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Stay up to date Forum Reports Activity Report - May 2010
Stay up to date Forum Reports Activity Report - May 2010 | Activity Report - May 2010 |
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Making Policy Work Anti-Poverty Strategy Development The Youth Development Network (YDN) held a consultative forum to engage their members and/or partners in the discussion of developing a Youth NGOs Anti-Poverty Strategy on 20th June 2010. The event brought together various organisations to brainstorm and discuss their own areas of concern about poverty and how they would want those to be dealt with. Mr Lawrence Matembe, a Senior Policy Analyst from the Deputy President’s Office gave a presentation on government’s anti-poverty strategy which led the group discussion on the consultation process thereof. Eastern Cape John Allen attended various meetings with members and stakeholders regarding various policy and funding issues of the province. Funding cuts continue to be a problem and the Eastern Cape Welfare Forum members continues to liaise with government about the issue. A relationship was established with SANGOCO Eastern Cape and good input was received from them on a path to transformation. Gauteng Task Teams prepared for follow up meeting scheduled for May with Divisional Head and other senior Department of Health and Social Development officials to get Welfare Summit Agenda for Action back on track. The first draft of outline for proposed new Department of Social Development Financial Awards Policy was prepared for the Joint Strategic Committee in April. The Gauteng Welfare Forum MANCO members represented the National Welfare Forum at a workshop for the development of a national framework and strategy for supervision. The document was circulated for comments. The King III Report on organisational governance and associated documents were circulated to the GWF members for discussion of areas of relevance to NPOs. Rights and Responsibilities Human Rights with Black Sash A workshop on Social Assistance in South Africa in partnership with the Black Sash Gauteng was held on 18th May 2010 at the Central University of Technology in Bloemfontein, Free State. 42 participants attended the workshop and the majority were from Early Childhood Development centres. Mr Colbert Sinthumule facilitated the workshop in English, SeSotho and IsiZulu. He started by introducing the Black Sash newly launched project called CMAP, saying that it is a project whereby volunteers from communities monitors service delivery by government departments. He then unpacked the various grants offered by government to the needy society. The participants much interest was focused on the Social Relief of Distress and the UIF. They were unaware of this kind of assistance and wanted more information on the process of application thereof. Western Cape The Department of Housing held a workshop on the Housing Subsidy System in Cape Town, Athlone on 11 May 2010. Seventeen (17) people from various advice offices in the Western Cape attended. The intention was to share information with the advice officers so that they can pass the message to the community on their rights to housing subsidy from government. The workshop was well received with lots of interaction and questions from the participants. The Western Cape Welfare Forum, Black Sash Western Cape and various Advise Offices went to conduct monitoring of the living conditions of the area called Blikkiesdorp, where the residents of Symphony Way were temporarily relocated to until houses would be build for them. The households are made up of one room iron shacks built by the City of Cape Town in 2007 by the then Mayor, Ms Helen Zille. Sanitation was the main concern for the residents as one toilet is shared by four different households. They complained about unclean and unsafe toilets, especially for children. The situation remains dire for these people and more advocacy is required to address the crisis. Gauteng The Gauteng Welfare Forum continued to participate on the task team set up by government to assist vulnerable residents at the Central Methodist Church Mission during the month of April, at the request of the Portfolio Committee Chairperson. Field of service clusters began preparing submissions for Portfolio Committee on Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development (GDHSD) budget. Jackie Loffel circulated documentation and communicated with Children’s Institute budget analyst. The GWF members together with other NPOs attempted to pack the gallery in Legislature during the MEC’s budget speech, to draw public and media attention to the inadequacy of the Social Development Budget. Jackie participated in the workshop hosted by National Welfare Forum with media organisations on World Press Freedom Day. Click here for the report. Information and calls for preventive action on threatened xenophobic attacks were circulated by the Gauteng Welfare Forum to its members. Working together to make Mzansi better Gauteng Information regarding the elections of South African Council of Social Service Professions (SACSSP) and second call for nominations for Minister’s appointees continued to be circulated to the members and stakeholders of the Gauteng Welfare Forum. A Gauteng Welfare Forum’s representative attended the SACSSP’s workshop on 12 April, aimed at developing a framework and a national plan for supervision and management of social workers. Mpumalanga A workshop on Policy Engagement and the Policy on Financial Awards to Service Providers was held in Lyndenburg, Mpumalanga, on 13 May 2010 with 30 participants. On 13 May 2010, a meeting was held at Lyndenburg to re-establish the Lyndenburg Forum. The meeting was well attended, 16 NGO’s were represented. The following people were elected to be on the management committee: *Ms Lillian Segoane – Chairperson (Lyndenburg Forum) *Ms Jeanette Kruger – Deputy Chair (Lyndenburg Rusoord) *Ms Odette Barton – Secretary (Jac+Jill ECD) *Ms Hatta Mathaila – Deputy Secretary (Emndenini ECD) *Ms Hatta Viljoen – Treasurer (Lyndenburg Forum) -On 18 May 2010, Qiniso attended a meeting organised by local NGOs, NPOs, CBOs and FBOs. The aim was to set a date for the re-establishment of the Sabie/ Graskop Welfare Forum. Eastern Cape Ivan Siyila acted as a mediator between an area office of Social Development and Qaukeni Empowerment Organisation. The two parties had disputes which Ivan assisted in resolving. The working relationship has improved for the better. The Chairman of Murray Trust, founder of Empilweni Old Aged Home requested Ivan Siyila to be the Chairperson of the Governing Board of the home. Ivan accepted the proposition and later attended a meeting at another old age home in East London to learn the management of old age homes. He also later attended a policy formulation meeting of the home after the Provincial Assessment Team had identified gaps in their policies and other administrative issues. All matters were resolved after the meetings. Ivan visited three member organisations to assist them with NPO registrations and other administrative issues. North West Two Financial Management workshops were conducted by APPETD in Klerksdorp at Dr Kenneth Kaunda region on 08 April and another one in Mafikeng on 22 April 2010 where a total number of 57 people participated in the workshops. The North West Welfare Forum was approached by the Department of Health and Social Development to identify three NPOs from disadvantaged communities to attend the 2010 FIFA World Cup games for free. Two youth from Signal Hill Village were nominated by the North West Welfare Forum to attend a medicine learnership in Cuba. Bookmark this article:          |
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