Define the Wishlists that your organisation will be promoting at the Giving Exchange.
To implement the Cata Integrated Development plan, a number of crucial infrastructure projects, principally the upgrading of the road. There are also a number of relatively inexpensive interventions that nevertheless could have a major impact on the lives of the poor in Cata. For example, a water for food project aims to improve household food security to the poorest households in the village. The roll-out of this project depends primarily on sweat-equity, but cannot be implemented without basic equipment and seeds or seedlings.
The Cata community has made several contributions towards the development process. This has been supplemented by contributions from various government departments in the local and provincial spheres of government, academic institutions and non-governmental organisations. However, there is still a significant shortfall that needs to be made up in order to enable the implementation of the full plan.
The three projects that form the basis of this wishlist:
- Homestead gardening which is water for food
- The revival of a defunct irrigation scheme
- Soil rehabilitation
These are all crucial components of the plan.
Define the volunteer requests that your organisation will be promoting at the Giving Exchange.
The Cata Community Property Association (CPA) is a membership-based, voluntary association. It does not currently have the financial resources required to enable it to employ any staff. Yet its constitution gives it responsibility to administer all the land of Cata and to co-ordinate integrated development in the locality. So there is a huge burden of responsibility on the Community Property Association (CPA).
Border Rural Committee has an agreement with the Community Property Association (CPA) committee to assist it to explore ways of developing the capacity of the association so that it is able to fulfil its mandate. We are thus seeking to recruit the assistance of volunteers to help to build the institutional capacity of the Community Property Association (CPA).
There are a number of different volunteer models that we are prepared to consider in this regard. For example, a person may be willing to conduct a once-off institutional assessment of the association. He or she may want to mentor the Community Property Association (CPA) chairperson, secretary or treasurer for a fixed amount of time per month, for six or twelve months, or he or she may be prepared to work and live full-time in Cata for a certain length of time.
A minimum set of competencies is as follows:
- Basic organisational understanding and skill, some level of experience in civic or political organisation would be an advantage
- Typing and computer skills
- Written and verbal communication skills
- Filing skills
Personal qualities - The volunteer would need to have the following personality traits:
- Thoroughness
- Dependability
- Patience
- Steadfastness
- Adaptable and willing to work in a poorly-resourced, inaccessible rural area
Time required - As indicated above, we are flexible in this regard. We will consider what a potential volunteer can contribute in terms of time and define the arrangement accordingly.
Impact - The volunteer will assist to establish the Cata Community Property Association (CPA) as a community-based organisation that is capable of delivering according to its constitutional mandate. This will improve the sustainability of the nascent, potentially path-breaking development process in the village.
Define your Do It Day proposal.
We intend to arrange a look, listen and advise day at Cata. The purpose of this day is to take a wide variety of professionals to Cata, so that the various projects and their respective members have an opportunity to benefit from the professionals’ expertise.
The activities will be as follows:
- 08h00 - Depart for Cata from East London
- 10h00 - Arrive in Cata at the community hall for a tour to the museum
- 11h30 - Briefing on the development process and
visits to at least five projects, accompanied by project members
- 13h30 - Lunch in the homes of various Cata residents
- 14h30 - Small group discussions, project-by-project, to enable the professionals to engage further with project members and then share their impressions, offer advice on how to improve project performance and explore the possibility of offering an ongoing mentoring and support service
- 15h45 - Wrap-up in plenary and depart for East London
- 18h00 - Arrive in East London
The value of this project is that it will expose a variety of private sector expertise to the realities of daily life in the rural village in the Eastern Cape Province and simultaneously enable them to share their knowledge and experience with emerging local businesses and institutions. This project is part of our ongoing efforts to promote development in Cata in a sustainable, comprehensive and co-ordinated manner.
Beneficiaries - The beneficiaries of our work are defined in our mission statement. In the case of Cata, we strive to work with as broad a base of the community as possible. The purpose is that the development process should benefit every household in the village. Our principal partner in this regard is the Cata Community Property Association (CPA). Membership of the Cata Community Property Association is open to every person in Cata over the age of eighteen years. The Cata Community Property Association co-ordinates the implementation of each and every project in Cata. The elected Cata Community Project Association committee will integrally be involved in the detailed planning and delivery of the look, listen and advise day. The immediate beneficiaries of the day will be the management structures of all projects that receive professional advice. This advice will be used to improve project performance, which should lead to benefits for all project members, and ultimately all people in Cata.
Fit with other organisational work - There is a very neat fit between the look, listen and advise day and our overall organisational programme. Cata is one of three focus areas in Border Rural Committee's programme structure for 2006.
Challenges - The main challenge that we will face in this project is co-ordination. More specifically, because we are looking for competent professionals we assume that they will have very busy schedules. It will be difficult to schedule a look, listen and advise day that suits everyone’s diaries. Only planning that is undertaken far in advance may obviate this problem.
Volunteer Requirements - We seek qualified professionals in the following sectors:
- Forestry - pine and wattle
- Agriculture - crops and stock, irrigation and dryland
- Tourism - accommodation and catering, heritage, adventure, cultural
- Engineering - sanitation and water, roads
There is no limit to the number of professionals that can be absorbed in this event, but for budgeting purposes, we have assumed a minimum number of twenty people.
Hours Required - The volunteers will need to set aside a full day in line with the schedule outlined above. Costs - Transport to and from Cata for 20 people and hiring of three vehicles
Lunch for 40 people - 20 professionals and 20 local people involved in project management.
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