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On 16 November the Household Food Security Programme
was launched in the Eastern Cape. It is an accredited
NQF level 5 training programme and is the result of
a collaborative partnership between the South African
Institute for Distance Education (Saide) and the Unisa
College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (UCAES)
and was funded by the WK Kellogg Foundation. Alice Barlow-Zambodla
provides a progress update.
The programme was initially piloted in the Eastern
Cape Province starting in September 2009. The pilot
continues with a second cohort of students joining the
programme in August 2010. There are approximately 650
students (in 25 groups) based at 20 delivery sites in
the
Eastern Cape Province plus one group of 18 in Pietermaritzburg
KZN. Fourteen new promoters have been appointed, some
of whom work with more than one group.
The programme
is designed in such a way that it involves several stakeholders
in its implementation. These include service providers,
community/household members, students and Unisa as programme
provider. As the pilot continues to unfold it has become
very clear that in order to firmly establish this community-based
intervention there is a need to have formal partners
in each of the areas where the programme is being implemented.
Many of the areas are rural and people have limited
access to facilities and resources. The formation of
strong partnerships and linkages between various community
development and other service providers provide the
support, mentoring, monitoring and physical resources
required to keep the planned intervention going even
after the students complete their training and start
working actively in their communities. Interested stakeholders
in these areas have helped in identifying potential
students, promoters and vulnerable households to be
brought into the programme as well as giving inputs
on the further refinement of the programme. Other stakeholders
have provided venues for the programme contact sessions.
The existing relationships are at present of an informal
nature but as the programme prepares to upscale and
expand into different provinces there is a need to establish
more formalized relationships through memoranda of understanding
to ensure accountability and consistency in the implementation
process.
An official launch of the programme was held at the
Osner Hotel in East London on 16th November 2010. The
launch was attended by several government and municipal
officials as well as representatives from NGOs and CBOs,
and also included some students and promoters on the
programme. The purpose of the launch was to further
sensitize people about the programme and to identify
potential partners interested in playing a role in future
programme implementation. Such partners would preferably
be involved in various community development interventions
that would benefit from the synergies created by the
programme’s alignment to various ongoing initiatives.
The launch generated a lot of interest and excitement,
especially so when the main speaker Mr Mncedisi Madolo
– Acting Chief Director Rural Livelihoods and
Food Security in the Department of Rural Development
and Land Reform told participants about their planned
Comprehensive Rural Development Programme. The Unisa
HFS programme is clearly well-aligned to contribute
to the provision of the human capacity required to successfully
implement these types of interventions as students who
successfully complete the programme will have the some
of the necessary skills and competences required to
participate in the programme.
It is planned that the programme will be implemented
in two more provinces during 2011. One of these is KwaZulu
Natal where an initial strategic partnership/stakeholders
workshop was recently held. Partners there will include
for the Department of Agriculture, the Water Research
Commission (WRC), Rural Integrated Engineering (RIEng),
a number of NGOs and CBOs plus some Further Education
and Training and Agricultural colleges.
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