contents Executive Summary
3
background
4
Introduction
4
Program Overview
5
Capacity Building and Documentation
5
the no longer vulnerable program july to december 2015
11
Program Achievements
11
Program Challenges
13
Lessons Learnt
14
Program Output Summary Analysis
15
Concluding Remarks
21
executive
summary It has been a long goodbye and in many ways this report represents the ‘real’ beginning of the end. July 2015 marked the start of Oxfam Australia’s final financial year in South Africa, and with it came the final grants, operational plan and a ramping up of the exit plan. This report attempts to capture and reflect on these key aspects of our work in the 6 months from July to December 2015.
The output summary findings build on the program narrative in this final phase. There were mixed results in this final period with many indicators decreasing or slowing down, some remaining constant and a few experiencing increases. In summary, the extension of No Longer Vulnerable program into this final 9 month period (July 2015 to March 2016) has allowed for partner programming to continue in communities for this time, as well as allow for adjustments in partner programs and organisations. Much has been achieved in this period and indeed throughout Oxfam Australia’s work in South Africa. Nevertheless, many challenges remain for South African households going forward of which civil society organisations play a crucial role.
This starts with a brief description of the current context in South Africa in order to set the backdrop for the final year. This is followed by a general Program Overview which gives special mention to the Re-Vision link and learn event held in November 2015. This is followed by a relatively extensive outline of the documenting and capacity building support given to partners over the last 6 months – both of these aspects being critical to our approach to partnership especially in this closing period.
A final abbreviated program report will be prepared for the January to March 2016 period and this will centre on partner organisations’ challenges as well as organisational sustainability and the continuation of Oxfam funded work.
We then delve into key highlights of partners’ work from July to December 2015. This pulls out program achievements such as stronger farmer co-operatives, greater integration of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in partners’ programs, and improved partnership building. Some of the key challenges on the other hand were mitigating against the drought being experienced across the country and connected to that climate change strategies, as well as organisational concerns around funding and succession. There were many lessons learnt that could not all be captured in this report; however, the key points discussed here include coping with change as an organisation, the approach to disability inclusiveness, and partners’ engagements around active citizenship.
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background Introduction
communities to poverty. Apart from the issues articulated above, domestic constraints and external headwinds arising from a fall in commodity prices and the slowdown of the Chinese economy are precipitating severe hardships.
This report is written during many key moments happening within the organisation and within South Africa as a country. The sentiments or expression of the state of South Africa at the time when we are closing our program is well captured by PACSA’s Director, Mervyn Abrahams in their PACSA eNewsletter (No.01 2016):
Unemployment has been arguably one of the serious challenges facing the country. The International Labour Organization (ILO) announced that South Africa’s unemployment will slip to 6th highest in the world by 2020. Currently the country’s position is 8th highest. Policy makers continue to ignore the fact that the South African education system impacts the future of many youths.
“Much has happened in the first few months of this year: the drought that SA has experienced and other factors such as the drop in the value of the Rand has meant that food price inflation has increased by more than 14% since November last year. The implication of substantial food price inflation in 2016 as well as above inflation increases in electricity tariffs are set to exacerbate the already severe affordability crisis facing households, already under enormous financial strain. PACSA has called for a national conversation to imagine a new economic model of dealing with our socio-economic challenges because we are moving from crisis to crisis and with each crisis the impact is more severe. As we begin 2016 various local and national struggles continue to dominate our public space. These include struggles such as anti-racism; the university student’s struggles which continue the #Fees Must Fall movement; workers struggles and local struggles around voice and democratic practice”.
Though Oxfam Australia is exiting all programs from South Africa, the beauty of the exit strategy included a component of sustainability of partners work. Thus many partners continued, and will continue, with their development efforts working with affected grass-root communities. All these facts show that unfortunately South African communities are becoming more vulnerable. This is the context we are ending the program in, and where our journey of struggles with partners, and in turn communities, also ends. Thus most Oxfam partner organisations have tried to strategically plan to continue implementing development projects with minimal funds. Their strategic planning included building on projects, as well organisational sustainability post Oxfam exit. These aspects included organisational fund raising, an increased level of co-ordination and collaboration of organisations at local and international levels, sharing good practices and new ideas. In this reporting period partners reported an increase in food security, WASH, advocacy strategies, valuable partnership linkages, and workshop attendance for linking, learning and sharing and networking to share ideas on addressing food security, livelihoods and sharing strategies for fundraising. In all programs, there has been tremendous progress towards the advancement and protection of women’s rights and recognition of gender roles. The “South Africa’s Beijing +20 Report”1 reflects that “there are major shifts in the status of women and conditions of women and that, to some extent, there is a narrowing of the gender gap however, there is generally a widening of the inequality gap between the rich and the poor”.
The social, economic and political landscape of South Africa over the last six months has indeed changed. President Jacob Zuma of the Republic of South Africa delivered the much anticipated State of the Nation Address (SONA) in February 2016 against the backdrop of an unstable currency. Moreover, other major challenges emerged, namely rising inflation, severe drought, increasing food prices, wasteful expenditure and political turmoil. Political unrest and pressure on the mining industry that continues to retrench workers rendering many heads of families jobless is worsening the vulnerability of South African
1
South Africa’s Beijing +20 Report: Progress made on the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Outcomes Document of the 23rd Special Session of the General Assembly in 2000, January 2015.
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The key message then is that Oxfam’s work with civil society in South Africa has come a long way but there are persistent and new challenges which our partners will need to take forward in 2016 and beyond.
These events were different in style, content, atmosphere and participation but all very memorable. One thing that was distinct about them was the appreciation partners have of Oxfam Australia and our Oxfam staff’s appreciation of partners. It was an opportunity to come together and have a moment to celebrate the good work done over the past 17 years. The Re-Vision events wanted to also highlight that though there have been great strides in the South African development sector, there are big issues that still need attention. Unfortunately, Oxfam Australia is pulling out at a critical and exciting time of development in South Africa. In the event in Cape Town the focus was ‘Hate Crimes’ looking at their context, structural linkages, responses, impacts and many others both on a personal and national level. The Durban event focused on the livelihoods theme and the Limpopo event focused on ‘Regaining Ground’ by looking at the health system in the country and especially in the Province as it was felt that losses needed to be regained especially relating to health and HIV. A full report on the Re-Vision events is available for further reading on request.
Program Overview In spite of the challenges mentioned above and the Oxfam closure, in the Durban office things didn’t slow down. The team continued operating at 100% in our programming and supporting partners. Two simultaneous plans were being implemented by the office; those being the NLV operational plan that includes all programs, and the change management plan which focused on the closing of the program, office and support to the staff. It has not been easy for the team but there was perseverance to still deliver the work well and close the office well. As usual, the program plan was ambitious with full support to partners who received a nine-month grant and with program management that included partner monitoring visits on programming and financial audits.
During this period, we were also able to continue support to partners and ensure a responsible exit through capacity building and documenting work outlined in the following sections.
Capacity Building and Documentation
In November 2014 the decision by Oxfam Australia in South Africa that the office will close in March 2016 was made, and this was supported by the team in Melbourne. This decision was important to the management and the team as it created certainty - it was clear that the closure was definite. This was also important to the partners though it was painful to everyone. Since the famous ‘road show’ in January 2015, mentioned in the July to December 2014 report, where we notified partners in different provinces and towns of the exit, the closure of the office and program gained momentum and has been in full-swing.
This reporting period was no different from the others as our programming continued to include documentation of our work and capacity building to partners. There was no slowing down in spite of program closing. This period was heavily documented with different processes that used a variety of methods. Below are some of these processes:
Two evaluations and a mid-term review were conducted
One of the key activities in both our operational and exit plan was the ‘Link and Learn’ event which was named “Re-Vision” and was held in month of November 2015. This link and learn resulted in three events (Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo) instead of one large one. This was due to circumstances that were beyond the Durban office’s control. The overarching objectives were: 1. 2. 3. 4.
• • • •
Reflect and celebrate the great work that has been achieved through the Oxfam funded partnership; Reflect on the current state of the development sector and especially within the provinces; Network, explore and deepen partner alliances and; Explore how partners can collaboratively engage with other civil society actors around government policies and processes going forward.
The No Longer Vulnerable (NLV) summative evaluation was to assess the end of phase of the program from July 2012 to June 2015. The Australia Africa Community Engagement Scheme (AACESS) - Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Program End of Program report was also conducted. Out of these two processes ‘learning notes’ are being written and will be widely shared with the exit report in the month of May 2016. The ‘Promoting and Protecting Human Rights of Sexual Minorities in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Pakistan’ Program mid-term review was completed during this period. Furthermore, the program was handed back to Oxfam Novib who is now working with OZA as the South African implementing affiliate.
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Partner Vignettes were completed
Our Final Publication came together
In late 2014 the work on the vignettes began in an effort to learn more about the work of the partners and to profile partners’ work as good practice in a unique and creative way. We then began the project of commissioning ‘20 vignettes’ to be documented.
The final publication was, and is, a proud moment during our last stages of programming and the closing of Oxfam Australia in South Africa. It has been an enormous and ambitious project that the team delivered in the difficult time of wrapping up the program. The final publication, which is now called ‘The Power is in People’, was an important milestone in our development experience. It allowed us, as development workers, to amplify our voices, share the wonderful lessons, experiences and complexities in doing development work in South Africa with different organisations that are diverse in terms of programming, size, geography and experiences.
Finally the collection of vignettes aptly named ‘Wisdom from Everyday Development’ can be accessed from the following link: http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/wisdomfrom-everyday-development-a-collection-of-vignettes-from-south-africa-600635. This collection of stories of change brings together various short vignettes from community based organizations in South Africa under five key themes (food security and livelihoods; active citizenship; gender and vulnerability; embracing community complexity; and partnerships) from program work in country.
As this ‘coffee table style’ book reaches its final phase before distribution in May 2016 it will be a wonderful gift from us to our partners and other civil society stakeholders in South Africa.
Key Learning Papers were written
Another exciting achievement by the office is that the global Oxfam Policy and Practice site hosts the various documents that the Oxfam Australia in South Africa office has produced over the years and is a great repository for development practitioners, researchers and people interested in learning about our work. The repository is free and open to all on: http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk
We are preserving our lessons
It was a proud moment when the core Oxfam team finished the writing of the learning papers. This was a brave undertaking from the team taking on this responsibility on top of other work. It was a great opportunity for the team to have been involved in the experience of documenting the work from their own perspective and to be able to share this with other people in the development field. These learning papers looked at: Integration, Gender and Vulnerability, Trust and Contestation, and the Integral Framework including the Oxfam Theory of Change.
The Umzi Wethu series has been finalised This was done with a summary document outlining research conducted on the socio-economic impacts of the Umzi Wethu programs. The series is available on the links below:
In addition to the learning papers written by staff, other pieces were commissioned to further capture: the Oxfam Australia in South Africa Partnership Model; our Capacity Building approach, the evolution of Oxfam and partners’ approaches to the HIV response in South Africa, how different partners have worked with government, meaningful consultation in the context of South Africa’s National Health Insurance (NHI) policy, and others.
• • •
An Extraordinary Journey: Umzi Wethu training academy for vulnerable youth http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/an-extraordinary-journey-umzi-wethutraining-academy-for-vulnerable-youth-322346 The Journey Continues: Umzi Wethu Training Academy for Vulnerable Youth http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/the-journey-continues-umzi-wethutraining-academy-for-vulnerable-youth-578596 Nurturing Through Nature: The socio-economic impact of Umzi Wethu on rural Eastern Cape communities - http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/nurturing-throughnature-the-socio-economic-impact-of-umzi-wethu-on-rural-easte-600637
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There are other exciting documents that are still in progress which will be completed by April/May 2016 •
Oxfam’s journey in South Africa: This document tells the story of the journey over the last 30 years, providing insight into the work of the various Oxfams that have contributed to development in South Africa. The document aims to capture our history and reflect back on the changes in context and approach to programming over the last few decades.
•
Stories of Change through the Australia Africa Community Engagement Scheme (AACES): This publications brings together a collection of stories from four AACES partners (Woza Moya, Tholulwazi Uzivikele, OneVoice South Africa and Save the Children in KwaZulu-Natal) around their work within their communities focused on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.
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The Triangle Project’s work with Gogos: Triangle Project has been working with two gogo groups (elderly women) in Paarl and Nyanga for many years. Through support in the form of a consultant, Triangle Project have documented the stories of some of these women and their families. The stories have been captured through interviews and images to support the work of Triangle Project.
•
Video Storytelling Evaluation: This was conducted with Oxfam staff, partners and service providers who have been a part of the video storytelling capacity building work over the last 5 years. The evaluation report is being summarised and will be distributed to partners within the month of April 2016. Interesting reflections on some of the successes and also challenges for partners, service providers and Oxfam were highlighted, as well as valuable recommendations for improving this kind of support were provided.
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Inner City Housing Learning Notes: Two learning notes have been developed from research conducted by a consultant. They are titled - Inner-City Housing Learning Note and Inner-City Housing Learning Note: Focus on Durban, and will be distributed to partners and other interested stakeholders.
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Capacity Building and Documenting Report: A consultant was contracted to conduct a series of interviews with partners, Oxfam staff and consultants involved in various documenting and capacity building processes over the last 17 years of Oxfam Australia’s work in South Africa. This document aims to outline the approach and learning emerging from our work and to share these with others. The document will be distributed to partners once complete and also be a part of the final publication produced by the South African office.
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Health-E: Health-e (http://www.health-e.org.za) is a media house for generating and publishing content relating to health and the health sector in South Africa. Oxfam has partnered with Health-e to generate stories from Oxfam partners and publish these on the Health-e website with the possibility of other media houses picking up and publishing these stories more broadly. One of the stories from Vhutshilo Mountain School was successful and has already been picked up by other news agencies http://www.health-e.org.za/2016/02/05/ goats-milk-changing-lives. Health24 and Webmail ran the story as well.
Building and strengthening partners continued to form a big part of our work through the various capacity building activities which took place. In this reporting period we continued providing this financial support in different ways. The following were some of the activities that took place:
Website support development The support to four partners around developing their own websites is nearing completion. The HIV/AIDS Prevention Group website (http://www.hapg.org.za) which went live in 2014 and has received good feedback from users. KwaMakhutha Community Resource Centre http://www.kmcrc.org.za received support to gather and generate content and their site is now current with new stories and information. Tholulwazi Uzivikele and KwaZulu Regional Christian Council are finalising their content and their sites should be live shortly; once content has been signed off and approved by the organisations.
Digital Influencing Following on from the ACCESS Digital Influencing event held in November 2014, two webinar series have been hosted with partners. The first was a 10 part series on social media platforms held in 2015. The second was focused on Data and how we use it, and it was held in March 2016. Both series are published on the Oxfam in South Africa Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/oxfaminsouthafrica) and the Digital Influencing blog (https://oxfaminsaaccess.wordpress.com).
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Trade Ongoing support and exchanges between trading partners continued and it has been exceptional with the three partners (Hillcrest Aids Centre; Woza Moya and Fancy Stitch) who are jointly learning and sharing ideas on the trading of their products. The celebration of the 50 crafters happened outside this reporting period in March 2016. This was a significant occasion for the women coming from different experiences and backgrounds to be brought together by the common art of crafts. At the event Hillcrest AIDS Centre hosted Fancy Stitch in launching their new botanicals range. The launch was well publicized and many people came through to meet the crafters and see the new range with good coverage from local media.
Sustainability activities with partners In this period, sustainability of partner organisations has been very critical in terms of strengthening their governance structures, fund raising, and identifying strategic networks that could further strengthened their work. Some of these activities might have happened in the July to December 2015 reporting period and others between January to March 2016 period. It is important that we highlight them in this report. Below are some of the extra initiatives we financially supported which were directly managed by the partners themselves. •
KRCC: Support was given to the organisation to build capacity of their staff and board on governance and sustainability. They looked at attending strategic events in some parts of the country to stretch their networks and partnerships where potential donors can be met and also visit different embassies in Pretoria.
•
Woza Moya: During 2015, Woza Moya underwent a process to design a new strategy and renew their principles and purpose within the organisation and community. It became apparent that as part of this process, the staff needed support considering these changes and the future of the organisation. A consultant assisted the team in understanding these changes and preparing for the future. This also included succession planning, strengthening of governance and preparations to form a new board are in place.
•
Exchange visits: A number of exchange visits took place during this time. One example is the visit between Woza Moya and Biowatch. Woza Moya needed to acquire knowledge from other successful food security and livelihoods projects and Biowatch served that purpose for them.
•
RAPCAN: Through the AACES program, additional funding was provided to RAPCAN to develop a case study reflecting on their work within the Oxfam partnership to institutionalise child safeguarding from 2012 to 2015. The case study is available.
•
SAVE the Children – Durban Office: The AACES program supported Save the Children with extra financial support to do a second publication. The aim of the publication was to capture the ‘voices’ of the many people who experienced change through the AACES program and Save the Children’s work in Wentworth, Durban. The publication is available.
•
Women on Farms: Additional support was given to Women on Farms to document and highlight the impact of ‘legal’ evictions of women farm workers and children. After 1994, a range of laws were introduced to protect and advance the rights of farm workers. One such law was the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA), introduced in 1997 to secure the tenure rights of farm workers and dwellers. However, two decades into democracy, evictions of significant numbers of South Africans from commercial farms continue even within the bounds of the law. A report will be provided by the partner in May 2016.
Other support to partners Additional financial support was provided to partners who made special requests. Below are a few highlights which were designed to further allow the organisations to strengthen their knowledge on certain aspects of their work; a clear example is that of PACSA. PACSA was supported in a Public Service monitoring learning exchange meeting. The PACSA team, having established a strong foundation of monitoring, was at the point where questions were starting to emerge regarding how their data can be best used to facilitate advocacy outputs. Out of that support on the 19th February 2016 PACSA facilitated a monitoring exchange conversation between four different organisations actively involved in monitoring public health clinics. The organisations included: The AIDS Legal Network (Cape Town), Project Empower (Durban), The National Health Insurance Research Team (Pietermaritzburg), and the Hilton Valley Health and Development Organisation (Howick). Additional support was given to PACSA to research the possibilities for Strategic Litigation and Advocacy. The organisation identified that it is necessary to expand its knowledge and competency base on the legal framework in which they work. This is in order to mainstream legal options in the areas of their work, as well as to explore how they could use the law as a strategy to open ‘closed spaces’ and advance their agenda of social change.
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Xenophobia response
Added to this, they were successful in reflecting and documenting their own WASH and Advocacy journey since the partnership with Oxfam began, which included the development of a DVD. For more information, please see their website: http://www.tree-ecd.co.za
After discussions with partner organisation Refugee Social Services (RSS), Oxfam decided to extend support for their response to xenophobic violence. As the volume of the immediate response had quietened, it was possible to offer support to the staff of RSS to individually and collectively reflect and debrief after the last few months – looking at areas for improved response and opportunities for greater prevention. Staff reported that this retreat was a much needed process and allowed them to acknowledge and address issues that had become apparent during the process of the immediate response.
Oxfam’s Value for Money approach was further refined with the finalisation of the Capacity Assessment case study which is also available on request. The South African Team supported the Zambian team in developing a publication which captured the Most Significant Change stories of the AACES program. This publication will be available for sharing.
Following the initial response, RSS found that they still had a number of clients that required rental, food grants (vouchers) as well as monetary support for vulnerable persons who do not qualify for South African state grants. Part of this support was funded by Oxfam through monies received from Oxfam Canada. A consultant was brought in to capture key stories and reflections from the response that could be used for future learning and awareness raising. Finally, as part of the support for livelihoods in the previous reporting period Oxfam funds were used for start up kits for those immediately affected. Following this, Oxfam went on to also support the development of entrepreneurial skills amongst members of the community.
The AACES Menstrual management research conducted in South Africa was extended to a number of new schools in rural areas of South Africa and Zambia. The research will provide key findings that can be referenced by the Development Sector when integrating issues and Menstrual Hygiene management in schools and communities in both South Africa and Zambia. This purpose of the research was:
AaCES activities In January 2016, the AACES partners met in Zambia for their final reflection meeting. The findings of the end of program report were shared by the consultant Margaret Roper and the partners and Oxfam staff took time to integrate the program’s theory of change in preparation of phase two of the program report.
I. II. III. IV. V.
To document the experiences of girls at menarche; To determine participants’ knowledge, practices and applications related to menstruation; To investigate participants’ perceptions about menstruation; To determine menstrual management practices in the identified schools; and To determine the extent of impact of the intervention by OneVoice in selected schools.
From all of the above, it is clear that firstly the South African context is currently in flux with many complex changes taking place in a variety of spheres. Secondly, it is evident that the Oxfam Australia team in South Africa were able to execute both their operational and exit plans effectively. Given that July to December 2015 was a time focused on exiting, particular highlights were shown from the capacity building and documenting aspect of Oxfam’s work with partner organisations.
Oxfam supported Equal Education in their campaign of improving sanitation conditions and hygiene in primary and secondary schools across the country but with particular focus on the provinces of Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Western Cape and KZN. The organisation made good strides in their campaigns. A full report with links to their media campaigns is available.
The next section of the report will introduce the work that has been carried out with 41 partners in terms of the achievements, challenges, lessons learnt, and the output summary numbers. A total of R 12,283,593.56 worth of grants (equivalent to AUD 1, 253,427.80) was given to partners in these last 9 months of operations. Comparing this to the last financial grant given, a cut of about R 6 million was made; the reason for this being that they were not funded for a full 12 months.
TREE were supported in their core program work to uphold the rights of young children in the Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector (in particular relation to WASH) leading to an improved quality of living for young children in the Sector. They have also been building the capacity of partners, communities and Government stakeholders to support and sustain these improvements. The partner was successful in improving the quality of ECD services provision to 2892 (the target was 1000) young children’s lives with particular emphasis on WASH services.
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Where we work
In terms of overall scale of the No Longer Vulnerable Program from July to December 2015, approximately 118 546 direct beneficiaries and 561 848 indirect beneficiaries were reached in this period. As with previous reports, the majority of those who benefitted were female: 63% of direct beneficiaries and 58% of indirect beneficiaries. It is also interesting to note that 51 275 young people between the ages of 19 – 35 years old directly benefited from the program. In terms of people living with disabilities, 980 were reported to have directly benefitted with a further 1883 indirectly benefitting from partners’ work.
As per the previous report, in the past 6 months Oxfam Australia has worked in partnership with 41 organisations across 4 provinces: KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Eastern Cape and Western Cape. The organisations are involved in a wide range of work but deal predominantly with issues in Health, Food Security, Livelihoods, DRR, Access to Rights, and WASH related programs.
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no longer vulnerable program
july to december 2015 Program Achievements
Women on Farms Project (WFP) reported significant achievements around their coopertives. In the Western Cape, the Ceres Cooperative is now registered with Food and Health Standards to enable them to sell their food preserves produced commercially, while they are also in the process of getting another certificate to sell their mushrooms. In the Northern Cape, women have started to implement the cooperative values by investing in their communities socially – they started a soup kitchen to assist families that were experiencing hunger. Both groups have started to expand their businesses. Further, WFP developed a monitoring and evaluation tool called the Food Tracker, for its food gardens. The tracker is used to collect information on production, consumption and income generation of the cooperatives. The Food Tracker is done after every harvest, as it is easier for women to recall information after the harvest. Most of the Food Security partner organisations up-scaled crop production from household consumption to emphasising sale of surplus. Working with people in remote areas where road infrastructure and transport is a problem hindered some of the smallholder farmers from generating income from their surplus produce. Thus strategies or models of marketing have been proposed and implemented among partner organisations. Siyavuna has implemented a modified model and now incorporates the marketing aspect and organisational sustainability strategies for co-operatives. The sustainability strategies are designed to make the co-operative run as a business that generates enough income to either break even or make a profit. The improvement of the model reinforces sustainability in view of shrinking donor funding.
There were a number of achievements in a variety of areas during this 6 month period, some of which are set out in this section.
Food Security and Livelihoods Most food security partners such as Biowatch, Farmer Support Group (FSG), Siyavuna, PACSA, WFSA, Operation Upgrade and HACT reported increased food security and adoption of new livelihoods strategies. Almost all the partners integrated food security into their HIV and AIDS programs by introducing food gardens. Significant numbers of beneficiaries that participated in awareness raising and capacity development workshops were reported by almost all food security partners. Biowatch together with farmers devised an agro-ecology compliance system where farmers get certified after passing all the set standards. In this period only 26 farmers were certified. The figure is lower than expected because of the high standards set. FSG reported increased awareness and capacity development of farmers. The organisation reported more farmer meetings and workshops in this period. One of the workshops funded by Oxfam Great Britain focused on climate smart agriculture. FSG’s workshop focused mainly on climate resilience towards climate change and the number of farmers that attended this training was 200. FSG trains farmers in both organic and conventional farming. In this period, more youth showed interest in agriculture and joined the farming groups. FSG reported that the youth age group are quick to adopt techniques and are fast learners.
Other models facilitated by other organisations such as Biowatch have started generating income. Biowatch promotes farming (agro-ecology) with minimum resources at household level. The Zimele and Pongola groups have generated income that is used for other non food items. Biowatch’s monitoring and evaluation report showed significant changes in livelihoods of households involved in agro-ecology. Some household heads testified that they were able to build new houses with the income generated from vegetables sales.
Due to increased awareness, capacity and knowledge in leadership skills, women in Okhahlamba municipality are taking a leading role in addressing food insecurity and nutrition despite the drought affecting the country. Through increased capacity and exposure at local and national level, women in Okhahlamba are able grow their food, and are confident to advocate for services from government.
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Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
Influencing work among WASH partners was highlighted as one issue partners may have to work around going forward. The interest shown in their sanitation project by organisations involved in school infrastructure has been overwhelming to Lima. Equal Education, Ilifa, Partners in Development and Create have all committed to visit the site.
Despite the continued challenges of drought in South Africa, the AACES program continued to be delivered through existing non-governmental partners across three programmatic areas of food security (improving access to water and food gardens), HIV and AIDS (supporting home based care activities) and child protection (ensuring early childhood development provision). During this period of Oxfam’s planned exit from South Africa, all AACES partners continued to engage in a number of processes and activities mainly to integrate and try to sustain ongoing community development programs. Some partners have engaged with each other - ensuring good programmatic collaboration. Partners reported developing joint funding strategies in order to ensure sustainability of their respective programs beyond Oxfam. The countdown to Oxfam Australia’s final exit from South Africa in March 2016 has now been received and accepted by all partners. Most continue to integrate their WASH-related initiatives with on-going projects.
Partnership, Networking and Advocacy On August 31, Biowatch’s work was published in the Daily News. The title of the article was “Putting food back on the table”. Biowatch also reported that in this financial year, 3 communities were able to get permission for the March against GMOs this year. In this reporting period partners organised their own linking, learning and sharing events, which is very encouraging for Oxfam’s way of working in partnership. FSG, for example, decided to address gender issues deeply, and together with AFRA held a gender equitability workshop. The information and knowledge that was obtained from the workshop will directly feed into FSG activities as they planned to have gender awareness and policy workshops in 2016. FSG networks and collaborates with the municipality. A company called STIHL showed interest in FSG’s work during one of the networking workshops.
The OneVoice South Africa (OVSA) team conducted a Menstruation Management workshop as part of their Main Stakeholders Meeting, including class representatives and Life Orientation Educators. Principals also took part in the workshop. The aim of the workshop was to highlight this relatively ‘hidden’ topic to the stakeholders as well as the importance of having sound Menstruation Management in their schools. OVSA remains focused on addressing WASH issues with the 4 pilot schools and continues its engagement with LO Educators on WASH. They keep on engaging with Department of Education also at district level to uphold their formal Memorandum of Understanding, informal and information sharing. Learners continue to demonstrate increased knowledge and understanding through OVSA’s workshops being conducted in schools for Grade 8 learners per school. They have obtained skills to translate knowledge to action by addressing critical WASH issues through the implementation of WASH specific Advocacy Projects that includes menstrual management.
Within WASH, strategic partnerships were reported across partners. Lima and Save the Children show cased the outcome of their collaboration in the development of an ECD rural toilet prototype. TU and CREATE reported hosting a disability indaba in Manguzi. Informal AACES partner joint collaborations and exchange visits continue to strengthen ways of working and partnerships. In South Africa the AACES partners continued to meet regularly on their own to review and learn from their WASH related activities. TU and Save the Children reported close cooperation in the implementation of the ECD forum model in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. This is likely to result in successful strategic collaborations.
Save the Children continued to implement a WASH program that contributes to the rights and needs of young children to benefit from accessing WASH practices and services to which they are entitled. They reported growing recognition of the importance of WASH across all the Crèche forums. There is a need to be flexible and innovative around WASH infrastructure at ECD centres. This however requires political buy in to secure the infrastructure needed. The rigid implementation of norms and standards around infrastructure impacts negatively on current efforts.
Towards the end of 2015, JAW launched its Womb campaign addressing cultural norms and practices and their impact on the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls. Themes that were covered included: Messages women receive about their sexuality; Who cares about women after marriage; Pressure put on women and young girls to get married, and Children born out of rape or extra marital affairs before marriage. Speaking about deeply entrenched cultural beliefs and practices proved to be complex since there were also power dynamics among the women themselves. JAW used role play and audio stories to stimulate discussions, organically building on themes. It was a major achievement when women engaged in discussions and deepened their understanding of ownership of their bodies. Using audio stories was an effective communication strategy to stimulate discussion, advocate for change, and build solidarity among women.
Oxfam AACES partners in South Africa were hosted by their Zambian counterparts in Livingstone, Zambia during the last and final Annual Reflection meeting in 2016. Emphasis of the meeting remained focused on end of program documentation, end of program evaluation, issues of sustainability, and opportunities for influencing work beyond Oxfam. Human interest stories were shared and some captured through various mediums. These stories will form part of attachments for the final AACES and evaluation report.
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Program Challenges
During this reporting period, RAPCAN continued its extensive use of media (digital / print, radio, Facebook, Twitter, website) as advocacy strategies to inform and educate stakeholders, partners and communities around the protection and participation rights of children. The advocacy work through campaigns and publications championed the work of RAPCAN in the fight against child abuse and promotion of rights of children. A major achievement as a result of this exposure was the nomination in September 2015 of the Executive Director as one of the South African National Planning Commissioners for the next five years. This means there is now an active voice on behalf of children on the NPC and this will influence policy. For RAPCAN, this means their reputation has been strengthened, and it acknowledges them as experts in this work.
Climate change remains a challenge for community livelihoods as it has negatively impacted access to safe drinking water, crop and animal production, as South Africa experiences the worst drought in 30 years. FSG reported that the drought of this year has rendered mitigation strategies difficult; however FSG continued with climate smart agriculture. Lima reported and acknowledged that the country has been dealing with a severe drought since the implementation of its program over 20 years. Most of Lima’s agricultural related projects have been severely impacted by drought. The dwindling funding streams among partner organisations pose a challenge in the effort to implement and facilitate the mitigation strategies such as agro-ecology and smart agriculture. Thus shortage of funds was reported as the main obstacle in learning and implementation of mitigation strategies against climate change.
Sustainability In this reporting period, partner organisations focused on organisational sustainability in the view that Oxfam is exiting at the end of the 9 month financial period. Partner reports revealed more networking, marketing of organisations’ work, updating of websites and fund raising strategies. Partners like FSG, Biowatch and RAPCAN went on to advertise the work of their organisations through media. The nutrition fair that was held in Msinga was broadcasted on the TV (ENCA, SABC News) and radio (SAFM, UKhozi FM). Some partners such as Biowatch have embarked on rigorous strategies to look for new donors. Biowatch reported that they might get funding from Bread for World in April 2016. They have submitted a proposal.
For WFP, climatic conditions and climate change play significant roles in the success of the cooperatives. The change in the weather recently has made it difficult for both cooperatives to produce to their full potential. Currently, the Northern and Western Cape are experiencing a heatwave, drought and water shortages. Agro-ecological methods for food production have the advantage of mitigating the effects of changing weather patterns. However, to enhance the capacity of cooperatives or women small farmers to adapt to climate change effectively, institutions like WFP have to lobby for support and resources that address issues of climate variability. The cooperatives have both identified the need to engage government on assisting small farmers to adapt to climate change and to demand the same drought relief assistance that is given to commercial farmers. It is crucial to remain mindful of the fact that farm workers do not have a “culture” of collectivism and autonomy on farms. They are accustomed to working for a farmer. To address this issue, co-ownership and co-responsibility are issues that constantly need addressing by WFP staff.
In South Africa, Oxfam continued to support strong community based initiatives through partners with active engagement of community interest groups involving men, women, youth and the traditional/ political leadership. Partners in their own ways of working reported various collaborations with stakeholders at the local community level. Oxfam program coordinators supported partners to build stronger linkages among partners and other stakeholders such as government and other civil society organisations to promote resilient households.
The distances between rural towns and farms, up scaled security by farmers, farmers claiming they have their own capacity building units and the fear of claimants to face paralegals, are some of the challenges faced by TCOE. However, the capacitating of paralegals has deepened their understanding on unfair labour practices, and legal action and processes were pending regarding the sale of land to commercial farmers. Ongoing work on strengthening farm workers and farm dwellers on their rights is part of TCOE’s mitigation strategies.
Reading from the reports, it was evident that the WASH, food and livelihoods, and gender issues are being incorporated into activities and are being integrated by the various organisations; therefore they are likely to be sustainable beyond Oxfam’s closure in 2016. Partners have started preparing for the post Oxfam partnership strategies. Most partner organisations embarked on fund raising strategies. During monitoring visits and discussions held with partner organisations it was revealed that they had accepted that the Oxfam partnership was coming to an end. Although most partners showed appreciation of the valuable role that Oxfam played during the years, they also expressed the great loss of a flexible donor that promoted innovations in addressing community vulnerability in South Africa.
The main organisational challenges experienced during the reporting period continue to be largely based on a lack of resources (both human and financial), and increasing demands and requests from communities and organisations for partner facilitated activities and processes. Some partners like Siyavuna, HACT, ALN, Triangle Project, Rape Crisis respond to community requests and needs by recruiting student interns to not only assist with community-based activities, but also to provide technical assistance to increase the resource base of the organisation; and to further strengthen the linkages across programs. Other partners form
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Partners such as RAPCAN have emphasised in their learning, the importance of applying monitoring and evaluation capacity development in the compilation of operational planning, program design and funding proposals to ensure adequate evaluations that showcase the work if set goals are achieved. Monitoring and evaluation results can be used as a tool to market the organisation for program upscale.
partnerships; for example, the KhULUMANI COLLECtIVE was formed between five organisations those being: CREATE, JAW, TU, KRCC, and GLN - for joint proposal writing for applications to the European Union (EU). Applications to the EU are never easy and for some of our partners this is their first time to apply to such a big donor. Though the application has gone through several stages, it is still uncertain if they will receive the funding. Limited donor funding is negatively impacting on performance of certain organisations that relied mostly on Oxfam funding. Organisations in this situation face the possibility of closing down post Oxfam. This fear of an unknown future has affected staff motivation and performance.
Disability Inclusiveness CREATE is working more closely with the uMfolozi municipality now and hope to get support from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to continue working on disability with the traditional leaders in the area. Although not funded by Oxfam, CREATE has worked extensively with traditional leaders in uThungulu in the last 6 months to build consciousness around disability. Several women with disabilities have been given land by traditional leaders whereas previously they were seen as perpetual minors. One chief has arranged a wheelchair for a teenager living with a disability and many chiefs are requesting workshops on this.
An organisational challenge to one partner is the impending resignation of its Director and the lack of skilled staff for succession planning. They need to employ to employ additional staff, and are attempting through their funding proposals to build this capacity within the organisation. As part of the Hate Crimes Working Group, Triangle Project was engaged in meetings with representatives of the Department of Justice at the end of 2015 to develop a draft Bill to present to the public – this has been delayed for many months and presents a barrier to finalising comprehensive hate crimes legislation. The organisation’s mitigation strategy is increasing its linkages with civil society, particularly with a rural focus and constituency bringing an LGBTI focus to previously neglected areas.
Community dialogue involving local traditional leadership, municipalities and government representatives were held to seek project buy-in as well as sustainable support for the initiated projects. Lima has also decided to invite CREATE to make suggestions regarding inclusive development in any new projects that they may be implementing. This will enable the inclusion of people with disabilities in the various projects.
It was reported that the translation of commitments and policies into practice remained a challenge for organisations such as ALN to achieve the much needed social environment for women (especially young women) to claim their agency, realise their rights, and access and benefit from available services free from stigma, discrimination, violence and coercion. Thus, ALN will continue using strategic platforms for messaging the gaps in implementation of policy.
Disability inclusivity was well reported by most partners. This speaks volumes to the impact that CREATE’s awareness workshops and processes across the partnership has had. Organisations such as Lima and TU highlighted a positive organisational focus around disability which resulted in the partners changing internal policies and general organisational culture to becoming more inclusive of persons with disabilities.
Lessons Learnt Organisational changes
All of this reinforces the approach used by Oxfam to enhance disability inclusiveness within the partnership in South Africa.
A critical (albeit obvious) lesson for Oxfam and partners during this exit has been that donor funding is finite and there is a need for partner organisations to maximise their potential for organisational and programmatic development areas, as well as the diversification of programs so as to remain responsive to grass-root needs and resilient in the face of funding cycles.
Active Citizenship Given the political landscape, and the multitude of challenges facing South Africa, an analysis of active citizenship within the Oxfam partnership illustrates a number of lessons.
Many partners have realised the importance of succession planning and developing staff to fulfill the Director’s position. For one partner, they realised that they will have a challenge when their Director resigns as there is currently no one within the staff to fulfill their duties of the director. When another partner’s Director moved, there was no one to fulfill her duties, thus the organisation has been struggling to fundraise for their development work.
Firstly, that raising consciousness is a critical but complex undertaking. The consciousness raising interventions continue to be around rights, responsibilities, general information about the challenges communities and partners experience. Such conscientizing interventions
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Program Output Summary Analysis
by partners are built on the premise that an informed citizen will exercise their agency and have the power to influence decisions that affect their lives. Refugee Social Services have indicated, for example, that the refugee communities they work with have become more aware of the documentation issues, as well as their rights and responsibilities. Further they are able to use the information to generate their own solutions, for example voluntary repatriation and resettlement issues.
Output Summary Overview The Oxfam Australia in South Africa office entered its closing financial year in July 2015. During this phase, the No Longer Vulnerable Program was extended by 9 months (July 2015 to March 2016). Oxfam and its partners continued with programming to reach the following objectives:
Partners were funded in the last six months to continue with their existing interventions, given that Oxfam Australia is currently exiting from South Africa and closing the No Longer Vulnerable Program. The mechanisms used to raise consciousness have not changed in the last six months. However, with the local elections drawing near, partners’ consciousness raising interventions are seen to be politicised. Woza Moya indicated that there is increasing frustration about the politicisation of public services and that this is exemplified in the way that the local Municipal Youth Program has become a recruiting process for the political party. Further, Project Empower indicated that their work on consciousness raising is being negatively impacted on because some community members believe that it is political campaigning.
1. 2. 3.
This was within the themes of : health; Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH); social protection; food security and livelihoods; and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), which are all highly interconnected, and were treated as such within the highly integrated approach to this work. A more detailed trend analysis for the No Longer Vulnerable program was conducted in the previous reporting period (January to June 2015) as this was the official end of the program. Furthermore, a summative evaluation on the program was conducted which draws together the narrative, numbers, and experiences of staff and partners and provides much greater depth into the impact of this program. This reflection on the final output summary numbers is more focused then on what has happened in this final extension period. It focuses on July – December 2015, and details partners’ results in this closure phase. It is also important to note here that the final January to March 2016 report will not contain output summary results.
Another key lesson is that people collectively organise themselves around what is important to them. This is becoming more evident as partners such as PACSA are noticing the shifts at a community level. Social cohesion appears to be threatened at a National level due to, among others, political intolerance and calls for the impeachment of the President. Such political instability has the potential to fracture communities and divide individuals in a time when solidarity and unity is required during the local elections. However, PACSA indicated that:
to improve health outcomes relating to HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and water related infections and diseases; to increase and sustain food security and livelihoods options available to households; and to increase and uphold access to social protection.
Political awareness is an integral part of their work. That this political awareness has increased is evident from the manner in which the Food Justice Collective (FJC) has connected the question of the struggle for food with the demand for human dignity and the search for alternative economic activities. The Electricity Action Group, another partner that works closely with PACSA, has initiated legal action against the municipality in order to achieve their objective of free basic electricity for poor households on pre-paid meter systems. They see their work as political in nature and the group consists mainly of women. The ability to connect, to think for themselves and speak in their own voice is political and the groups are beginning to see this connection not only over a particular issue but also in building solidarity.
Given the slowing of many indicators in the previous reporting periods, it was expected that the indicators for July – December 2015 would decrease. This could be as partners adjust their work in the light of Oxfam’s close which for some may mean beginning to close and/or hand over their programs, and decrease the size or change their approach to some of their work. We did find the drop in numbers and rates in certain instances for example a decrease in HIV Prevention programs, lower rates of increased access to appropriate sanitation, and less additional household and community gardens. However, we also noted increases in some indicators such as access to ART and TB treatment, additional people with access to appropriate hand washing facilities, and additional people receiving social grants with partner support. These increases in the closure phase could be the result of many organisational and contextual factors, but given our interactions with partners it is likely that these could reflect that partners are integrating these aspects into their other programming (and therefore are not downscaling in this close out phase), or that they have found another way or other partners to continue this work.
Many more of the lessons learnt are being gathered in much more detail through the various documenting projects outlined in the previous section. In understanding these successes, challenges and lessons within the six month narrative, it is equally important to highlight the quantitative output summary data gathered from partners which reflects many of these findings.
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No. of Visits Conducted (Thousands)
Supporting Health Outcomes As in the previous reporting periods, improving health outcomes continues to be a key focus of the majority of Oxfam’s partners who reported results from July to December 2015 (69%). This incorporates a range of interventions from service delivery to active citizenship. There has been a mixture of results within the health interventions by partners in this period. In some cases, there have been increases, such as with condom distribution, VCT/HCT sessions, and access to TB and ART treatment; and in other areas there have been decreases such as within home based care. HIV Prevention programs also experienced a decrease which was unexpected given the significant increase in the January – June 2015 reporting period. Condom Distribution The distribution of male condoms still remains at 98% of all condoms distributed by the partnership. There have been increases in both male and female condom distribution during the July to Dec 2015 period with over 975 000 male condoms and over 22 000 female condoms distributed. This increase was led by Palabora Foundation who distributed just over 800 000 male condoms and 10 000 female condoms.
total number of home based care visits 100 75 50 25 0 jul-dec 13
jan-jul 14
jul-dec 14
jan-jul 15
jul-dec 15
The number of VCT sessions has increased slightly with beneficiary numbers stabilising at around 9 000 people.
beneficiaries at vct sessions jul 2013 - dec 2015
Home Based Care and VCT/HCT Sessions
No. of Beneficiaries (Thousands)
The number of home based care visits and beneficiaries has continued to decrease in the July - Dec 2015 period. This is despite the dramatic increase of the Denis Hurley Centre’s (DHC) community consultations. As the DHC predominantly assists homeless people in the city of Durban, these are not ‘home based visits’ as such but are still a mechanism whereby health care is taken to where people are. DHC conducted almost 12 000 of these visits from July to December 2015. The rest of the partners reporting here remained relatively constant, except Choice Trust did experience a marked decline in their visits, and Sophakama’s results did not feature in this report due to delays. The following graph shows the number of home based care visits conducted over the last 2 years.
11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 jul-dec 2013
jan-jun 2014 MALE
jul-dec 2014 FEMALe
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JAN-JUN 2015
Jul-dec 2015
TOtal Beneficiaries
Access to Treatment
WASH
Support for ART and TB treatment initiation, as well as TB referrals, have increased slightly since early 2015. This is presented in the graph below. These increases may indicate this work will continue beyond Oxfam as partners adapt their ways of working and continue to provide these critical services.
Slightly more partners (13 of 36) reported on WASH indicators for the July – December 2015 reporting period. With regards to partners’ WASH interventions, there mainly have been increases within the various indicators but some of this growth is lower than early 2015. Many partners have integrated WASH into their other work which becomes even more important in the context of the severe drought being experienced across South Africa. In this period, the WASH access indicators continued to increase but at different rates. The indicators revert back to the 2014 trend whereby the number of people accessing appropriate hand washing facilities is the highest increase. The number of additional people accessing water has increased by about 1500, which is much higher than the first 6 months of 2015. The number of additional people accessing appropriate sanitation has continued to increase but at a slower rate. Once again, OneVoice SA has been the predominant driver of this trend with over 8000 additional people accessing appropriate hand washing facilities. This is due to their work in schools where interventions impact a large number of learners. This is demonstrated in the Graph below.
beneficiaries accessing treatment with partner support 2015 14 12 10 8
people with increased access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
6 4 10
2 No. of People (Thousands)
No. of Beneficiaries (hundreds)
From 2013 to 2015, there have been many more females initiating Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) with support of partner organisations (75%), and slightly more males initiating Tuberculosis (TB) treatment (51%).
0 art
tb jan-jul 15
tb referrals jul-dec 15
HIV Prevention Programs The number of HIV prevention programs has decreased by just over 200 since the start of 2015. The number of participants has also decreased since the last reporting period to just over 50 000. This spike and dip has been driven by the HIV/AIDS Prevention Group whereby almost double the amount of prevention programs and participants were reported in early 2015 compared to late 2014. Then the number of HIV prevention programs in July – Dec 2015 decreased to 220 from just over 400, while the number of participants decreased by over 15 000. This could be for a number of reasons such as organisational challenges, reporting error or adjusting ahead of Oxfam’s closure.
8 6 4 2 0 Jul-Dec 2013
Jan-JUN 2014
Additional people with access to safe water
Lastly, the number of technical workshops has increased by about 100 in this last 6 months; however, the number of participants has continued to decrease.
Jul-Dec 2014
additional people with access to appropriate sanitation
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period July 2015 to december 2015 17
Jan-jun 2015
Jul-dec 2015
additional people with access to appropriate handwashing facilities
Food Security
Furthermore, another 42 locations with hand washing facilities and soap were added bringing the cumulative total to 367.
The majority of partners (56%) reported on food security indicators in the July to December 2015 period. Like with the WASH results, food security interventions at household and community levels are even more critical in the context of drought. The results from partners in this regard were relatively constant compared to early 2015. The productivity indicators reflected an unusual trend though, with projects selling surplus increasing significantly while households harvesting more than once a year decreased. The number of gardens (household and community) continues to rise, but at a slower rate than the previous reporting period. These additional gardens are being established in the midst of a severe drought which is encouraging. The number of additional household gardens dipped by 1770 while the number of additional community gardens rose slightly by 37.
awareness of rights and knowledge of hygiene practices 20
number of Additional Gardens Established 15
No. of Additional Gardens (thousands)
Number of additional people (thousands)
Now we move from service delivery interventions to active participation; the number of additional women and vulnerable group members participating in WASH decision making remains over 400 during this latter 2015 period. Increased awareness of rights grew by 2300 additional people which is lower growth compared to the previous reporting period. Increasing knowledge of hygiene practices remains a top priority with another 8 000 people gaining this in the last 6 months of 2015; this is slightly less than the early 2015 reporting period. This is demonstrated in the Graph below.
10
5
0 increased knowledge of hygiene practices jul-dec 15
Increased Awareness of Rights jan-jun 15
4
3
2
1
0 jul-dec 2013
In this period, 14 more local CBOs/communities actively participated in local government monitoring processes which is 10 more than in early 2015. This brings the total of local CBOs/ communities for the last 2 years of the program up to 77. The number of additional people with disabilities accessing services continues to increase but at a much lower rate in these last 6 months with only 47 additional people reported. This is most likely because Sophakama’s data was excluded due to reporting delays in this period and last period they reported almost 600 people with disabilities accessing these services.
jan-jun 2014
jul-dec 2014
Community
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JAN-JUN 2015 Household
Jul-dec 2015
Access to Rights
Interestingly in this period, the two ‘productivity’ indicators deviate from their usual trend. There are double the amount of projects selling surplus (over 400), but less households harvesting more than once a year. This is unlike previous reporting periods. The increase in projects selling surplus has been led by TCOE who reported 200 more projects in this reporting period compared to Jan – June 2015. For households harvesting more than once a year, although many partners figures remained constant, and some like Siyavuna increased by over 200, other partners experienced significant decreases such as Palabora (400 less households) and Isibani (44 less households) resulting in the decrease overall.
Once again, the majority of partners (53%) reported within this theme during the July to December 2015 reporting period. Compared to early 2015, this period has seen a significant increase in the number of additional people receiving social grants with assistance from partners. This was led by KwaMakhutha Community Resource Centre (KMCRC) who reported over 400 more people receiving social grants with support from partners, as well as Palabora who reported over 900 more people. The number of birth certificates and IDs received has continued to increase but at slower rates in the last 6 months. This is most likely due to KMCRC reporting significantly less numbers here, TCOE not reporting on these as they are now referring people to another organisation, and Sophakama’s results being excluded in this reporting period as previously mentioned.
3000 2250
Partner support with documentation
1500
No. of People Supported (Thousands)
No. of Projects and Households
Productivity indicators of food security initiatives
750 0 jul-dec 2013
jan-jun 2014
Projects selling surplus
jul-dec 2014
JAN-JUN 2015
Jul-dec 2015
Household harvesting more than once a year
Lastly, the number of technical training workshops and participants has increased during this period. It is the highest since late 2013 with almost 200 workshops held and over 2200 participants.
30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Total Social Grants jul-DEC 2013
jan-jun 2014
Total Birth certificates jul-Dec 2014
Total IDs
jan-jun 2015
jul-dec 2015
The number of community plans has decreased to 13 in July to December 2015 compared to 29 in the previous 6 months. Several partners reported minor decreases here such as Save the Children, KMCRC and Operation Upgrade.
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Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
The number of people with disabilities engaging in partner activities has decreased significantly in late 2015. Once again this is most likely due to the DRR program closure. The two infrastructural outputs in the last 6 months by TCOE have continued into the late 2015 period. The number of community action plans created with the community have decreased considerably to only 4 in the last 6 months (Jul - Dec 2015), whereas the plans created by government have remained constant with 4 created.
The DRR work continues into this closing period with 8 partners reporting on these indicators. This continues to demonstrate how this program has become integrated into many of the partners’ ongoing work. Many of the research based DRR indicators have remained constant compared to the early 2015 reporting period as reflected in the Graph below:
Meetings
No. of community members (thousands)
Community members involved in drr processes
During this closing period of the Oxfam Australia partnership in South Africa, partners have continued to engage with various stakeholders; namely government officials, traditional authorities, community members, and others2.
7 6
There are different types of engagements which take place with these stakeholders. The number of education and awareness raising meetings has increased in the latter half of 2015 to over 2500. The number of public community meetings has continued to increase reaching over 200 meetings. Meetings with government officials are at 167 in this period and, 442 network meetings took place. Meetings with traditional authorities remained constant at a low level. The proportion of types of meetings facilitated by partners has changed quite a bit in this period with 75% education and awareness raising meetings, followed by 13% network meetings, 6% public/community meetings, government meetings (5%) and lastly meetings with traditional authorities (1%).
5 4 3 2 1 0 jan-jun 2013
jul-dec 2013
Trained as fieldworkers
jan-jun 2014 surveyed
jul-dec 2014
JAN-JUN 2015
Participated in focus groups
types of meetings facilitated across the partnership july - december 2015
Jul-dec 2015
13%
participated in pcva process
network
1%
In terms of the number of community dialogues, the numbers from the January to June 2015 reporting period remain an anomaly given the large scale of the xenophobic response predominantly led by Refugee Social Services. This reporting period the numbers have dropped again to 35 dialogues/meetings with almost 600 participants.
traditional authorities
5%
75%
education and awareness raising meetings
govt officials
6%
public meetings 2
Certain meeting indicators are some of the only ones which can go back to the very beginning of the program in July 2012. However, it is important to note that one cannot directly compare the number of meetings held to overall participants as many partners would report on one of these indicators and not the other. Despite guidance and encouragement, this remained a challenge throughout reporting.
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Concluding Remarks
Looking across the different thematic focus areas in the diagram which follows, Health once again has the highest percentage of stakeholder engagements at 82%. This is followed by Rights at 7% and Food Security at 6%. DRR and WASH are the lowest with 3% and 2% respectively.
Throughout this long goodbye, Oxfam Australia’s unique approach to partnership and responsive programming has become even more evident. The responsible exit, although difficult, was littered with moments and processes which allowed partners and staff opportunities to stand back and reflect. This July to December 2015 Program Report is one very small piece of this bigger puzzle of understanding.
meetings per objective july - december 2015
3%
As you, the reader, have been guided through this last 6 months, many elements may have stood out which are important to reiterate. The extensive investment in partners through capacity building and documenting would not have gone unnoticed, and neither would the commitment to learning through Oxfam’s own internal reflection processes. The dynamic and resilient work by partners which is constantly responding to complex changes – whether that be within South Africa and/or the closing of the Oxfam partnership – was also a critical aspect to this report. The commitment to simultaneously programming to the very end and executing an intensive exit plan also emerges as a crucial part of these last 6 months.
drr
7%
rights
6%
82%
Health
Food security
It is in this spirit that this report reflects on the work of Oxfam Australia staff and partners over this fascinating and turbulent time in South Africa, and demonstrates (in some small way) the change still being made in vulnerable households and communities across the country.
2%
Wash
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period July 2015 to december 2015 21
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period July 2015 to december 2015 22