| CBOs and the NLDTF |
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The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) was set up in 1998 to award grants to a wide range of civil society organisations. The funds are meant to be available to all South African charity organisations. However in light of the recent difficulties that have been featured in the media, it is evident that for various reasons not all organisations can access funding from the National Lotteries Fund. In total eight workshops in six provinces were held. The first workshop was held in the community of Zwide in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. Other workshops were held in Phomolong in Kroonstad, Free State; Temba, Hammanskraal in North West; Embalenhle, Secunda in Mpumalanga; Emgangeni and Vryheid in Kwa Zulu Natal; Tzaneen and Polokwane in Limpopo. In total The Forum has reached over 400 organisations countrywide. Less than ten percent of these organisations have been funded by the NLDTF previously, another 35% are still waiting for responses from previous applications, while the remaining 15% are still waiting for their grants to be disbursed. Wokshop attendants raised issues such as the time it took for the NLDTF to respond if they responded at all, the application process and its far-flung requirements that were unrealistic for small and new organisations, its’ unavailability to CBOs, and the late disbursements of grants. Workshop evaluation summary: 1. Many of the attendants found the workshops to be informative, inspiring and positive as a lot of misunderstandings about the lNLDTF application process were clarified. 2. They found the most useful areas of the workshop to be: qualification criteria, completing the form, as well as developing partnerships. 3. Many communities requested more training in: a. Financial Management; b. Project management and c. Good governance Many CBOs operating in South Africa are uncertain about funding. Most of these organisations are vulnerable and are based in rural areas of our country where their services are needed most and this is harmful to South Africa’s fight to eradicate poverty and often it creates a cycle where current lack of funding makes it hard for these organisations to access funds in the future. We hope the support provided to these CBOs to access NLDTF funding will also encourage them to pursue other sources of funding in time. Tselane Moleba, The Forum Bookmark this article:          |
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