.

The initiative involves several partners. The Agricultural Sector Education Training Authority (Agriseta) provided both technical and financial training and support towards the project, while the community works programme provided stipends to the beekeepers and the Australian Governments Overseas Aid Programme (Ausaid) provided training equipment.

To ensure safety for the beekeepers, a customized steel stand has been developed that carries 10 hives. The stands are 1.2 metres above the ground to

protect them from fire, honey badgers and vandalism.

‘What makes this project different from the less successful honey farming cooperatives of the past is the fact that each one of these Bushbuckridge beekeepers will effectively have their own individual business or franchise, rather than being part of a collective system,’ says Stubbs.

‘One of the most valuable lessons from failed cooperative beekeeping projects is that you cannot start on a commercial, self-sustaining programme until all funding and seed capital is in place. All the local role players believe that the project can have a profoundly positive impact on poverty alleviation and the environment, but the wheels of bureaucracy turn very slowly here when it comes to grant funding.’

Although still in its infancy, the initiative has received the thumbs up from the local municipality, community members and the Department of Agriculture, provincial Department of Rural Development and Land Administration and development funders. The municipality has decided to ‘support, facilitate and coordinate the project’ because it will uplift the community, says Solomon Nyenve, Bushbuckridge’s

local economic development manager. He says the project is a good one that sponsors a number of communities and beneficiaries, giving them skills and training, as well as ownership of the enterprises. With the guidance of Bushbuckridge social development specialist Riebs Khoza, the project attracted more than 5 000 applicants for the first 100 available beekeeping franchises. African Honeybee and their training partner, Skills for Africa, are optimistic that more funding will become available and that the first group will reach their target of 200 tons of honey in 36 months.

‘We have partnered with the community, which will earn a profit share. All the traditional leaders and councillors support the project 100% and help us with issues whenever they arise. Recently some hives were vandalised and the chief fined the culprits one goat per hive that was damaged. This really helped develop a value for the hives,’ says Stubbs.

Secretary of the Bushbuckridge co-operative, Gracious Masuku says the project has been a learning curve for the community. ‘It’s interesting to see how bees work and how they live, getting stung by a bee for

the first time. We’ve just finished our business plan and we are going out looking for funding. I’m happy to be a part of it. It has improved the lives of the people in the community. Some of them were unemployed and some were single parents but now have jobs.’

The initiative has managed to create 300 permanent jobs and hopes to create many more in future, says Stubbs. The first phase of the project will be completed at the end of this year and the project hopes to get the commercially viable phase up and running by January 2012.

Working togetherThis project is a partnership between• The Bushbuckridge

municipality• African Honeybee• The community• Ausaid• Agriseta

For more informationGuy StubbsAfrican Honeybee 082 454 1028

Website www.africanhoneybee.co.za

Community members are excited to be part of a programme that will uplift their community and give them necessary skills to run their franchise.

Spark16

Being part of, and building community, is for everyone. As the world braces for

tough economic times, there is a growing recognition that healthy communities can make all the difference. Authors of ‘The Abundant Community’, John McKnight and Peter Block say that ‘communities are abundant with the resources we need for the future’ and this is why a strong local community is a necessity, not a luxury. Here are some of their suggestions for building strong community life:

Value the young‘It takes a village to raise a child' is a well-known saying. But in an increasingly commercial world, children are often surrounded by cell phones, big brands and institutions. Research shows that young people today are much less socially connected than their grandparents were, with the result that in both poor and well-off communities ‘gangs, mall-centred children and negative behaviour’ is

growing. In communities with strong connections both child development and school performance improve.

Build businessesNeighbourhoods are where many small enterprises take off, and in South Africa and other parts of the world, small businesses provide the largest employment growth, with friends and family providing start-up capital and sweat equity to start a business. These businesses also ensure that money circulates longer in a local community and provides the mutual economic support that parallels social support. Related to this is access to jobs. A large proportion of job seekers get leads about jobs from their relatives, friends and neighbours.

Grow food With a growing focus on food security as well as food miles, South African communities are supporting the creation of local market gardens, allotments and urban agriculture. In addition to

making local communities cleaner and greener, vegetable gardens create livelihoods. The next step can be the creation of a regular fresh produce market that allows producers to sell their wares to local community members and provides an opportunity for people to come together.

Promote safety Safe communities are those with people on the streets. Safe communities are encouraged when people walk around, sit outside, know their neighbours and are part of the social fabric of their community. While visible policing and security infrastructure has a role to play, local community organisations, the world over, play a crucial

role in making communities safe. Community policing forums, neighbourhood watches and community patrols can ensure that there are ‘eyes on the street’. In South African communities, crime statistics come down in areas where communities are organised and partner with, encourage and oversee the local police service.

liFe SkillS

Build your community

If you have ideas or examples to share about how civil society organisations, councillors and members of your community help to create strong neighbourhoods and communities, email Spark. See page 2 for details.

Having safe places for children to play and opportunities to trade and build livelihoods are important, and councillors and communities can work together to achieve this.