GIJIMA KZN PARTNERSHIP PUSHES BACK THE FRONTIERS OF POVERTY

KwaZulu-Natal - April 3, 2007

A R5.5million South Coast sugar cane farming project which is set to create thousands of jobs and result in a R28-million community financial boost, is the first beneficiary of a newly formed partnership aimed at driving local economic development in the province.

ABSA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the KZN Department of Economic Development (DED) in Pennington on the South Coast today to partner the department’s European Union-funded Gijima KZN Local Economic Development (LED) Support Programme.

Since its inception in 2003, Gijima KZN has focused largely on identifying projects with maximum potential to alleviate poverty, but which are economically sustainable in the long term.

Addressing the guests, who included the financial sector and beneficiaries of the project, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Dr Zweli Mkhize lauded financial institute, ABSA today for its commitment to pro-poor local economic development in the government’s campaign to eradicate poverty in the province.

Dr Mkhize said: “The principal role of provincial and local government is to create an enabling environment within which local economies can grow and prosper. It is the role of the private sector to take advantage of the opportunities afforded to stimulate and invest in the emergence and growth of competitive and sustainable enterprises and jobs.

“The MoU concluded with ABSA, being the second one signed with a large financial institution, once again demonstrates the confidence that private sector has in government’s initiatives in developing a pipeline of financially viable projects to stimulate the local economies of the province.” He added the MoU signaled a positive response to the call to action by the Premier during the State of the Province address earlier this year, to “build the economy through partnerships”.

“Not only has Government, through the GijimaKZN programme, successfully pushed back the frontiers of poverty, it has also pushed forward and expanded the financial access frontier by successfully leveraging R22 million from private sector investment.

“ABSA, an excellent good corporate citizen supporting sustainable business in KwaZulu-Natal, is lauded for its commitment to narrowing the divide between the rich and the poor and partnering government in its initiatives.” Ranveer Persad, DED Gijima KZN Programme Manager said: “The essence of LED is that it must be driven by local stakeholders acting in partnership across government, business and civil society. The economic participation and empowerment of communities and workers is another critical dimension of LED.

“More than 80 percent of R138 million grant funds have been allocated to local economic projects in KwaZulu-Natal which, has significantly contributed towards alleviating poverty in KwaZulu-Natal.

“The lack of access to finance remains one of the greatest obstacles to economic growth and entrepreneurial ventures. This MoU, therefore, is significant in creating financial access to new market entrants.”

Persad said the approval of funding for the Sezela project was a clear example of the benefits of the importance of such partnerships in promoting pro-poor local economic development.

“ABSA’s partnership is a positive endorsement in Gijima KZN as a vehicle for local economic development to strengthen the LED environment by implementing projects which promote sustainable economic growth, investment and skills development.”

Ike Nxedlana, ABSA General Manager Public Sector, said: “As a provider of finance to BEE enterprises and SMEs, ABSA is intent on contributing to broadbased black empowerment objectives of the government.

“We are fully supportive of Gijima KZN’s objectives and programmes and are cooperating with the DED to provide finance to designated applicants in terms of our lending criteria.”

The MoU identifies mechanisms and processes through which the Department of Economic Development and ABSA will co-operate in the process of project generation, evaluation and financing.

Links to other speeches:

Dr. Charles Reeve's Gijima speech ABSA
Ike Nxedlana SPEECH - ABSA-KZN
MEC Dr. Mkhize’s Speech

A series of interactive funding workshops will be held in KwaZulu-Natal to address the difficulty of previously disadvantaged entrepreneurs to attract financial investment required for sustainable economic development, alongside the established and regulated economy.

Gijima KZN, the European Union-sponsored support programme of the KZN Department of Economic Development, together with partner financial institutions, has embarked on a project to financially assist existing and emerging entrepreneurs who have viable business plans for implementation.

Over the next few months, five road shows will cover the 10 district municipal areas in KwaZulu-Natal. A pilot road show will be held in Ugu district and thereafter workshops will be held for the Umgungundlovu/Uthekela, Amajuba/Umzinyathi, Umkhanyakude/Zululand and Uthungulu/Ilembe districts.

The MEC for Economic Development and Finance, Dr Zweli Mkhize, will interact with entrepreneurs at one of the roadshows to better understand their aspirations and the challenges they face.

Addressing a media briefing today (August 28), General Manager of Gijima KZN, Ranveer Persad, said one of the main objectives of Gijima KZN is to leverage additional private and public sector funding for projects approved for implementation.

"This objective is being realised through the Funding Forum established in 2005 comprising financial institutions that fund Local Economic Development Projects in KwaZulu-Natal.

"The Funding Forum is a platform to optimise, strengthen and forge partnerships and joint ventures in recognition of the need to promote private and public synergies toward the objective of local economic growth and development."

Currently the Funding Forum comprises ABSA, Development Bank of South Africa, FNB, Industrial Development Corporation of SA, Ithala Development Bank, Khula Enterprises Finance Ltd, National Development Agency and Standard Bank.

Persad said while the Gijima KZN programme funds 70 percent of a project to encourage sustainable partnerships, a majority of applicants have not been successful in securing the additional finance.

"With this initiative we hope to try and plug that gap by introducing entrepreneurs to other funding institutions which offer different financial instruments. There is a general lack of awareness and information about the financial products and assistance offered by financial institutions and how to access these funds.

"This is why it was decided to harness the collective strength of private-public partnerships by embarking on Funding Forum road shows to assist in unlocking the huge potential for economic upliftment and jobs creation.

"The Funding Forum has identified a need to stimulate additional awareness of the various Local Economic Development funding programmes offered by the financial institutions."

The Funding Forum roadshow is an inter-governmental initiative, central partners being Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs (DLGTA), District and Local Municipalities, and Government and Communication Information System (GCIS).

Use is being made of the DLGTA’s Thusong centres to ensure that this roadshow is held in venues in the heart of the targeted areas. Applicants will be linked to GCIS which will be hosting economic opportunity and information dissemination workshops.

Prior to the road shows, applicants will be required to fill in a questionnaire which will provide the financial institutions with relevant information. The Funding Forum will meet to identify those applications which satisfy funding criteria.

Thereafter, meetings with successful applicants will be scheduled during the road show with the aim of matching feasible projects to the relevant public and private financial institutions.

Applications are open for entrepreneurs who wish to participate in the workshops in the Ugu and Sisonke districts, with a closing date of 18 September 2008.

Click here to download the application form.

The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Economic Development and Standard Bank goes a long way in strengthening the relationship between government and financial institutions in our country.

Lack of access to finance remains one of the greatest obstacles to economic growth and entrepreneurial endeavour in South Africa. For years, government has been challenging the financial sector to play a more proactive role in facilitating financial access to new market entrants.

The European Union-funded Gijima KZN Local Economic Development(LED) Support Programme has provided an opportunity for Standard Bank to fund local economic development projects in KwaZulu-Natal, with a strong emphasis on historically disadvantaged communities.

Since its inception in 2003, Gijima KZN has focused largely on identifying projects with maximum potential to alleviate poverty, but which are economically sustainable in the long term. The thoroughness with which projects are assessed in Gijima KZN, together with the technical assistance offered to applicants during project application and implementation, has provided comfort for the Standard Bank. The MoU also underlines the Bank's recognition that projects supported by the Gijima KZN programme have a stronger chance of realising sustainability.

Gijima KZN funds partnership groups with up to 70 percent of the costs of implementing sustainable local economic development projects in areas outside of the Ethekwini Municipality but within KwaZulu-Natal.

In order to access funding, project applicants are required to raise the remaining 30 percent of project costs themselves. They have to do this either through their own finance or by raising these funds from financial institutions.

By coming on board, Standard Bank has underlined its confidence in Gijima KZN as a vehicle for local economic development in the province.

“This MoU is our way of re-enforcing the commitment we made when we signed the Financial Sector Charter, which will among other things, help emerging enterprises gain access to financial services, leading to job creation.” Mpumzi Pupuma, Standard Bank’s Provincial Director for KwaZulu Natal, says.

He added that Standard Bank recognised the importance of "delivery through partnerships and had therefore agreed to co-operate for the purpose of assisting the projects approved by the DED to qualify for loan facilities from the bank."

The MoU identifies mechanisms and processes through which the Department of Economic Development and Standard Bank will co-operate in the process of project generation, evaluation and financing. It is important to note that all projects which are submitted for financing through Standard Bank will have to satisfy the banks lending criteria.

MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Dr Zweli Mkhize, welcomes the agreement as a positive development for local economic development within the province.

"Direct private sector investment and additional loan finance are two important barometers to test the potential success and sustainability of economic development in a market-based economy. If entrepreneurs are willing to provide their own funds, or banks are willing to advance finance, they have carefully assessed the risk of, and return on investment. Equally important, the leveraging of additional finance demonstrates the commitment to build partnerships in the process of growing our economy," Dr Mkhize says.

"With respect to local economic development, access to funding for those partnerships and projects that have been generated by the Gijima KZN Programme is a critical aspect of ongoing sustainability of a programme of this nature after European Union funds have been expended" a delighted EU Ambassador Lodewijk Briet, commented.

Contact details:

Mr. Ranveer Persad
General Manager
Local Economic Development
Department of Economic Development

persadr@kznded.gov.za
031- 310 5484
0823094433

Mr. Errol Stewart
Director: Business KwaZulu-Natal
The Standard Bank of SA Ltd

Errol.stewart@standardbank.co.za
031- 366 3005
0836319275

Eighteen previously unemployed people from two districts in the Ladysmith area are earning livelihoods from the Ladysmith Emnambithi Aloe and Berg Tea Project which has received R1,3-m funding from the European Union-funded Gijima KZN Local Economic Development Support Programme.

The project proper kicked off at the beginning of 2007 following a pilot programme implemented in 2005.

The Ladysmith Municipality has made available a site which is presently being renovated to accommodate a processing factory.

Lucy Coelho, Capacity Building team member, said the first tranche of EU funding to the amount of R418 000 was received in February 2007. About R300 000 has been used to renovate the building, to purchase a light delivery vehicle and to buy equipment for the processing plant. Production will commence in October 2007.

The aloe (aloe marlothii) and berg tea (athrixia phylicoides) plants are well known for their medicinal properties, especially for immune support and cell regeneration.

The plants are presently being wild harvested under the careful supervision of KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife and in keeping with conservation best practice. In time to come, land will be identified for cultivation of the plants.

The factory will process cosmetic creams, health tonics, soaps and other health and beauty products from the plants.

Ms Coelho said in addition to being trained in the making of the products, the 18 beneficiaries will also receive training in administration, environmental management, HIV/Aids education, computers and marketing.

Contact details:

Simeka TWS Communications

(031) 203 9800

Gil Harper: 082 434 5874
gilh@stws.adcorp.co.za

Thesan Naidoo: 082 493 9717
thesannai@stws.adcorp.co.za

Background to Monitoring Under the Gijima KZN Programme

In the context of the Gijima KZN Funds, monitoring is a continual process for the collation of information. This is then used to inform the management of the Gijima KZN processes and/or project activities and can be used to affect the outcome of the process or project. Monitoring is an essential part of project implementation and offers benefits for all partners. In order to generate these benefits it is important that monitoring is carried out in partnership by everyone involved. This monitoring regime ensures; that lessons are learned from previous experience; that management systems are developed and improved thus enhancing the quality of projects; that there is accountability for the Gijima KZN Funds accessed; and that value is added to projects. It is essential that the monitoring approach at the project level identifies areas where the project may be underperforming in order to plan appropriate corrective actions.

Under the Gijima KZN LED Programme this monitoring responsibility takes a variety of forms – in particular there is the formal reporting through the submission of progress reports supplemented with the monitoring visits from the Monitoring and Evaluation Team.

These monitoring visits have been viewed in a positive light by beneficiaries and the institutions responsible for managing and implementing grants under the Gijima KZN Programme. These visits allow for reflection and amendments in the delivery of the project. The earlier that remedial action can take place the better chance that a project can be delivered to meet the original objectives.

The Monitoring and Evaluation team are looking to record the practices of implementing the projects in order that relevant conclusions are drawn and lessons regarding good practice and common mistakes can be shared with Grant Beneficiaries, the Contracting Authority and all of the stakeholders who have an interest in pursuing local economic development objectives.

To date, the Monitoring and Evaluation team have conducted monitoring visits to over fifty projects. In the following sections we describe some of the findings that have emerged in the monitoring visits and the implications for the effective management of projects under the Gijima KZN Programme. The findings are grouped into a number of headings that coincide with particular stages of project management.

Contract Management

As part of the contracting process the grant beneficiaries are required to complete activity schedules. These are the opportunity for the grant beneficiary to review the application that was submitted and denote appropriate timescales for the execution of the activities proposed in their application. The grant beneficiaries display wide differences in their understanding of this project planning and management tool and this has seriously impacted on their abilities to implement the project effectively. Often this planning and monitoring tool is not utilised to its full potential. This has been a contributory factor in a number of projects seeking extensions to their implementation period.

Grant Beneficiaries are increasingly demonstrating an understanding of the requirements of their role as project manager in the implementation of the Gijima KZN projects. There is a clear increase in the capacity of some grant beneficiaries to adequately manage their service providers. Grant beneficiaries are demonstrating their ability to convene appropriately constituted project steering committees and to engage with their service providers in critically appraising the technical reports from the projects.

There has been a high incidence of projects where grant beneficiaries have an agreement or contract with their service provider that does not allow for the effective execution of the project tasks or for the appropriate remedial action to be effected when required. This is an area where grant beneficiaries have required assistance from the Gijima KZN team. A critical recommendation that has been acted upon by a number of GBs is ensuring that a service level agreement between the grant beneficiary and the service provider reflects the same contractual obligations that the grant beneficiary has to the Gijima programme. This has proved to be an effective and useful tool and results in the service provider having their invoices paid on the basis of outputs that are consistent with the project’s objectives and activity schedule and that the outputs comply with a Gijima KZN quality threshold.

One element of the project implementation that can be overlooked is the matching of the discrete project activity to the specific member of the project team. It can be observed that where there is a clear adherence to the individual member of the proposed project team undertaking their allotted activities, then this has a marked impact on the quality of the outcome from the project i.e. the team was composed of appropriately qualified individuals who have performed their tasks, rather than one member of the team substituting for the identified expert and becoming a “jack of all trades”.

The Gijima KZN evaluation system undertakes a thorough assessment of the capacity of the organisation to manage the implementation of the project. While the assessment may be positive at the time of the application it is common for changes in personnel, among other things, to have a dramatic impact on the capacity of a beneficiary organisation to undertake effective management of the implementation of the project. The most common manifestation of this lack of capacity is the delayed implementation of activities, limited or non-existent reporting and the production of sub standard reports and project outputs. Unfortunately, due to the constraints that some grant beneficiaries experience in relation to project management capacity it is occasionally the case that progress on the project’s implementation proceeds at a pace determined by the service provider. Where the service provider is adhering to the agreed implementation timetable in the activity schedule this operates well although capacity within the service provider community is on occasion stretched and this can hamper the implementation of the projects too.

Another feature of the grant beneficiary dealing with the rigours of the EU system is that there have been lapses in the correct management of the processes of changing members of the project team. These changes have often taken much longer than is necessary and on some projects it has taken a number of attempts to get a replacement team member whose skills are appropriate to the project tasks.

Financial Management and Record Keeping

One area of the project management that is a common weakness is the project manager’s ability to understand and manage the financial aspects of the project. It is common practice across the Gijima KZN projects for the finances to be viewed as a discrete element of the project; almost detached from the project itself. It is regarded as the domain of the finance department/finance specialists within the grant beneficiary organisation rather than an integral part of the project manager’s portfolio. While there are appropriate checks within the systems to ensure financial probity e.g. internal controls and the external audit of the project; there is disconnect between the understanding of the activities and outputs of the project and the financial resources expelled in the pursuit of these and the project’s objectives. This disconnect can result in unnecessary delays in closing the project out as a result of the audit process taking an inappropriately lengthy time while financial records are reconciled with project activity. The areas that frequently require attention are accounting for the non-EU element of the project’s expenditure (the contribution from the grant beneficiary) and in particular the identification and verification of the in-kind expenditure. While these aspects can be dealt with through the finance department, without a hands-on understanding of the workings of the project’s finances by the project manager there is the danger that invoices submitted by the service provider for work done may not be fully interrogated for value for money. In addition, there is the risk that projects will not record expenditure consistent with the Gijima KZN grant rate on the project or that they may not spend in accordance with the principles of good project management but rather may exhaust the project budget for the sake of it. In the monitoring visits conducted where there is completed activities there is very little occurrence of underspends on the project.

Reporting on Project Activities

One attribute of the implementation of the Gijima projects that has been observed is the great number of grant beneficiaries that have welcomed and embraced the requirement to adhere to systematic planning, reporting and monitoring. A number of grant beneficiaries have reported that while they have had to invest resources (both time and money) in improvements, that this has had an enormously positive effect improving the skills of their staff and their institution’s systems to facilitate successful project management and implementation.

For a number of reasons (inappropriately composed activity schedules, project management capacity, etc) the reporting of the status and progress on individual projects has not always been consistent with the expected reporting requirements of Gijima KZN. The requirement for quarterly monitoring returns has proven to be a challenge for some grant beneficiaries.

It is common across all projects for the reports to Gijima to contain the relevant outputs of the project to date. Often these outputs are the technical reports received from the service provider in their revised form following the inclusion of relevant inputs from the project manager from the grant beneficiary and/or the project steering committee.

Despite the variations in the complexity of the projects; variations in the ability of the grant beneficiaries to manage their projects; variations in the competence of the service providers to deliver quality outputs; and variations in the direct implementation support offered by the Gijima KZN team; it is a feature of the Gijima KZN programme that a very limited number of projects have operated to the timetable detailed in the approved application (or that confirmed in the Activity Schedule completed during the contracting phase). The vast majority of projects have applied for an extension to the project implementation period. This characteristic of the programme may indicate that the timescales for the implementation periods under the various funds may be considered to have been too ambitious.

At the stage of the completion of the project, grant beneficiaries are expected to complete final monitoring reports that are accompanied by the expected outcome of the project e.g. business plan. This is universally being adhered to and in addition, within the final report, the grant beneficiaries are consistently detailing the challenges the met and overcame in the project’s implementation; the deviations that they took from the original project implementation activity schedule and the lessons that they learned in implementing the project. These individual lessons learned at the project level are systematically being recorded and will form a fundamental component of the overall evaluation of the Gijima KZN programme.

A number of projects under LCF IMP have a mentoring component as a deliberate design feature which is operating well. It is positive to observe the unexpected or unintentional mentoring and transfer of skills between the service provider and the grant beneficiary that is occurring in a number of BEF and LCF CAP projects.

16 August 2007

The Inina Craft Agency in Eshowe, a Gijima KZN funded project, has empowered 150 rural women who have generated R350 000 in sales over the past year.

Orders totaling a further R150 000 are also in the pipeline, raising total turnover to the original R500 000 grant amount received from Gijima KZN.

Gijima KZN, a partnership between the European Union, which has donated R300 million to the six-year project, and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, which administers the fund, has recently approved a further R460 000 for a marketing campaign that will help ensure the sustainability of Inina when its funding period ends in 2008.

Recipients of Gijima KZN funding must provide at least 30 percent of the project funds, either from their own pockets or from financial institutions such as Standard Bank and ABSA, with which the provincial government has Memorandums of Understanding.

Inina's sales were boosted by an order for 2 000 conference bags for the International Surgeons Conference in July 2005.

Research shows that the money the women have earned by working at home, which accounts for a third of their household income, is spent mainly on improved nutrition and education.

Inina has also secured a number of corporate customers, including Nedbank and Turner's Conferences, as well as several government departments.

Thandazile Magubane, the Inina Crafts Agency manager, said on Friday that Gijima KZN had helped empower local leadership and taught them vital business skills. “We now have a telephone, a PC, fax, copier, printer, email and ADSL,” she said. “It's just like heaven.

“We are able to source most of what we need on our own and because we can order over the phone straight from the producers we are able to negotiate prices and market ourselves directly to corporates.

The office is staffed with a manager and an assistant and a financial system has been installed.

A market and order database have been developed, in strong contrast to the way the women, who used to belong to five different craft groups, used to sell their crafts from the side of the road.

A presentation to Nedbank executives in Johannesburg proved to be an exciting sink or swim adventure for the project leaders. The experience has had a remarkable impact on their personal growth.

Lodewijk Briet, the EU Ambassador to South Africa, said he was “deeply satisfied” to see how these women had managed to get together and adapt to a business environment that provided them with a sustainable livelihood.

The Ford Foundation, which has donated R1 million to research on rural enterprises, is another key funder of Inina. A further R250 000 has been donated by the Karl and Emily Fuchs Foundation.

Gijima KZN is due to end in 2009 but the EU is having discussions with the KwaZulu-Natal government about the future.

Contact details:

Simeka TWS Communications

(031) 203 9800

Gil Harper: 082 434 5874
gilh@stws.adcorp.co.za

Thesan Naidoo: 082 493 9717
thesannai@stws.adcorp.co.za

KwaZulu-Natal - April 3, 2007

A R5.5 million South Coast sugar cane farming project which is set to create thousands of jobs and result in a R28-million community financial boost, is the first beneficiary of a newly formed partnership aimed at driving local economic development in the province.

ABSA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the KZN Department of Economic Development (DED) in Pennington on the South Coast today to partner the department’s European Union-funded Gijima KZN Local Economic Development (LED) Support Programme.

Since its inception in 2003, Gijima KZN has focused largely on identifying projects with maximum potential to alleviate poverty, but which are economically sustainable in the long term.

Addressing the guests, who included the financial sector and beneficiaries of the project, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Dr Zweli Mkhize lauded financial institute, ABSA today for its commitment to pro-poor local economic development in the government’s campaign to eradicate poverty in the province.

Dr Mkhize said: “The principal role of provincial and local government is to create an enabling environment within which local economies can grow and prosper. It is the role of the private sector to take advantage of the opportunities afforded to stimulate and invest in the emergence and growth of competitive and sustainable enterprises and jobs.

“The MoU concluded with ABSA, being the second one signed with a large financial institution, once again demonstrates the confidence that private sector has in government’s initiatives in developing a pipeline of financially viable projects to stimulate the local economies of the province.”

He added the MoU signaled a positive response to the call to action by the Premier during the State of the Province address earlier this year, to “build the economy through partnerships”.

“Not only has Government, through the GijimaKZN programme, successfully pushed back the frontiers of poverty, it has also pushed forward and expanded the financial access frontier by successfully leveraging R22 million from private sector investment.

13 August 2007

Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal minister of economic development, Dr Zweli Mkize, and the portfolio committee, have agreed in principle to provide additional funding from 2009 to 2012 for local economic development (LED) projects when European Union (EU) funding ends in 2009.

Ranveer Persad, the general manager of the LED Gijima KZN programme programme, said on Friday that this would help ensure the sustainability of the 182 projects that have been launched in Kwazulu-Natal.

“We are just waiting for the final proposal so that the amount can be worked into the government budget,” he said.

The EU is the single biggest donor to South Africa and will donate R10 billion in aid in the new budget cycle from January 2007 to December 2013, amounting to about R1.3 billion a year.

Gerry McDonald, the monitoring and evaluation manager of Gijima KZN, which falls within the department's local economic development (LED) programme, said the partnership between the European Union, which has donated R300 million to the six-year project, and the department of economic development, which administers the fund, had entered its fifth and final phase last month and that the full amount had been allocated.

“For all five funding rounds, in excess of 500 proposals have been received in total, with approximately one-third of these approved,” he said. “To be funded, the quality of the projects has to be very high as the selection process is extremely competitive. To date the approved projects have grants awarded of R95m with the contribution to the project budgets from the applicants totaling R40m. The projects we choose are those that are going to be the most effective in addressing economic development.”

However, the grant recipients must contribute at least 30 percent of the costs of the project, either out of their own pockets or from financial institutions such as Standard Bank and ABSA with which the department has Memorandums of Understanding.

The Inina Craft Agency in Eshowe, which was allocated R500 000 by Gijima KZN, has been so successful that it has generated R350 000 from sales in the past year and is processing orders for a further R150 000, making up the total original grant amount.

R409 000 has recently been approved to market the Inina project to help make it self-sustainable once the 6-month funding period comes to an end in April 2008.

Inina's products are made by 150 rural women in their homes and brought to the Agricultural and Credit Union Central Co-op Ltd Training Centre where they are marketed and sold. Revenue from the local and international sales is providing these women with a third of their total household income and research shows that the extra income is being spent on improved nutrition and education.

The Ford Foundation, which has donated R1 million to research on rural enterprises, is another key funder. The Karl and Emily Fuchs Foundation has also donated R250 000 to Inina.

The project is a co-operative of five groups which have joined forces to optimise their marketing and sales.

Duncan Hay, the project manager and a senior lecturer in the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Centre for Environment, Agriculture and Development (CEAD), said it had empowered local leadership and promoted significant personal growth.

“The women are developing effective business systems and an extensive business network,” he said.

HIV/Aids training has also been implemented as part of the pre-requisite for EU funding. Zululand has one of the highest incidences of HIV/Aids in the country and in Hlabisa, north of Eshowe, where UKZN has a research project, 50 percent of 23 to 27 year old women are HIV positive.

Lodewijk Briët, the EU Ambassador to South Africa, said the EU was the most effective international donor in helping governments implement their prevention and treatment campaigns.

Persad said the department would probably ask the EU for a two year extension to complete the implementation of Gijima KZN.

Briët said the EU would look upon the request favourably because of Gijima's success in promoting economic development on the ground.

“I am deeply satisfied to see how these women have managed to get together and adapt to the business environment, providing them with a sustainable livelihood,” he said.

Briët said the EU provided sector specific support because this was the best way to ensure the long-term sustainability of projects.

“I am very pleased with what we are doing,” he said. “One of the reasons for the success of Gijima is that we do not fund on a project by project basis but rather provide the KwaZulu-Natal government to manage and fund competitive and transparent calls for proposals. This, together with performance indicators, is more promising in terms of delivery and sustainable development. What we want to do is to ensure sustainability. We are particularly happy with the way things are going, especially in KwaZulu-Natal where there seems to be a higher capacity to follow through on projects that are funded by the EU.”

Briët said the EU had enjoyed good co-operation with the KwaZulu-Natal government and was having talks with it about the future.

Contact details:

Simeka TWS Communications

(031) 203 9800

Gil Harper: 082 434 5874
gilh@stws.adcorp.co.za

Thesan Naidoo: 082 493 9717
thesannai@stws.adcorp.co.za