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EASTERN CAPE NGO COALITION

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL SESSION ONE

NGO DIALOGUE REPORT 11 NOVEMBER 2014

HOTEL OSNER, EAST LONDON

THEME: AN INTERGRATED RESPONSE TO THE TRIPLE CHALLENGE POVERTY, UNEMPLOYMENT & INEQUALITY

Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity; it is an act of justice. Like slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-

made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great.

You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.

-Tata Nelson Mandela

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Table of Contents LIST OF ACRONYMS ...................................................................................................................................................... 3

1. PURPOSE OF THE DIALOGUE .............................................................................................................................. 4

2. OPENING REMARKS ............................................................................................................................................ 5

3. KEY NOTE ADDRESS: HONOURABLE PREMIER: MR PHUMULO MASUALLE ...................................................... 6

4. EASTERN CAPE DEVELOPMENT PLAN PRESENTATION BY SIV HESJEDAL (ECSECC) ........................................... 8

5. EASTERN CAPE INTEGRATED ANTI-POVERTY STRATEGY: MS KHOLEKA MAKALIMA ..................................... 10

6. PANEL DISCUSSIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 11

7. PRESENTATION BY MZOXOLO CENGANE ON DSD ‘S MONITORING AND EVALUATION POLICY .................... 12

8. CLOSING REMARKS ........................................................................................................................................... 13

PHOTO COLLAGE OF THE NGO DIALOGUE ................................................................................................................ 15

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LIST OF ACRONYMS

DSD Department of Social Development

DCO District Convening Organisation

ECNGOC Eastern Cape NGO Coalition

ECDP Eastern Cape Development Plan

ECIAPS Eastern Cape Integrated Anti-Poverty Strategy

ECSECC Eastern Cape Socio Economic Consultative Council

ECD Early Childhood Development

NDP National Developmental Plan

NGO Non-Governmental Organisation

OTP Office of the Premier

PEC Provincial Executive Committee

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1. PURPOSE OF THE DIALOGUE In addressing the Vision 2030 – the Triple Challenge – Poverty, Unemployment and Inequality

the ECNGOC is of the view that collective voice, collective action and collective outcomes will

contribute significantly in changing the development landscape and improving the lives of the

masses of the EC population. Therefore the ECNGOC is a key proponent in championing both

the Eastern Cape Anti-Poverty Strategy as well as the Eastern Cape Development Plan. Both of

these strategies have been endorsed by the 5th Provincial Administration in the State of the

Province Address (SOPA) 2014 and are founded on social mobilisation with people at the

centre of their own development. In addition a key strength of the strategies is the multi

stakeholder approach to addressing development within the Eastern Cape.

The NGO Dialogue was a follow up to the Provincial NGO Summit on held on the 22nd – 23rd

November 2012 with 200 delegates from the NPO Sector. The NGO summit provided

interventions to address the Triple Challenge, “Poverty, Inequality and Unemployment which

provide.

The NGO Dialogue focused on the Eastern Cape Development Plan and the Provincial

Integrated Anti Poverty Strategy which will provide NGOs with an opportunity to develop the

NGO agenda in implementing the Eastern Cape strategies.

The purpose of the NGO dialogue was to obtain the Provincial Administration response with

reference to the role of NGOs in addressing the triple challenge. In addition discussions focused

on the joint role played by the government and NGO’s in implementing the Eastern Cape

strategies. The Honourable Premier Mr. Phumulo Masualle delivered the key note address. The

NGO dialogue was attended by 86 delegates representing NGO sector, Government

The programme Facilitator was Mr T. Kanise. Mr. Kanise is one of the

longest serving members in the ECNGOC board. He retired from the board in 2013 but is still

committed comrade of the ECNGOC.

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2. OPENING REMARKS The ECNGOC Provincial Chairperson Mr David Claassen opened the council with a word of

prayer and welcomed everyone.

Mrs Rooks Moodley the Director of the ECNGOC gave the opening remarks

(Presentation attached). She referred Eastern Cape as the ‘HOME OF THE LEGENDS’ she spoke

highly of the late of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo’. Mrs Moodley gave a brief background

of the ECNGOC, how to become a member and the benefits of being a member.

Mrs Moodley reiterated that the purpose of the dialogue is to obtain the provincial

administration’s response to the role of NGOs in addressing the triple challenge. The purpose

of the conference is to draw attention to the state of the province and focus on Eastern Cape

strategies. This is done due to the recognition that the successful implementation of the

Provincial Development Plan will require commitment of everyone.

In addition the NGO sector is calling for;

Recognition of the Role of the NGO Sector in addressing the development agenda –

There are currently 10 382 NGOs in the Eastern Cape , if each one reaches a minimum

of 100 beneficiaries we can reach a million beneficiaries annually.

Harness the contribution of NGOs in measuring impact in the Eastern Cape – NGO

statistics must be included when measuring Provincial interventions.

A Provincial Government Support Mechanism – Currently the Department of Social

Development remains the NGO support mechanism with close onto 2500 NGOs in the

Eastern Cape being funded. There is a need for an integrated and coordinated inter

governmental and intersectoral support to NGOs in distress.

Structured Public Participation Mechanisms to ensure meaningful public participations

between the state and its citizens.

Key focus areas on welfare, health, education, local governance and rural

development among others with ensuring accessible and equitable services to masses

of the population.

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A radical development approach – A shift from the “needs based “approach to an

“assets orientation”, mobilising local assets for sustainable community development.

Generational Building – Children first, ensuring that every child is prioritised so we

create a better life for all for succeeding generations.

Transformation agenda must be a key priority – services must reach the remotest

parts of the Eastern Cape.

Mrs. Moodley then went on to introduce the key note speaker of the day which was, the

honourable Premier Mr. Phumulo Masualle. She gave a short profile before the Premier took

the stand.

3. KEY NOTE ADDRESS: HONOURABLE PREMIER: MR PHUMULO MASUALLE

The Provincial Council was honoured to host the Honourable

Premier of the Eastern Cape Premier Masualle who delivered the key note address. He began

his address by acknowledging the governing structure of the coalition, and all the delegates

present. In his address he reminded the delegate of the 16th anniversary of the 16 Days of No

Violence against Women, which we will be commencing in a week’s time. The honorable

premier urged people to ‘Put an End to Violence against Women and Children in our country’.

He praised the NGO sector by saying and I quote “This spirit of “people centered development”

is one of the trademarks of the history of the NGO community in our country and has carried

the community far from the dark days of Apartheid until today”.

The Premier briefly spoke about all the achievements and activities which has taken place since

he took office this year, this include; the 20thinstalment of the Grahamstown Arts Festival, the

Highway Africa Conference, the ICT Summit as well as the Gender, Water and Development

Conference. The Science and Technology Park here at the East London IDZ is gearing itself for

the intake of the first group of ICT “whizzkids” that will be groomed to establish their own ICT

startups along the likes of Silicon Valley in California. He emphasized that he raised these

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developments because indeed our province under this Fifth Administration continues to tell

this Good story about progress and about seeking to meet the triple challenges of Poverty,

Inequality and Underdevelopment”.

The Premier noted that the Millennium Development Goals had not all been met. He added on

to say that the consolation prize is the adoption of a Post – 2015 Developmental Agenda which

the NGO Community in the country including our province also needs to pick up and follow on,

working together with our Government and International partners.

The honorable Premier referred to the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 arguing that it is

possible to eliminate poverty and to sharply and reduce inequality by 2030. However it is

important to note that centuries of damage cannot be undone in a few decades. He added on

to say that, the NDP acknowledges that we need to attack the blight of poverty and exclusion

and nurture economic growth at the same time, creating a virtuous cycle of expanding

opportunities, building capabilities, reducing poverty and involving communities in their own

development.

The Premier concluded by saying that, “I wish to acknowledge that we need to find a way of

strengthening the existing relations between our Provincial Government and the NGO sector,

we need to understand each other’s DNA better, so that we understand the posture we take

on many pressing challenges we face”.

DISCUSSIONS AND COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE

- The funding to the children’s sector has not changed for a very long time. Is there a way to

look and review it?

- I applaud and give thanks to the words that you promoting public participation, what strides

will the Office of the Premier (OTP) do to promote and encourage participation of NGOs in

government

- We would like to see in the next plan clear outline of support to the NGOs

- How best do you see yourself supporting the Early Childhood Centres (ECD) to see it as the

centre of development?

- Grateful of the commitment you have made and that if the local government can push the

same mandate?

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Responses from the Premier

In strengthening Public participation, we are still improving, even coming at this platform is

reaching out, OTP has consolidated functions that used to reside with Department of Social

Development (DSD), and any ideas are most welcome. The Premier agreed with the comment

by Mamosilo Kuali that we need to champion the same message at lower levels, (district and

provincial levels). In need of more competent people who have the skills and capacity. The

honourable Premier added on to say that “through dialogues like these we are able to be

specific so we need to follow up in areas that need specific resolutions and support, ECD is

critical as it is one of the elements to help you in developing

In terms of Support to government in terms of employment, the OTP will look at it, we can

work with NGOs around some of the work programs it can help communities to create

sustainability. In concluding his responses, the Premier alluded to the fact that there is a lot we

can do if we bring our minds together, it is important to have interactions because we cannot

have one size fits all, and also we cannot do the same things over and over again and expect

the same results

Bernie Dollie concluded the session with the Premier by suggesting that we include teaching

attitudes and behaviour of people in the province, how do we shift behaviour and work on

attitudes.

4. EASTERN CAPE DEVELOPMENT PLAN PRESENTATION BY SIV HESJEDAL (ECSECC)

Siv presented the Eastern Cape Provincial Development Plan (PDP)

developed by the Eastern Cape Planning Commission (ECPC). She began by sharing how the

Eastern Cape planning commission looked at how the province can adopt the NDP to suit the

province. She went on to say how the NDP aims to significantly reducing the Triple challenge.

However, as data shows, the province will not move much further if we continue at the same

rate. She also offered to share the diagnostic report of the ECPC.

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A sustainable future for the Eastern Cape rests on a people-centred development to achieve

five related goals as agreed by all stakeholders involved in the process to develop this plan.

These goals are:

An inclusive, equitable and growing economy for the province

An educated, innovative and empowered citizenry

A healthy population

Vibrant, equitably enabled communities

Capable agents across government and other institutional partners committed to the

development of the province.

These goals will be pursued with a focus on rural development to address serious inherited

structural deficiencies – the legacy of apartheid has left the rural regions of the Eastern Cape

underdeveloped on the one hand, and an urban economy that is unduly stressed and

experiencing slow growth on the other. Addressing this spatial unevenness in endowment and

development will take time and hard work, but it can be done with the right will and

commitment.

The design of implementation processes for the PDP, the organisation of agents, and careful

planning around intended effects and targets, should also be done with the additional

objective of positively shifting our attitudes around gender and other arbitrarily discriminative

biases.

To realise the plan’s development goals, the province has also identified four catalytic flagships

that will establish a sound foundation for other developments to flourish:

1. ILIMA LABANTU

2. Ematholeni!

3. Infrastructure

4. Back to Basics: Building human and institutional capabilities for local development

action

Questions for Siv

-Thank you for presentation, particularly around ECD excited about what’s in it, whist we are engaging with the DSD, how can we engage with the planning commission?

-What is going to be done different, as we used to use ward committees, but these are politicized?

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-Presentation speaks much to many sectors in community development, how will it integrate youth participation, i.e in regards to the OTP having a youth desk, let’s have a youth directorate?

-My concern is the access of participating in the planning process at local level.

Responses:

Siv responded by saying that she will make sure that we can talk and come together referring

to ECD Sector. When the planning commission started, it had hoped to embark on a big

participation process. While the planning process was inclusive, it was not as extensive as one

would have wanted. The OTP and ECSECC developing a youth development plan. More

concretely the Planning Commission and the OTP need to have a proper communication

programme; commission has proposed some structures of holding each other accountable

5. EASTERN CAPE INTEGRATED ANTI-POVERTY STRATEGY: MS KHOLEKA MAKALIMA

Ms. Kholeka Makalima presented on the Eastern Cape Anti-Poverty

Strategy ECAPS (please note the full presentation is attached). She began by acknowledging

that the need for an integrated Anti-Poverty Strategy is premised on the view that

government programmes implemented since 1994 have not yielded the desired impact in

eradicating poverty. Poverty still persists due to the economic, spatial and social structures

created by colonialism and Apartheid. Ms. Makalima went on to say that, the ECAP strategy

builds on the experience of government and civil society in the past 20 years. It also seeks to

change the trajectory of anti-poverty initiatives. This strategy aims to reduce the incidence of

poverty as well as to prevent the reproduction of poverty within households and communities.

She concluded by saying that, this is done through joined-up implementation and better

targeting of interventions. Integration is important to avoid wastage of scarce resources and

ensuring sustainability of interventions. Central to the strategy is resource transfers to the

poor, empowerment and enhanced access and ownership by the poor.

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Questions:

- -inequality is increasing for the past 20 years

- Issues of poverty, what are some of the things impacting the drive to eradicate poverty

-Integration with the anti-poverty unit in DSD, what strides are being made to improve the

lives of people so we can tackle (refer to last slide to the, working together with cabinet

clusters especially social transformation cluster

-what plans do you prepare concerning social grants taken out by SASSA for airtime and

loans

Responses

-Mzoxolo from Provincial DSD chief operations officer, responsible for the funding for NPOs,

responded by saying that, the department of social development have been working and

engaging with ECNGOC, dialogues took resolutions developed plans together most of the

issues that have been raised here are or concerns, funding in the EC is little, we go to

treasury our proposals are turned down due to various reasons, referring to questions about

cutting of funds first refer to local level

-Challenges we facing is that we issue the application/ business plan template have scaled

down to about 8 pages, during the applications process NPOs will state a specific number

then claim for less

6. PANEL DISCUSSIONS In introducing the panel discussion session, Mrs Moodley quoted Albert Einstein “you

cannot do things the same way and expect different results”, therefore what can we do

different the developmental approach. From the presentations, the delegates were asked to

focus on what are the immediate things we can do, what are the low hanging fruits in terms

of education, welfare, rural development, and health. The panellist who headed the

discussion, where prior presenters Siv and Kholeka and Bernie Dolley from Ikhala Trust

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From a developmental point of view, Bernie made the following comments:

As civil society, we need to create power with community not power over

communities. The Civil society is weakened because we keep saying we cannot do

something.

Money follows good things. As NGOs we come as beggars lets come with solutions

lets go to the OTP with models which can work, go with a proposals to change the

status quo, let’s not act as if we don’t know what we doing.

Poverty sits with all of us, mind, soul and body and let’s not behave like the animals

of animal farm, but like people at the centre of development. We are the ones to

blame why the systems are failing, let’s put our egos away and admit when we don’t

know.

Siv responded by saying that, we will find a way of putting all the issues into the agenda of

the social transformation cluster of government, especially ECD, can we relook at the way

and how the NGO agenda can help to drive the planning commission.

7. PRESENTATION BY MZOXOLO CENGANE ON DSD ‘S MONITORING AND EVALUATION POLICY

The presentation from the DSD is attached. Mr. Mzoxolo began by

highlighting the challenges in the NPO sector. He went on to say that, during 2011/2012 we

had a challenge of many NPOs being deregistered because of non compliance mainly of not

submitting their annual reports. We do have service level agreements but auditor general

said we don’t stick to what is agreed in the SLAs,, what we need to ensure and strengthen is

monitoring that is what is in the policy at least once a quarter (refer to his presentation) the

draft policy will be circulate to all, we need responds, we are ensuring that there is no

challenges, the presentation is to make awareness please comment on the particular policy,

we need inputs by next Friday 21st

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Questions

- in terms of capacity building for CBOs, please can you take advice which we give you, for

example we asked if you can bring a leader when we do leadership developing (I will note a

comment and give to the specific department)

- There is challenges of understanding, because we had complains of our administration

issues, they should be capacitated and mentored, department is regulating the spending

which does not bring capacity

Issue of content, what are the moves to capacitate the official on the content their

monitoring part of the ECD forum we have the monitoring forum how best can it partner or

support the government monitoring it all depends with the SLAs

You have NGOs which already have M&E in place so how then do you aligning in what you

are proposing, it can be an effective way to see how funds are being utilised, also

capacitating NGOS to strengthen their own M&E processes

Issue of conduits is an issue we want to move ourselves from

8. CLOSING REMARKS

In closing the NGO Dialogue the deputy Chair of the ECNGOC,

Mr Sobetu summarised the proceedings into the following eight points;

A need for NGO service delivery statistics repository

The need for a concerted campaign to address poverty

Need for a collective and a partnership approach to address this

Need for a Dialogue to address community development challenges

Need to devise innovative ways of prompting Active participation of the NGOs,

public sectors delivery programmes EPWP/CWP

Need to strengthen relations between government and NGOs

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Need to address issues of access to rural communities to government planning

processes

Need for a robust interface with provincial Integrated Anti Poverty Strategy,

identification of key sectoral issues ( there must submission)

If we do this we will begin to address the triple challenge!

The programme facilitator Mr TK concluded by saying “the partnership the government has

opened let’s begin to take an active role, lets continue to find solutions”

REPORT FROM ECNGOC DIALOGUE 15

PHOTO COLLAGE OF THE NGO DIALOGUE