receive their rewards
Awhopping R700 000 is on offer for organisations which deliver innovative poverty reduction programmes, writes Barry Streek
A programme to recognise and reward innovative poverty reduction projects for government delivery programmes with R700 000 to 15 different projects has provoked huge interest from both the government and NGOs.
In a rush to clinch these lucrative awards, 175 entries have been received which have now been “narrowed” down to a shortlist of 100 projects.
The entries for the Impumelelo Innovations Award reflect community priorities and are dominated by projects dealing with job creation, education, health and crime fighting among others, according to the programme’s director, Rhoda Kadalie.
The aim of the programme is to recognise public service delivery by rewarding innovative poverty reduction projects.
Kadalie said the projects had to involve government projects (national, provincial or local) but they could also include those run in partnership with NGOs and the private sector.
In fact, a rough calculation shows 67 of the entries are administered by government and 95 by NGOs or the private sector.
The category of entries reveal a wide cross-section of projects. They include five for the aged with children and homeless having four entries and nine for the agricultural sector. Community development projects boast 14 entries, criminal justice has 22, and curriculum development four. Other entries include an array of projects concerning disability, education/pre-school, environment, finance, health, Aids, housing, job creation, land restitution and development, literacy, skills development and water.
The government departments also reveal a wide cross-section of entries like agriculture, correctional services, defence, education, finance, trade and industry.
Impumelelo, which is the isiXhosa and Zulu word for success through working together, was launched in June at a function addressed by Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel.
At the awards ceremony on December 8 in Parliament, 10 awards of R60 000 each and five of R20 000 will be given.
Most of the projects – 46 of them – came from Gauteng, while the Western Cape follows with 34, and 31 from KwaZulu- Natal. There were also 24 from the Eastern Cape and 17 entries from the Free State, while Mpumalanga, North-West and the Northern Cape each posted four entries. The Northern Province has chalked up 10 projects for the award.
The 100 shortlisted projects range from the Stepping Stones One Stop Youth Justice Centre in the Eastern Cape, to the Bekkersdal Flagship job creation programme in Beaufort West, to the Mapila Hydroponics Community Co-op in the Northern Province.
The Stepping Stones project, for instance, in a former coloured area in Port Elizabeth consists of a police station, youth court and counselling services in one location. It aims to confront the problem of “youth at risk” by diverting delinquent youth from prison, if possible, and counselling them. Courts are open at weekends and social workers are on call 24 hours a day.
The Mapila Community Co-operative was started by a diesel mechanic in the Venda region, who persuaded landholders in his community to consolidate their land to start an intensive farming project which provides jobs and income to villagers, mainly women.
The initiator, Mavhungu Mukwevho, did not just start a simple food garden, but introduced advanced cultivation methods (hydroponics) producing strawberries for export and vegetables for local markets, including sales to Woolworths.
Says Kadalie: “Across the country, the nature of innovative government-funded community projects reflects the massive challenges facing South Africa’s poor. It is heartening to know that the government is working together with ordinary South Africans to find creative solutions.
“The focus is particularly on the reduction of poverty in South Africa and on best practices that improve the quality of life of the poor. We seek to identify creative problem-solving projects, which exist in partnership with the government, and to document, broadcast and celebrate these projects in order to share elements of their success nationwide.”
Impumelelo is based on similar programmes in the United States, Brazil and the Philippines, and intends establishing an accessible database of development programmes.
It is funded by the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundation, the Netherlands government and the Human Sciences Research Council. The projects on the shortlist are currently being evaluated by developmental experts.
The awards will be the first Impumelelo has made.