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News from our team on the ground in Munsieville, South Africa
Thursday 25 June 2009
Tuesday 16 June 2009
Countering the “hand-out” mentality in Munsieville
Both the formal and informal settlements of Munsieville have been around a long time. Over the years there have been numerous NGOs both small and large that have run programmes and then left – both in good and bad circumstances. Right now in our office here there is a small NGO handing out food packages to vulnerable women and children. Other NGOs give out clothes, food, soap sporadically depending on when they receive donations.
This is valuable and necessary, people need to eat and to have clothes to wear, yet this has created over the years a “Hand-Out” mentality or “dependency syndrome” in which people expect to get. So there is this difficult tension between trying to meet immediate needs, and looking longer-term at trying to address root causes of the problems. The government has acknowledged this problem, and it wants organisations to empower people to dig themselves out of poverty. We (NGOs and government) can give people the tools, but they must do it for themselves.
An example of this would be Project HOPE's Village Savings Fund. This is a programme in which groups of 20 are formed, and trained to collect savings on a weekly basis – even if it is only 10 cents - and put it into a pot. From this pot loans can be made out to the group to start a business or expand an existing venture. These loans are paid back with interest thus increasing the savings pot. They also supplement this with a Social Fund which acts as a form of insurance. Each member puts the same amount into the Social Fund each week until it has reached the designated pot size. From this fund emergencies can be met like paying to get to the hospital, funeral expenses etc. A key component of each meeting is health education – talking about relevant issues such as HIV, TB, legal access to government services. The concept of the Village Savings Fund is a great one, and it has worked well in many other places in Africa, and also here in South Africa. We are taking it to the people and hitting the dependency syndrome right on the head with it. We are sure that once the first group of Village Savings Fund participants have gone through the cycle and they can see the tangible benefits, then they will become advocates for it and recruit others.
This is valuable and necessary, people need to eat and to have clothes to wear, yet this has created over the years a “Hand-Out” mentality or “dependency syndrome” in which people expect to get. So there is this difficult tension between trying to meet immediate needs, and looking longer-term at trying to address root causes of the problems. The government has acknowledged this problem, and it wants organisations to empower people to dig themselves out of poverty. We (NGOs and government) can give people the tools, but they must do it for themselves.
An example of this would be Project HOPE's Village Savings Fund. This is a programme in which groups of 20 are formed, and trained to collect savings on a weekly basis – even if it is only 10 cents - and put it into a pot. From this pot loans can be made out to the group to start a business or expand an existing venture. These loans are paid back with interest thus increasing the savings pot. They also supplement this with a Social Fund which acts as a form of insurance. Each member puts the same amount into the Social Fund each week until it has reached the designated pot size. From this fund emergencies can be met like paying to get to the hospital, funeral expenses etc. A key component of each meeting is health education – talking about relevant issues such as HIV, TB, legal access to government services. The concept of the Village Savings Fund is a great one, and it has worked well in many other places in Africa, and also here in South Africa. We are taking it to the people and hitting the dependency syndrome right on the head with it. We are sure that once the first group of Village Savings Fund participants have gone through the cycle and they can see the tangible benefits, then they will become advocates for it and recruit others.
Monday 15 June 2009
Opening doors with donation of medical supplies
Product Donation from Smith & Nephew and GlaxoSmithKline
Project Hope is known for its ability to effectively procure and distribute needed medicines and medical supply donations with high levels of accountability. We call this Gifts-In-Kind or GIK for short. It can act as a great introduction when one is beginning work in a new country.
In South Africa the Ministry of Health spends the largest portion of its budget on procuring drugs and medical equipment for the country’s patients. Therefore any donations are very welcome, and in fact are relied upon to make sure that the people living in South Africa have access to healthcare when they need it.
Project HOPE UK had been working for a number of months to get product valued at £200,000 (more than $293,000) from S&N and GSK to South Africa. After a few weeks on a ship and it passing through customs it arrived at our container warehouse from where it is being stored and distributed throughout West Rand to NGOs and clinics benefiting the community which we serve. Some of the items include peak flow meters, blood pressure monitors, scales, blankets, tissues, gloves, crutches, bandages and more.
To show our appreciation we had a ceremony inviting the South African representatives of GSK and S&N as well as the Executive Mayor of West Rand District, representatives from the West Rand Ministry of Health and other NGO beneficiaries including our partner The Haven.
Project Hope is known for its ability to effectively procure and distribute needed medicines and medical supply donations with high levels of accountability. We call this Gifts-In-Kind or GIK for short. It can act as a great introduction when one is beginning work in a new country.
In South Africa the Ministry of Health spends the largest portion of its budget on procuring drugs and medical equipment for the country’s patients. Therefore any donations are very welcome, and in fact are relied upon to make sure that the people living in South Africa have access to healthcare when they need it.
Project HOPE UK had been working for a number of months to get product valued at £200,000 (more than $293,000) from S&N and GSK to South Africa. After a few weeks on a ship and it passing through customs it arrived at our container warehouse from where it is being stored and distributed throughout West Rand to NGOs and clinics benefiting the community which we serve. Some of the items include peak flow meters, blood pressure monitors, scales, blankets, tissues, gloves, crutches, bandages and more.
To show our appreciation we had a ceremony inviting the South African representatives of GSK and S&N as well as the Executive Mayor of West Rand District, representatives from the West Rand Ministry of Health and other NGO beneficiaries including our partner The Haven.
Tuesday 9 June 2009
Our programme site in South Africa
As you can see from the picture we are based at the moment out of a container office in the middle of a township called Munsieville. Munsieville’s most famous resident was the Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Nobel Peace Prize Winner) who went to school there. Munsieville is situated in the Mogale City Municipality and the West Rand District of Gauteng Province, South Africa. The whole area has been a target for African population movement over the last few decades drawing people from all over the continent to come work in the mining industry. At the peak of the “gold rush” many immigrants (predominantly males) found lucrative work, and over time brought their families from their home countries. However, with the downscaling of the mining industry, thousands of people have become unemployed. Formal rates of unemployment exceed 30%, with estimates up to 70% for the informal settlements. This is continuing with the shedding of jobs due to the current global financial crisis. With the rapid rise in food prices and tightening of credit availability, thousands of people are facing increased hardship. Even though many immigrants are now facing unemployment, the majority are not returning home, but staying in South Africa, as they have been in the country for many years.Munsieville has two parts – a formal part and an informal part. In the formal part many South African residents live in low cost concrete houses to which services such as water and electricity are supplied. The informal part is made up of predominantly foreigners living in the country illegally – mainly Mozambicans and Zimbabweans. They live in shacks made from scraps of wood, plastic and metal. They have no electricity, water or sanitation services provided. Disease is prevalent in the area and unemployment is high. As they are in the country illegally many cannot access any form of healthcare, education or social service grants because they have no formal identification documents.If you want to read more on the history of Munsieville you can follow the link: http://www.mogalecity.gov.za/visitors/townships.stm
Keep on checking this blog to see how Project HOPE is meeting some of the many needs in this area!
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