contents Executive Summary
3
background
5
Introduction
5
Program Overview
7
Collaborations
8
Capacity Building and Documentation
12
Trading Support
14
the no longer vulnerable program january to June 2015
15
Program Context Analysis
15
Program Achievements
16
Program Challenges
19
Lessons Learnt
19
Program Output Summary Analysis
20
Concluding Remarks
32
Annexure 1 Management Response to NLV Midterm Review and Recommendations
33
executive
summary This January to June 2015 reporting period represents the final one in the three year No Longer Vulnerable (NLV) program cycle. This makes it a critical time for reflection on our journey and highlighting key actions/processes to lead into the last nine months of Oxfam Australia’s (OAU’s) office in South Africa.
The capacity building and documenting work continues from 2014 with the office working to finalise these various processes. The capacity building examples presented here include the web support process, the digital influencing webinar series, and various organisational development processes with partners. Regarding progress on work around documentation, the Umzi Wethu case study series is in its final phase, as are the collection of vignettes on various partners’ work. The African Australian Community Engagement Scheme (AACES) partners were also engaged and profiled in a series of slideshows on aspects of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) interventions. Importantly, all of these ongoing interventions also assist partners in re-thinking their sustainability and program direction during this time of change. Critical Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) interventions also occurred in this period which will be discussed; most notably the final partner satisfaction survey, the exit mood conversations, and a quantitative review.
Some positive responses have been given by partners with OAU’s attempt at a ‘responsible exit’; nevertheless gaps and challenges remain for OAU staff and partners. In the report background (section 1), the critical challenge of the funding crisis experienced by partners and South African civil society in general will be discussed along with the OAU partnership’s response to this. The importance of partnerships and collaboration is once again demonstrated throughout the report continuing from the last July to December 2014 reporting period. This includes the continued DRR work, engagement with child protection, and addressing inclusion of people with disabilities with various partners. In addition to programming work by the OAU partnership, a number of interventions have taken place over the last six months (January to June 2015) around collaboration, capacity building and documentation, and trading support.
Lastly, the trading work which started relatively recently has progressed. Partners continue to work with the Oxfam trading team and a number of exciting initiatives were run to assist them to engage with one another better, and explore regional alliances (particularly with Swaziland based organisations). A webinar on International Women’s Day focused on women within creative industries which further profiled this work while also sharing lessons and stories across continents.
Within this final program period, OAU’s long history of collaboration and the NLV Program’s emphasis on meaningful partnerships became even more critical. Certain projects have been running for a number of periods, like that of the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC), and are moving into new phases. However, other projects, like the response to the xenophobic attacks started intensive work in this last six months. We have also found that the partners have sought to organise themselves around OAU’s exit and a partner workshop took place which included a series of action items for partners to take forward.
Program work continues to be affected by a number of the contextual stresses stated in the previous NLV reporting period. In particular, continually high unemployment, a weak economy, and rising food insecurity are key concerns. In terms of program achievements, one of the greatest shifts in the last six months has been the focus on enhancing partnerships and strategising on sustainability. Partners working in food security initiatives and/or WASH have all reflected these shifts. Building community consciousness is another strong point, particularly with the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (PACSA) led electricity campaign. In this vein, Biowatch has also continued with their influencing work on
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 3
In terms of lessons learnt during this final period, the first and probably most relevant of these is the power of networking and sharing. Secondly, the integration of WASH activities within partner organisations themselves, and the expansion to other partners, is critical. Lastly, community ownership was flagged as an area which can truly mobilise local resources.
farmers’ rights and seed sovereignty. Linking practical interventions such as food gardens, to those focused on increased rights’ awareness has proved effective for many partners. With regards to health, progress with adolescents through support groups and engagement in clinic committees, have been two very positive aspects of partners’ work this year. Although partner organisations involved in sexual orientation and gender identity related work continue to experience significant challenges, strides have been made in deepening dialogue in religious, educational institutions, and safe queer spaces. Certain partners have also taken advantage of, and facilitated, numerous learning opportunities for their organisations demonstrating appreciation for the learning and sharing culture within the development community which OAU works to foster.
The output summary findings which analyse the numerical data received from partners, goes on to add an extra layer to the narrative program reporting. Many of the indicators continue to decrease as is to be expected in the final phase; however, there are a few areas which have increased dramatically, for example the number of HIV Prevention Programs. Increased access to appropriate sanitation was another such indicator, as well as certain food security trends. Stakeholder engagement, measured through the number and types of meetings, showed many interesting patterns in this period and across the entire NLV program. Where possible, the figures and analysis date back to the start of the program.
As with each reporting period, the program has experienced various internal and external challenges. Treatment stock-outs and drug abuse are two such health issues, along with continued inequitable access to services and care. A more general concern continues to be the difficulties associated with engaging government which is experienced by a number of partners. Marketing produce and financial sustainability for food security and livelihoods initiatives is another key point raised, which even the most successful partners are continuing to grapple with. This is exacerbated by the risk of office and program closures due to the unstable and shrinking funding arena which some partners are facing. Climate change is another major concern especially given the current drought within the country.
In summary, the No Longer Vulnerable program formally closes in a relatively strong position. Although challenges and gaps remain, there is evidence to suggest that the approach and partnerships developed over the last three years have gained traction and achieved positive results. This will be further examined in the NLV evaluation to take place later on in 2015. The outstanding activities and certain key points from this report will need to be taken forward into the nine month closure phase from July 2015 to March 2016 in order to build on this body of work and maintain a best practice exit process.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 4
background Introduction
creative, meaningful and appropriate solutions for South Africa. These valuable opportunities will be missed. As the team, we were encouraged by these messages and they have helped us to carry on in this exit phase.
‘Your work has made a difference…’ This was one of the main messages expressed by partners to Oxfam Australia staff in conversations on the office and program closure that took place during this period. As one partner said, “…the exit of the donor can be a sad occasion especially the one with OAU as we have developed a close relationship with staff who have been very supportive and understanding on how we work with our projects. We would like to acknowledge and to thank all OAU staff for their commitment and unwavering support. We value each and every staff member at OAU and we wish them all the best and success for their personal future.” Some partners also raised specific interventions that they found most valuable, “…Besides the financial contributions received, the opportunities for learning through the various programmes, eg. Link and Learn, has been extremely valuable and has contributed to the growth of the organisation in many ways. This is something that we will miss very much.” These were some of the words expressed by partners in these different conversations either through surveys or in person. Extending on these, it has also been a great opportunity for us as the OAU team to experience these partnerships. Partners afforded us an opportunity to learn and to grow personally. It has been challenging but also a tremendous and rewarding journey that allowed us the chance to be part of finding
On the 30th of June 2015 the No Longer Vulnerable (NLV) program came to an end and a nine month extension has been allowed to wrap-up the work before the closure in March of 2016. In June of 2012 the NLV program framework was introduced to staff and partners. This program intended to focus on the concept of ‘vulnerability’ and work through a theory of change inspired by Rao and Kelleher’s Integral Framework. The integral framework introduces four quadrants (individual consciousness, access to resources, norms and practices, and formal institutions) when thinking through development challenges and the programming needed to address them. The No Longer Vulnerable – Integrated Program Report March 2013 captured how the Durban team began using the integral framework in exploring and observing how partners were incorporating it into their work and how their work fitted into the quadrants. For example, it reported on the lessons of working in an ‘integrated’ manner and that “integration is happening across Oxfam’s work and emerging from the ‘grassroots’, that is, communities and through partner experience, through careful community facilitation, social dialogue, diagnosis and learning. This approach has allowed partners to ‘identify the links’ between factors underpinning social vulnerability and to prioritise these according to what beneficiaries articulate. This empowers partners and in turn, their beneficiaries and affected communities, to begin engaging the structural underpinnings of vulnerability, such as holding local government to account for non- delivery and poor services” (NLV Report, March 2013: 44).
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 5
Furthermore, what we learned was that “issues around vulnerability and marginalisation seldom adhere to strict program boundaries. The resultant impact of programming often goes unrecognised as these fall between the ‘silos’ of differentiated programs, leaving limited options to capitalise on opportunities to consolidate learning and apply them across programs” (NLV Report, March 2013). During the life of the program we have seen partners like PACSA, CHoiCe Trust, Justice and Women (JAW), KwaZulu Regional Christian Centre (KRCC) and Women on Farms Project either framing their work in this way or strategically exploring their work around ‘vulnerability’. KRCC, for example, have in many informal conversations spoken about how their work serves to reduce vulnerability amongst women, girls, farm labourers especially women, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) people.
“We would like to express much appreciation for the valuable in-depth Donor Mapping. We will be using it at this critical time and thank you for your care and hard work on behalf of our organisation. The Board were very impressed with the helpful report and wish to express their gratitude to Oxfam for this help.”
The NLV Mid-Term Review of 2014 continued with this trend of program learning and continuous improvement. As part of the recommendations certain concepts needed further exploration and lessons drawn from the practice needed documenting. Thus, a decision was taken internally to have teams of staff engage with these concepts through writing learning papers on various topics; namely integration; vulnerability and gender; social accountability looking at contestation; health; and the integral framework as an analytical tool. These learning papers are in the process of being finalised and will be presented in the exit documentation. The work continues to operate under difficult circumstances in South Africa through, for example, the escalation of food prices; electricity hikes and load shedding from Eskom; gender based violence and a weak economy. The program section will talk more about the impacts of these stressors and how partners, through their communities, are responding to them. This section will briefly discuss the funding crisis within the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) sector as it has been experienced by people and partners on the ground. The exit of Oxfam Australia and the shift in how international NGO’s (INGOs) are operating is not going to ease the tension and competition around funding for local South African civil society organisations (CSOs). The question is how these local organisations are going to compete in the same space with these INGO’s who have more resources; for example being able to pull together a team of experts to vigorously fundraise compared to a local NGO or CBO that cannot even afford to hire a fundraising officer. This burden also continues to fall into the hands of one person in the organisation who is usually the Director.
“This is fantastic! Thanks so much for facilitating this process for us.”
“Many thanks for the feedback on donor mapping. It is a wakeup call for us. We would also like to say thank you very much for the list of potential donors of which some of them are at our backyard. We will plant the seed and see what comes out of it.”
“The feedback report is comprehensive and clear. It has been very useful and helpful”
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 6
Program Overview
In response to this funding crisis, the OAU office commissioned a consultant to do a donor mapping exercise for individual partners as part of their sustainability planning, and to also assist in withdrawing from the NLV program in a responsible manner. With the exit of OAU locally, and at a macro level reduced international funding, it was evident that several of the partners may experience financial difficulties going forward. Of the 42 partners engaged with OAU, 23 supplied data for analysis. The consultant report showed a lack of diversity of funders and funding types across the majority of the partners that submitted. The data also showed risks that these organisations were facing because it was clear from the data that there is a large focus on institutional funding and minimal income from public donors. The trend is towards a low number of donors (4-8) for the majority of the partners and having few donors with large income amounts presents a high risk to non-profit organisations. A positive point from this exercise was that the data of the 23 OAU partners indicated that their programmatic work covers a wide range of provincial and national priorities of the South African government. Despite this, out of the 23 partners, ten were identified as high risk and a further in-depth donor mapping was done to identify potential funders and individuals within close geographic proximity. Although Oxfam would have wanted to provide further financial support and time on this critical issue, unfortunately the office could not afford to, as the focus is on wrapping up the current work before March 2016. Partners were advised to include requests for fundraising support in their 2015/16 grants, but that also proved difficult as the partner grants were less 25% due to the nine months’ operation period for July 2015 to March 2016. Amidst all of the Durban team’s efforts, there have been times of appreciation and frustration expressed by partners and staff alike. Subsequent to this we have seen partners coming together to explore other ways of fundraising; some are investigating ‘consortiums’ and others are looking more critically at their organisational and strategic plans. A full report on the donor mapping exercise is available on request. In addition to the donor mapping, the office has also worked with partners through webinars to address key fundraising issues.
This section will introduce work completed that includes: grants and contracts to partners; capacity building and documenting work; collaborations with other affiliates; trading support; and our exit communications (mood conversations; online partner satisfaction survey). This is above and beyond the work done through the 42 organisations which will be demonstrated through the program and output summary sections which follow. This report continues with the theme of ‘partnerships’ as it was reported in the last NLV program report from July to December of 2014. It was important for us to further explore and share some impacts resulting from these collaborations/partnerships, as since the inception of ‘Joint Oxfam HIV and AIDS Program (JOHAP)’ our aim has been to encourage, broaden and strengthen civil society in South Africa through ensuring that partners share their work, tackle social issues together, find and share resources, and at times be bound together by common themes. It has not been easy to create this shift but it is slowly happening and with OAU closing our program it is our hope that some of these partnerships will continue. In the background section above we alluded to how partner organisations are starting to look at working in consortiums to curb the funding crisis. This will continue to be described in the program section where various examples will be given: the electricity group housed under PACSA coming together to petition against electricity hikes for vulnerable communities; and a vignette demonstrating how collaboration helped a support group of people living with HIV and AIDS in Xitlakati Village in the Limpopo Province of South Africa through an organic food garden. The report will also try to draw some of the lessons learned from collaborations of partners with other civil society organisations and different government offices. Included in the report will be the output summary presenting the quantitative data analysis looking at the last six months of 2015 and beginning to analyse the last three years of the NLV program. As with previous reports, an Annexure will provide more detailed information on, in this case, the management responses and progress on the NLV MidTerm Review recommendations.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 7
A total of R 18,766,000 worth of grants (equivalent to AUD 1,914,898) was granted to 42 NLV partners for the financial year July 2014 to June 2015. The work by partners is implemented in urban, peri-urban, informal settlements and rural communities in the four provinces of South Africa – Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Eastern Cape – as indicated by map below.
In each reporting period, partners provide an overall picture of their direct and indirect beneficiary numbers. These give some indication of the reach of the OAU partnership. For the last six months, 597 443 men, women and children have benefitted from the No Longer Vulnerable program. Of this number, 123 883 people benefitted directly from the program, the majority of whom were female (almost 80 000). There were 473 560 indirect beneficiaries, and once again the majority of these (just over 300 000) were female. Furthermore, 30 449 are young people aged 19 – 35 years old. The program has directly benefitted 1073 people with disabilities, most of whom were between the ages of 13 and 35 (exactly 656). There were a further 1168 indirect beneficiaries with disabilities reached.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 8
The previously funded work in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) continued with two of the organisations that received funding previously. In this period (January-June 2015), Project Empower (PE) and Refugee Social Services (RSS) continued to engage with issues of disaster risk reduction. This includes PE who introduced the ‘my home’ discussion to participants in their new conscious raising groups. The ‘my home’ discussion was designed during the 2013-2014 period to include speaking about aesthetics, safety and functionality of homes and to help build solidarity amongst the groups to take action to reduce their vulnerability to risks and hold duty bearers to account. During these discussions, the groups used old photographs to guide their discussion and shared ideas for actions that could be taken to ensure that their homes are safe. Of particular importance was the discussion about unsafe electrical wiring and how that increases the chances of fire and electrocution. Another major issue is how many children are accidently burnt by hot water or porridge that is left within their reach. As a result of these meetings more than twenty women from different communities have rearranged their home settings to make them safer. DRR issues have also been included in the community policing forum meetings. When reflecting on these sessions, participants shared that these discussions are ‘powerful’, and that there is a need to discuss responsibility in relation to the safety of communities. RSS intended to run a number of workshops during this period for landlords and tenants of the buildings in which they work; however these workshops were delayed until July due to the outbreak of xenophobic violence in South Africa discussed previously. During the response to this violence, the RSS team worked with displaced people to discuss how to reduce their vulnerability to communicable disease and reduce the chances of fire. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programming supported by DFAT through the AACES program continued to deliver the work through six organisations – Save the Children South Africa, Tholulwazi Uzivikele (TU), Woza Moya, CREATE, Lima and One Voice South Africa (OVSA). This program work is delivered through the NLV programmatic areas: livelihoods (improving access to water and food gardens), HIV and AIDS (supporting home based care activities) and child protection (ensuring early childhood development provision). Through the above partners, this work continued to support various activities such as building the capacity of civil society/ communities to champion their own development. Beneficiaries are engaged to raise their own voices on various issues that affect them. Good strides have been made as partners interact with one another, as well as with stakeholders including local government. The partners have integrated the WASH work very well into their ongoing community programs. This progress and support from AACES has also allowed other partners like KRCC and CHoiCe to start engaging with WASH issues within their programs by leveraging their own resources. Sanitation has
become a big issue in schools within South Africa, and in response OAU has facilitated the collaboration of these partners with other technical organisations, such as Equal Education, around influencing work. This is so that government accountability is upheld to create positive change in the schools where our partners are operating. One of the great opportunities that enabled a large amount of learning was the funding through the AACES program that encouraged partners to engage critically with the issues of ‘child protection’ and the ‘inclusion of people with disabilities’. This work, through RAPCAN and CREATE respectively, allowed partners to improve their policies, uphold the rights of vulnerable groups, and learn more about inclusive programming. At the national level, RAPCAN played an influential role by joining with several other organisations in a joint submission to the Department of Justice and Correctional Services to improve the new Criminal Law, Sexual Offences and Related Matters Amendment Act (Sexual Offences Amendment Act). This amendment resulted in part due to the successful Constitutional challenge by RAPCAN and The Teddy Bear Clinic to ‘sections 15 and 16 of the Act’ dealing with consensual sexual conduct between adolescents. During 2014, RAPCAN conducted research on children’s experiences of sexual offences courts, culminating in two publications. The research for these publications formed the basis of the Shukumisa campaign policy brief and submission to the Justice Portfolio Committee in Parliament on 16 October 2014. In addition, four sessions with four OAU partners – Women on Farms, Triangle Project, The Inner Circle and Rape Crisis – were conducted. The key outcome of these sessions was a greater consciousness around the importance of a child rights’ orientation in gender programming. RAPCAN defined child safeguarding, the importance of a strong understanding of the referral network in child protection, and the responsibility to engage the child that is entrenched within child participation. Lastly, the activity workshop on child safeguarding, protection and participation was attended by Oxfam staff from the Cape Town office, RAPCAN staff and three participants from partners from Western Cape. Work on Inclusion of People with Disabilities has continued across partner organisations. For example, One Voice South Africa revised their child protection policy by ensuring that it is disability inclusive and that their school materials on human rights include disability rights. KwaMakhutha Community Resource Centre (KMCRC) have organised individual workshops for staff where CREATE assisted them to develop related policies for disability inclusiveness. The Gay and Lesbian Network (GLN) staff attended sign language training so as to integrate and facilitate people with disabilities. Africaid held a two day disability workshop to capacitate their general staff including up skilling their counsellors on how to include and work with youth with disabilities so that they can also access the services equally. The Community
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 9
Care Workers (CCWs) from Woza Moya who were trained in disability issues are, on a monthly basis, identifying and referring five people on average to local clinics for check-ups and further referrals if need be. CREATE organised and facilitated a one day disability awareness workshop which was attended by 23 participants representing ten OAU partners - Lifeline, JAW, Art for Humanity (AfH), KMCRC, GLN, Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust (HACT), KRCC, TU, RSS and Operation Upgrade. Furthermore, CREATE continued playing its role of influencing for disability inclusion with the KwaSokhulu Traditional Authority and Umfolozi Local Municipality. Through this process, a case study was written resulting in a positive response from the Municipality that showed better inclusion and support for people with disabilities. The CREATE case study is available on request. Lastly, AfH worked with students from two schools of learners with disabilities by raising awareness about human rights through art and poetry. RSS also secured services of sign language interpreters for their deaf clientele and further offers interpretation in refugee languages for their mentally challenged clients so that they can also have full access to the services.
dumping, poverty, environmental degradation, acid mine drainage, waterborne disease and fire. They also found that community members consider violence to be one of the biggest threats even though violence is not typically considered in such disaster risk management (DRM) analyses. This is likely because factors that constitute and perpetuate vulnerability to disasters (most notably poverty and inequality) also increase vulnerability to violence. This information has been carried forward into the development of the urban capacities/ vulnerabilities framework which seeks to present integrated considerations of household, community, built environment, institutional, and natural environmental issues. It will also be incorporated into the future project of developing a framework for mainstreaming DRR across various municipal sectors. To date, the work has been presented at the Conference on Disaster Risk Science and Management organised by the University of Venda in March 2015, as well as at a National Disaster Management Advisory Forum meeting in May 2015.
Collaborations
In the July to December 2014 program report we discussed the tensions and violent attacks in Durban which also spread to other parts of the country. Those being attacked were foreign nationals; apparently only of African descent, hence the term ‘Afro-phobia’ being used in some media statements. This included refugees and economic migrants. In addition to Refugee Social Services, partner organisations like Save the Children South Africa and the Denis Hurley Centre responded to the violence with material support; by engaging in the official discussions, and by programming in response sites (such as in the inner city and the camps in Isipingo, Chatsworth and Phoenix). Partner organisation Project Empower designed and implemented a series of discussions with their Conscious Raising Groups in six communities to create a space for young women to speak about this violence, their experiences of violence both during April and at other times in their lives, and to speak about how they would have liked these xenophobic conflicts to be resolved. Key in many subsequent reflections has been the recognition that there are a number of larger, systemic issues that caused, amplified and continued the violence that we saw during the period and during day to day life in South Africa. While the last temporary camp set up by the Municipality (in Chatsworth) was closed at the end of June 2015, the response has continued. A group of 138 people (including refugees) who refused to re-integrate have moved to a private farm (known as Hope Farm) where they continue to live and receive support. Refugee Social Services continues to receive requests for support from those displaced during the violence and partner organisations continue to monitor the situation. Oxfam South Africa, Oxfam Great Britain and Oxfam Australia with support
RESPONSE TO XENOPHOBIC VIOLENCE
The work continued through several collaborations within Oxfam affiliates and also through partners. The update of this work is included below:
NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT CENTRE (NDMC) PROJECT March 2015 saw the conclusion of support by Oxfam Australia for the work done with the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) and Oxfam’s technical support to the NDMC including the training of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) members in Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa. As part of this engagement, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Oxfam Italia and the National Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs was signed which extends this support until 2017. This support has been shaped by the concept of multi-dimensional vulnerability in urban contexts. Oxfam believes that considerations of the complexity of the urban environment and on new types of emergencies have led the Ekurhuleni Municipality to re-consider the way urban disasters/crises or shocks are conceived, as well as its engagement with communities. An unexpected output of the CERT training saw members employed by the Municipality working for the winter campaign with a particular focus on raising awareness about the danger of fires and how to prevent them. In the process of mapping 30 informal settlements, the CERT members found that common hazards and threats included flooding, poor sanitation, illegal
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 10
PARTNERSHIPS AMONGST PARTNERS
from Oxfam Canada came together in a task team to monitor the violence and plan support for the responding partner organisations. The primary respondent supported by Oxfam was Refugee Social Services (RSS). This included: • • • • • •
In January 2015, following the announcement that Oxfam Australia (OAU) would be closing its office in South Africa in March 2016, 30 partner organisations came together in April of 2015. Three partner organisations JAW (Jenny Bell), Biowatch (Rose Williams) and TU (Kobus Meyer) organised and convened the meeting and Oxfam provided the resourcing. In their reflection, partners expressed that they valued the partnership with OAU because of the following qualities:
Contributing to the cost of accommodation for 178 displaced persons in the inner city where they were given food, materials, and psycho-social counselling. Contributing to the provision of livelihood support and transport costs for displaced persons. Many of those affected by the violence were street barbers or owned hairdressing salons. As such, money was used to replace barbering tools, batteries, tents and cosmetic products. Funding for RSS to hire additional staff to help manage the exponential increase in daily clients coming to their offices to request support (up to 1000 people on some days). Twenty two people received monetary support to travel to the South African border to renew or replace documentation. Contributing to the annual World Refugee Day (WRD). This year, RSS chose to partner with the Tri-Continental Human Rights Film Festival host a ten day film festival in various venues around Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Approximately 650 – 700 people attended these screenings and RSS received support and publicity through this venture which allowed them to highlight the issues of xenophobia and refugees living in South Africa. The organisation has since had numerous offers of support and assistance. Supporting a debriefing for the staff of Refugee Social Services. Office staff were invited to a three day retreat and debrief at the Buddhist Retreat Centre. The workshop aimed to provide the staff of RSS, many of whom are foreign nationals themselves, with the time and space to individually and collectively debrief from the last few months of xenophobic violence in Durban and South Africa. This included having conversations about the strengths and areas of growth in their organisation’s response to the crisis. Given the context of trauma, it also aimed to replenish staff energies of the body, mind and spirit and was held in a peaceful, natural site used for retreats. RSS staff had an opportunity during the retreat to visit Woza Moya. Woza Moya staff offered their apologies to RSS staff on behalf of all South Africans.
OAU’s respect for the partners and communities
OAU’s acknowledgement of the partners’ expertise OAU did not impose their own agenda, welcomed creative approaches and were flexible OAU’s humanity and strong interpersonal relations enabled partners to feel like family OAU’s capacity building and exchange programs were empowering and enabled partners to network and mix across discipline OAU’s ability to balance boundaries OAU was a long funder – ‘they were in for a long haul.’
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 11
Web Support Learning
The challenge that the partners explored was the current funding situation in South Africa and the impact it will have for their organisations’ sustainability. In this meeting, they tried to look at strategies that partners could adopt to face dwindling funding, and as a result some of the partners came together to explore the idea of working in a consortium by applying for a grant from the European Union (EU). These organisations were: JAW, KRCC, Sinani, TU and their approach was to work with Lifeline Pietermaritzburg who has a large amount of experience with EU systems and requirements. This gathering gave the partners the opportunity to look ahead and they developed a slogan saying “The seeds are germinating, listen to the voices. We are not dying.” In their different groups, partners came up with the following action points that will be monitored going forward: • • • • •
Having an up-to-date and engaging website is part of the public profile of an organisation, and is a vital tool to share programs with a wider audience. It also adds to an organisation’s credibility and sustainability. The web support learning process is working with a cluster of five partners (TU, KMCRC, the HIV/AIDS Prevention Group (HAPG), KRCC and Woza Moya) who requested support around increasing their public profile through updated websites and/or social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. Two of the five websites are up and running with positive feedback from partners. The HAPG has found the website a useful platform to publish research conducted and the latest documents can be read here: http://www.hapg.org.za/category/3-research.html.
Pietermaritzburg partners and Woza Moya - The group decided to engage with the existing NGO Forum in Pietermaritzburg and the Pietermaritzburg Chamber of Business to work towards ‘Corporate Social Investment’ as opposed to ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’. Partners working in the agricultural sector – This group, after sharing details about their work and locations, decided to get to know each other better by exchanging emails, publicising and linking events, building trust and learning about each other’s values. It was agreed to link with other networks like Tshintsha Amakhaya. A broad range of service providers - This group felt that more time was needed to consider all the points raised at this meeting. It was agreed that those working in the health and youth sectors would communicate and find a way to work in partnership - despite the physical distances between them. Partners working in the youth development sector - This group agreed to have an exchange and training with RAPCAN on child and youth participation which will be a week long meeting in Cape Town. KRCC and Sophakama – This pairing decided to form a partnership based on their common history that began during the OAU partnership. They wanted to explore the possibility of developing a joint proposal for submission to a potential donor.
The Woza Moya site has been updated with new functionality and can now be viewed on various devices such as smart phones, tablets, laptops and PC screens. In this reporting period KMCRC is being supported by consultants to develop new content and capture images for their new website. TU and KRCC are still in site map development phase but all the partners will be completed by November 2015. Final results of this process will be shared in the last report in March 2016.
Digital Influencing Following on from the Digital Influencing Event in November 2014, review documents were shared with partners. Feedback from the survey was positive with 100% of participants finding the content of the event either very relevant (65%) or relevant (35%) for their work. The full set of results can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.net/results/SM-N33SKQ69. From this participant feedback, plans for a requested ten part webinar series around digital topics were developed to run for three months from July to September 2015.
Organisational Development Support to Partners
Capacity Building and Documentation
In our ongoing effort to strengthen partners’ organisational capacity, several partners were supported in the last six months. Two of the partners, KMCRC and Woza Moya were supported by the same consultant, Manna Consulting. KMCRC in this period was being mentored in the following areas: • Potential donor visitations; • Proposal writing and mapping; • Fundraising skills and understanding of fundraising roles; • Policy preparations and development of a plan for their youth project.
This reporting period was no different from previous ones in ensuring that partners’ capacities are strengthened. Below are some of the activities that were carried out either by the office or by partners collaborating between themselves.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 12
Documenting the model and replication of Umzi Wethu series: This series on documenting the model, replication and socio-economic impact of Umzi wethu’s work is nearing completion with the first two case studies completed and published: • ‘An Extra Ordinary Journey: Umzi Wethu Training Academy for Vulnerable Youth’ (http:// policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/an-extraordinary-journey-umziwethu training-academy-for-vulnerable-youth-322346) and • ‘The Journey continues: Umzi Wethu’(http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/ the-journey-continues-umzi-wethu-training-academy-for-vulnerable-youth-578596).
During this time, KMCRC has been able to put together four funding proposals. The team at KMCRC reported that their confidence has increased and they have developed the ability to effectively market their organisation, as well as other fundraising skills. Woza Moya was supported by Manna Consulting to explore the development of a new strategic plan and to support them in mentorship towards activating their plan. Through the process, staff members of Woza Moya were afforded the space and time to consider where they see the organisation moving and what needs to be done to ensure its sustainability. These plans are clearly articulated in a strategic plan which includes active input from staff and community members. The plan outlines six key areas of programming with Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) mainstreamed throughout, as well as suggestions for their governance structure. As part of the process, Manna Consulting discussed various possible funders with Woza Moya and how they could fit with their revised direction. A follow-up meeting by the consultant was also done with staff after some reflection, to specifically focus on leadership and how to move forward. In another intervention, OAU contracted Training Resources in Early Education (TREE) to develop WASH materials for learners at primary level for grade 1-3 and for grade 4 – 8 learners. The material was to complement the existing WASH components in the school’s curriculum and to provide educational WASH related teaching aids. The materials also intended to be fun and youth friendly while at the same time reinforce WASH related behaviour change. In partnership with two partners, namely TU and OVSA, TREE developed the WASH curriculum and resources for use by Grades 1-8. In addition, the work through TREE aimed to also influence various stakeholders so as to ensure that WASH related work in schools is supported at all levels. As a result a training manual was developed for WASH Clubs school program.
The last piece is a summary document outlining the socio-economic impact of the Umzi Wethu programme on rural communities in the Eastern Cape which will be released in October 2015. Collection of vignettes on partners’ work: The team felt many aspects of the partners’ work had not been captured in the regular reporting and a process of documenting vignettes was initiated. These vignettes are being written around interesting and innovative aspects of partners’ work. These have been compiled by young writers through interviews with partners around the topics selected. These short ‘snapshot’ articles will be published as a collection, as well as being given directly to the partners profiled for individual use. AACES Slideshows: A series of six slideshows were completed in this 2015 period that highlight the AACES program through topics such as the right to clean water, hygiene and sanitation within Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in KZN, and innovations in sanitation infrastructure. The slideshows have been uploaded to the Oxfam in South Africa Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/oxfaminsouthafrica and via our social media platforms. Partners featured will have access to these slideshows for use within their own work to promote the issues and work being done around these topics.
Documenting Work in Progress
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL)
Each year ideas are discussed with the OAU programs team around emerging issues, and interesting work coming from partners and the program. Various topics and partners are put forward to follow documenting processes. Below are the current documenting pieces in progress. All publications are distributed to partners via email, in printed copies, and some are uploaded on to the open repository Oxfam’s Policy and Practice website (http://policypractice.oxfam.org.uk).
A number of key MEL processes have taken place in the last six months. Of particular relevance are the last Partner Satisfaction Survey of the NLV program, the ‘Mood Survey/Conversations’ process, and a Quantitative Review. Partner satisfaction surveys have been a core part of Oxfam Australia’s (OAU) approach to improving our relationship with partners in South Africa. Comparing the 2013 results from those this year (2015), showed there were a number of areas where OAU continued to excel,
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 13
for example in being a supportive and approachable partner. The areas which saw a marked improvement between the two periods according to partners’ ratings were overall satisfaction, response efficiency, and communications. Quality of input from staff to partners remains an area for further improvement. The summary of results can be made available on request. Following the OAU Roadshow in January 2015 which announced the closure to partners and initiated dialogue on the exit, the OAU team decided to ‘check back’ with partners and test the ‘mood’ of their organisations. This was done during the April/May 2015 monitoring visits. The results demonstrated that overall the partnership shows a high level of resilience in the face of this change. Partner organisations have a high level of confidence in themselves, while still acknowledging that this will result in some very difficult decisions including potential retrenchments, project closures, and in some cases even office closures. Partners mainly had a good understanding of the exit process, and so far have found the exit communications sent to be valuable. A summary of the results can once again be made available on request. Lastly, a short Quantitative Review was conducted of the data collection and analysis from the output summaries over the program to date. Various strengths and limitations were highlighted, and errors corrected. The findings from this review will feed into the NLV evaluation. Linking the narrative and quantitative data collected throughout NLV more closely is something which the team is starting to address through this process.
An exchange visit happened from the 2nd to the 5th June 2015 and aimed to promote the sharing of knowledge and experiences between the South African partners and seven Swaziland producers and crafter organisations; these ranged from basket weavers to batik1 products. The South African partners had the opportunity to learn more about fair and ethical trade practices, production processes, and quality control systems. Some of the producers being visited as part of the exchange are current or potential producer partners for Oxfam Australia Trading. A professional photographer and interviews were gathered over the three days for use by the OAU team in Adelaide in promoting their crafters and products within the shop network in Australia. OAU and the three trading partners also had the exciting chance to share a joint market stall at a popular music festival in Mbabane, Swaziland. The Bush Fire festival (http://www.bushfire.com) hosts over 20 000 people over three days and attracts a good demographic for the partners’ products. This was the first time OAU supported promoting partners’ work and selling products together at the same event. Good sales were recorded by all partners and further joint work is being explored. Webinars have brought the world closer and have become a valuable tool for our office in bringing people together to share their work. This was our experience when producer partners in South Africa and Australia, Oxfam staff in Melbourne and across their offices and shops in Australia, as well as members of the public came together to celebrate International Women’s Day on the 6th March 2015. Annually on International Women’s Day, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. Oxfam’s ‘Celebrating women’s economic ownership through creativity and craft’ webinar brought together artisans from South Africa and Australia to share ideas and celebrate successes. With guest speakers from Oxfam Australia, Oxfam in South Africa, an Australian artisan and various South African artisans, the webinar looked at how fair and ethical trade has helped improve the lives of women around the world.
Trading Support
The OAU team at the Durban office had the opportunity to support partners involved in livelihoods and crafts to develop links and networks with the Oxfam Trading Team in Adelaide, Australia and the Oxfam shop network. Direct support has been provided around access to markets and capacity development on approaches to increase production and markets for products. Three partner organisations Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust, Fancy Stitch and Woza Moya have been engaged. Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust’s income generating arm, Woza Moya shop, has developed a wholesale catalogue including stories of the women crafters celebrating their creativity and showcasing their skills and journey. Woza Moya in Ixopo has received capacity building support from Swaziland Fair Trade around developing their income generating and crafts projects. The learning process has included areas such as production, marketing and sales and provided an action plan to grow and develop the ‘sock monkey project’ further to support crafters and bring much needed income into the organisation and community. Fancy Stitch has been supported in gathering stories and images from the women crafters, as well as revitalising their brand with a new logo. 1
As presented in the above section, it is clear that many interventions by the OAU team, which support partners and their work, have been making good progress. In spite of the office closure and the stressors on partners’ programming such as the funding crisis, the work is still rewarding, exciting and challenging. Efforts have been directed at reducing vulnerabilities and remaining conscious of unintended consequences. The above section emphasised the importance of working in partnership and the program section below will present the different activities of partners, as well as the challenges and lessons learnt during the first half of 2015.
“Batik is one of the ‘resist’ processes for making designs on fabric... using wax on fabric to prevent dye from penetrating the cloth.” Source: http://www.dharmatrading.com/techniques/batik/batik-information-supplies.html
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 14
no longer vulnerable program
january to june 2015 Program Context Analysis
food provision. In the face of climate change, these burdens can only deteriorate for women, especially for women living in rural areas. Climate change has a specific gender differentiated impact on rural women, exacerbating the existing inequalities between men and women, including unequal access to resources, gendered division of labour, and gender discrimination in decision-making and sharing of power.
Over the last six months the social, economic and political landscape in South Africa appears to be hampered by the same recurring development challenges. Structurally high unemployment is at around 25% according to Statistics South Africa, which translates into approximately 5.2 million unemployed persons. The country’s unemployment is now one of the highest in the world and the manufacturing and agriculture sectors showed the biggest job losses at both a quarterly and an annual rate. This is concerning for South Africa, as increased unemployment is associated with higher levels of poverty and inequality. According to the National Development Plan, South Africa aims to grow its economy by more than 5% per year with higher employment rates. However, our economy, consistent with many other global economies, has over the last six months showed slow growth due to, among other factors, electricity shortages, and a weakening currency. This prompted the Reserve Bank to increase interest rates by 25 basis points thereby increasing the debt repayment of consumers to 9.5%. Many economists are predicting that South Africa, if not careful, will enter into a second recession. This has serious implications on the cost of living, the financial stability of households, the price of food and utilities, and the cost of fuel.
In response, OAU through the partners, continued to support various activities that are building the capacity of civil society/ communities to champion their own development. Beneficiaries are being supported to raise their own voices around the many issues that affect them, as well as the communities in which they live. During this reporting period, non profit organisations (NPOs) continue to be challenged by the scarcity of resources as discussed previously. NPOs spread their resources too wide and for this reason find it difficult to be proficient at anything. A constant ‘push and pull’ towards furthering the urgent development agenda and sustainability has been observed by most NPOs who rely on donor funding. However, OAU’s approach of promoting networking between partner organisations has proven somewhat successful in addressing the issue of program sustainability beyond OAU funding. Partners have improved their capacity to network independently, host theoretical/knowledge based workshops as well as fieldwork based or practical ones with peers, and showcase learning and best practice. This in turn exposes beneficiaries and other stakeholders to good development practice. The following section presents the work of the OAU supported partners through their collaborations with other NPOs, government, other institutions and social movements. This begins with reflections on the achievements, then challenges and lessons that were learned during this period. The previous NLV report (July –Dec 2014) honed in on ‘partnership’ amongst OAU funded partner organisations and the current report will continue to critically reflect on this theme given its importance for sustainability.
Additionally, this year’s theme for United Nations (UN) is ‘World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bio-energy’. Due to erratic rainfall patterns, South Africa is currently experiencing the worst drought in the last 23 years which has affected KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Free State, Northern Cape and the North West Provinces which are responsible for maize, soya and sunflower production. The severe drought has resulted in increased maize prices. It is likely that more households will become vulnerable due to the volatile economic climate over the next year whilst women carry the burden of the current deepening food crisis both as primary producers and as those generally responsible for ensuring household
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 15
Program Achievements
Partners like Save the Children South Africa, Woza Moya, KRCC, JAW and a few others have started discussing how they could continue working together post March 2016. Partners are developing joint funding proposals in order to ensure sustainability of their respective OAU funded programs and they have identified capacity building requirements for the remaining nine months to reinforce and ensure program continuity. Partners’ programs were still aimed at raising consciousness with community members, through the partnership between a number of different NPOs (including those not funded by Oxfam) and academic institutions. PACSA, for example, distributed a number of research reports to influence and shape public opinion. PACSA highlighted the ‘Stop Eskom 25.3% Increase’ campaign as a significant achievement in the last six months. Eskom’s application for a 25.3 percent increase came at a time when the majority of working class households are struggling to put food on the table. A 25.3% increase on electricity, in a context where low incomes remove the possibility of absorbing such increases and where most families already have reduced their electricity consumption to the lowest level meant that money would have to be found either by reducing food or transport. However, it is very difficult to decrease transport costs for households as workers need to work; therefore this extra amount would be sought from within the food budget. Research conducted by PACSA showed that an increase in electricity at the levels which Eskom was asking for meant a direct impact on food purchased. Poor health, well being and productivity come from eating less food or foods of poorer nutritional value which then adversely affects education and economic outcomes. Communities used their collective voice to claim their right on changes of electricity/water tariffs and food prices legislation which impacted on the affordability of basic essential services. Eskom was not awarded the increase and the campaign helped make this happen.
During this period of OAU’s planned exit from South Africa, partners have continued to engage in a number of processes including the Value for Money project seeking to build effective, sustainable and integrated models of community development and partnerships. Partners continued to build and strengthen solidarity to challenge norms and exclusionary practices and appear to be doing this more strategically now. The mechanisms used to engage in partnerships have varied in the last six months amongst partners. In this last half of the 2014/2015 financial year, food security and livelihoods partners reported an increased capacity development of beneficiaries and organisational staff members. The strategic planning and implementation of food security and livelihoods initiatives has shifted slightly to focus on organisational and program sustainability post the OAU exit. The aspects addressed were organisational fundraising and an increased level of coordination and collaboration between organisations at local and international levels, as well as the sharing of good practices, new ideas, and working models. In this reporting period, partners presented valuable partnership linkages; improved coordination and collaboration with other NPO’s, municipalities and other various stakeholders; increased workshop attendance for linking, learning and sharing events; and improved networking for fundraising purposes. Similarly, partners focusing on WASH have shown great progress in engaging with each other as well as other stakeholders (both non-governmental partners and local government departments) to ensure good collaboration for maximum impact. Partners are finding methods and processes to further integrate WASH into their ongoing community programmes. With the countdown to OAU’s final exit from South Africa (March 2016) having started; the local partners have continued to strengthen the integration of their WASH initiatives to ensure sustainable programmes. WASH awareness campaigns and stakeholder influencing work has been planned and intensified across the partnership to include other non-AACES partners. More collaboration between the WASH partners in this regard has been noted. The non-AACES partners on the other hand have started rolling out and integrating WASH innovations/approaches within their own programs - leveraging their own funding sources. KRCC in Eshowe and ChoiCe Trust in Limpopo are leading on this front.
2
Biowatch continued with their advocacy strategies aimed at engaging community members to take collective effort to drive change. Based on the below interventions it is evident that informed citizens can exercise their agency and influence the decisions that affect their lives. On the 5th of May 2015 Biowatch, along with representatives of rural northern KwaZuluNatal farmers, gave an oral submission in the National Parliament at the public hearing on the recently tabled Plant Breeders’ rights and Plant Improvement Bills. Biowatch believes it is the duty of South Africa’s Parliament to approve seed policies that will benefit the majority of its population, denying laws that give private ownership to what used to be commonly held for centuries. The presentation was based on the fact that private commercial rights should never override the rights of farmers and households to save seed and to grow food which feeds communities. In March 2015, the march against Monsanto2 was organised at three project sites, namely Ingwavuma, Pongola and Matubatuba. Though there were challenges in getting
A multinational company that supplies and promotes genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and seeds.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 16
permission, farmers persevered and the marches occurred. The local ‘1KZN Television’ media team was present at the Pongola demonstration and the footage was shown repeatedly. This was a great collective achievement for the farmers and Biowatch.
Rebecca’s Food Garden In an effort to improve the lives of community members in the Xitlakati Village in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, an organic food garden was started. Rebecca Maluleke is a project coordinator at CHoiCe Trust, an organisation in Tzaneen, Limpopo Province which works to benefit rural communities under three core programs, namely: Management and Support, Training and Development and Outreach Activities. Their many projects have impacted the lives of children, the elderly, health workers, farm workers, persons affected by and living with HIV, and rural community members in villages around Tzaneen.
Increased food security and livelihoods strategies were reported by most partners such as Biowatch, Farmer Support Group (FSG), Siyavuna, PACSA, Umzi Wethu and HACT. Some of the knowledge and skills transfer which makes this possible is illustrated in the vignette to the right. Almost all the partners integrated food security into their HIV and AIDS programs by introducing food gardens. There has been an increase in awareness, knowledge and capacity of the communities that Biowatch, FSG and Siyavuna work with. ‘A total of 658 farmers were in the Biowatch database in this period. There has also been an increase in the awareness and knowledge of seeds within communities that Biowatch is working with’. Significant numbers of beneficiaries that participated in awareness-raising and capacity development workshops were reported by most of the food security partners. Furthermore, FSG visited Siyavuna and they hosted partners from various organisations in the field of forestry and agricultural projects. FSG also hosted municipal stakeholder engagements in connection with a distribution centre for small-holder farmers.
In 2010, Rebecca was invited to attend a 3-day learning and practical event in Richards Bay, a small town situated in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, as part of an Oxfam exchange visit to Biowatch South Africa. The event was hosted by Biowatch South Africa, an environmental non-profit organization (NPO) which works with small-holder farms and other civil societies to ensure that people have control over their food, agriculture processes and resources. It taught the importance of agro-ecological planting. “We went around looking at gardens and I was so impressed by what they do in their communal gardens,” said Rebecca. Lawrence Mkhaliphi, an agro-ecology manager at Biowatch gave Rebecca a different outlook on food gardens and the many benefits. “At the visit Lawrence explained the theoretical part of what organic planting is and how to keep the soil fertile with organic waste. He also mentioned how you don’t have to buy anything, you can use what you have,” added Rebecca. He also informed the attendees at the learning event how to use manure and gave them helpful tips on how to mix their own manure. One way of doing so was to “dig a hole up to your knee. Put in all green weeds, then fill it up with dry grass, leaves, bones and tins (except beer and coke) and then top with manure”. The importance of “looking after the gardens by watering and cleaning it” in order to reap the benefits was most emphasised. When Rebecca returned home, she eagerly wanted to share the exciting information she received with the people living in the Xitlakati village. With the help of the local clinic, CHoiCe recruited a support group to start the village’s very own food garden. The support group consisted of people living with chronic diseases including HIV and TB
‘Biowatch that leads in Agro-ecology (AE) farming reported a total of 297 people who participated in technical training workshops. They went on further to report that more women (255) participated in these technical training workshops’. Such technical training workshops improved their self esteem, hence reducing their vulnerability on many fronts. FSG also provided capacity building opportunities to women and girls to participate in various meetings and forums thus giving them power to speak out. Through capacity development, communities were able to organise and elect a task team that represents the community if the need arises. It was reported that farmers now receive more information regarding government services and legislation on various environmental aspects. Due to exposure on crop varieties during Farmer Field Sessions (FFS) and cross-visits, farmers were able to achieve quality yields that met the high market standards. Farmers were able to diversify crops and establish a working relationship with some market role players. The training provided was valuable by exposing farmers to different uses of crops for nutritional value. In this working period, nutrition was a highlight where crop diversification, food preservation, and consumption were dealt with extensively. Biowatch reported that government now sees that farmers are serious about being against GMOs thus the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government is demanding support for agro-ecology and their seed systems.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 17
On a different note, access to youth friendly health services is vital for ensuring sexual and reproductive health and well-being of adolescents. In response to this need, partners like Africaid, CATCH and Vhutshilo Mountain School (VMS) in partnership with Department of Health have introduced support groups for adolescents within health facilities so as to improve adolescent access to, and utilisation of, sexual and reproductive health services. Additionally, partner involvement in local clinic committees gives them the opportunity to facilitate, monitor and influence service delivery within their areas, and uphold principles of democracy and human rights. This is evident in the work of KMCRC, Palabora Foundation, Project Empower and Lifeline. Communities continue to receive good quality care and support delivered by well equipped community care givers within partner organisations who have established good relationships with local government departments so as to improve access to services for all beneficiaries; namely Woza Moya, Palabora, CHoiCe, KRCC, VMS, HAPG, and CATCH.
in the Xitlakati village. They met on a daily basis to plant, water and clean the garden. “When we initially taught the group about organic planting and food gardens they looked miserable and as if they didn’t want to be there. It was good to see a change in their attitude when the food garden started flourishing. They were happy,” said Rebecca. In a matter of months, the food garden was producing enough crops to feed community members and sell to others. Locals “reaped nice fresh vegetables from their gardens”. The garden produced vegetables such as onions, beans, beetroot, cabbage, chillies, okra and other seasonal crops. People would travel from all over the region to purchase crops from the food garden. The first chillies were exported to Johannesburg and many boxes of okra were bought. “Word got out and many people started buying our vegetables. We even sold to 3 local schools which used the vegetables for their feeding schemes,” said Rebecca.
Similarly, OAU’s partners who focus on sexual orientation and gender identity are facing a number of political and social challenges; such as an increase in religious fundamentalism that spurs on homophobia. The African continent has seen a hardening in anti-LGBTI attitudes along with increased persecution of LGBTI persons and the criminalisation of same-sex orientation. During this period, The Inner Circle collaborated with Triangle Project to conduct a one day seminar on behalf of House of Rainbow, a queer affirming Christian group operating in various parts of Africa. The primary purpose was to look at how Islam views the question of human rights within the context of sexual orientation and gender identity and interrogating homophobic interpretations of religious texts. It provided an opportunity for queer Muslims, queer Christians and queer Jews to meet and share their experiences and narratives. A total of 29 participants attended the workshop. The Inner Circle and Triangle Project also continued dialogues around sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) through their solidarity circles (open spaces) and International Personal Empowerment Programs. Other awareness raising activities included dialogues at a primary school, Stellenbosch University and a Further Education and Training (FET) College on the West Coast. Two sensitisation trainings with religious groups will be conducted between September and October 2015.
Some of the profits from the food garden were used to buy 16 goats which helped in the farming process. “Goat manure is the most organic and fertile. At the conference we were taught this and how we should treat the soil like our skin. Keep it hydrated and remember that if you don’t look after it then it won’t look after you,” added Rebecca. The food garden flourished and even the Induna (Chief) and schools from the village donated tanks and pipes to maintain it. It became known in the community as “Green Paradise”. Rebecca believes it was the collective effort by community and support group members which made the food garden a success. “Training was provided and the participation of community members was great. Support group and community members maintained a good working relationship and this is what made the garden a success,” said Rebecca. Of course, the maintenance of a food garden is not easy, especially in communities with a limited access to water. Some of the difficulties that face such gardens include pipes and tanks breaking which can eventually result in gardens being dissolved. People of the Xitlakati village are committed to improving health and good nutrition. Also people now have knowledge on how to grow fresh vegetables for themselves and other community members. Nikita Smith
From January to June 2015, partners continued to organise their linking and learning events. The fact that partners are able to organise their own linking and learning events reveals an understanding and adoption of some of the lessons and values from OAU over the years of this partnership. Organisations that hosted outstanding learning events were Biowatch, FSG and Siyavuna. Biowatch organised workshops at an international and national level. One of the national workshops was called ‘Inqolobane-Towards Strengthening seed and Food Sovereignty’. This was a workshop that emphasised that seeds hold a special place in the struggle for food sovereignty. The international workshop organised by Biowatch was on how to sustain seeds which was attended by delegates from seven countries. Biowatch also attended another workshop held in Zimbabwe in March 2015, and participated in the South and
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 18
Eastern Africa Agro-ecology knowledge and skills sharing workshop held in Zambia. This shows that Biowatch has used various partnerships to deepen their knowledge and that of other stakeholders. Another workshop that increased Biowatch’s knowledge around food security and agrarian transformation was at the BICAS (BRICS Initiative in Critical Agrarian Studies) conference on Rural Transformations and Food Systems held at the University of the Western Cape in April 2015. Another positive example of partnership has been the collaboration between JAW and Black Sash. Under Black Sash’s guidance, JAW community based facilitators were trained to monitor the manner in which South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) staff at pay points assist community members, as the majority of beneficiaries of social (mainly child care) grants are women. To date, they submitted over 250 interviews with SASSA clients and staff to Black Sash. In the process they have gained skills in how to monitor people’s experience of services provided by government. They have also gained first-hand experience of how their presence at pay points increases the efficiency and politeness of the service rendered. Community members interviewed welcomed the opportunity to give information.
Partner organisations TAC, PACSA, JAW, Save the Children South Africa, and Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust used democratic structures for public participation to demand justice as well as to hold local government to account for implementing constitutionally mandated services, such as addressing the lack of supplies of essential HIV and TB medication and monitoring food prices. Unfortunately the barriers that some government departments create can lead to loss of trust on behalf of participating citizens and consequently make engaging and changing the public sector more difficult. This is a major challenge for partners. As a result, this creates some resistance in fostering collaborative relationships for sustainability. Partners are encouraged to monitor the above for a better coordinated response in the next financial year. Most of the food security partner organisations up-scaled crop production from household production for consumption only to production of surplus for sale. This was also evident in the output summary results from the July to December 2014 period to date. However, working with vulnerable people in remote areas where road infrastructure and transport is a problem hindered the smallholder farmers from generating income from their surplus produce. Strategies or models of marketing have therefore been proposed and implemented among partner organisations. Siyavuna’s implementation model is one that is designed to incorporate the marketing aspect of produce. Though it is a brilliant model, it requires a lot of work that starts from capacity development of farmers on farming knowledge to marketing especially in the private sector. The model uses a co-operative that buys the vegetables cash from farmers and sells to the market. However, the model needs more input in terms of marketing so that the co-operatives break even, as they currently do not. Marketing still remains a challenge among partners that are producing food beyond subsistence.
Program Challenges Even though great strides have been made in the fight against HIV and AIDS, the drug stockouts crisis has become a major challenge. Partners like Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) have come up with solutions on how this fight could be scaled up and how to avoid stock outs, and have presented these to the Department of Health (DOH) via the ‘Stop Stockouts Projects’ (SSP). SSP is a collaboration of NPOs and CSOs that monitors and provides feedback on stock outs. In addition, with the increase of drug abuse especially amongst youth, partners like the Denis Hurley Centre (DHC) have introduced specialised clinics to deal with the negative effects thereof and are currently in the process of signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the local Department of Health to become a referral site for people living on the street.
Lessons Learnt There are a number of important lessons that one can take from this final period of the NLV program. These lessons are especially important to take forward in these last nine months of OAU’s work in South Africa.
The inequitable distribution of health services and health providers in under-resourced vulnerable rural areas still remains a challenge faced by most of the partners. Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) continued to monitor the key document that guides South Africa’s HIV and AIDS response, the ‘National Strategic Plan (NSP) on HIV, STIs and TB 2012 -2016’. During this reporting period, TAC continued to advocate for effective implementation of this plan with the hope of publishing the findings in the NSP Review – a joint publication with the national NGO SECTION27. Monitoring of the NSP 2012-2016 and wide ranging consultations facilitated by TAC in communities will hopefully contribute to the current NSP as it draws to an end and provide feedback to advocate for an enhanced response to the new and persistent challenges in addressing HIV and AIDS.
Firstly, networking has already enabled partners to facilitate dialogues and plan future support for their work. For example, through WASH consortiums, partners have worked together on resource mobilisation. Through an exchange visit to the National Parliament, Woza Moya and Triangle Project better understood how legislation is formed. Through networking and linking with government, CSO’s recognise the need to share good practice models with government officials in order to influence policy, practice and sustainability of initiatives in the long run. CSOs have reviewed and strengthened their sustainability strategies to ensure that they, and the communities they work with, are taking advantage of platforms that support them in their program outcomes.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 19
Program Output Summary Analysis
South Africa AACES partners have been encouraged to enhance their levels of thematic integration by incorporating WASH issues into various areas like early childhood development (ECD), food security and so on. During the OAU annual reflection and planning meetings, partners showed the need to continue discussing and reflecting on the outcomes of this program. This helped to increase partner understanding of the broader AACES framework, especially around increased voice of communities and capacity building. Whilst it has taken time for the South African partners (whose core work has been service delivery) to broaden their perspective, the AACES journey has helped them to identify and integrate other important ‘softer’ outcomes. Strategically OAU has continued to support the AACES partners to engage with local leadership in order to raise issues around integrated WASH. For example, Save the Children South Africa (SCSA) in conjunction with KZN Department of Health is developing the concept of ECD centers as health promoting facilities which will both introduce WASH to ECD centers and sustain its ongoing implementation. SCSA continues to argue that “access to the WASH elements is a right”. The organisation continues to use this position to secure the involvement and delivery of services by government. During the past six months, One Voice have built on the dual issues of eliciting meaningful participation and engaging in ‘influencing’ activities especially in relation to WASH and Menstruation Management. One Voice has continued to capacitate school staff as well as learners on related WASH issues - making some significant progress and building on work from 2014 including Menstruation Management workshops. It is encouraging to note that some partners have acknowledged and implemented the lessons shared and learnt over the years.
Output Summary Overview As mentioned previously, the NLV Program has completed its final phase from January to June 2015. This is a time for critical reflection and as the last program report of the 3 year cycle from July 2012 to January 2015, we will start to allude to some of the key trends and lessons learnt across the full program period3. A detailed evaluation on No Longer Vulnerable, however, will be conducted separately towards the end of 2015, and this will form part of the information which will feed into that analysis. The evaluation will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the reach and impact of the NLV program in its entirety. As with the preceding narrative section, this analysis will continue to examine results from the themes of: health, WASH, social protection, food security and DRR, which are all highly interconnected, and were treated as such within the highly integrated approach to this work. Similar to the previous July – Dec 2014 report, many of the NLV program indicators collected from the output summaries have continued to decline in this final year. There were exceptions to this though. In the health indicators, the HIV prevention programs and participants saw another increase, and there was a slight increase in female condom distribution. Access to WASH services continues to increase, but it was the increase in access to appropriate sanitation which was the most dramatic, as well as in relation to beneficiaries increased awareness of their rights. The number of people with disabilities accessing WASH services in this period also increased substantially. For the food security indicators, this period was relatively stable. The number of gardens (household and community) established continued to rise, as did the number of households harvesting more than once a year, and the number of projects producing and selling surplus. In terms of access to social protection and rights, beneficiaries have continued to receive support for documentation and monetary grants but the rate of this support has slowed since 2014. In keeping with the overarching trend, most of the various DRR indicators, such as fieldworkers trained and community members surveyed, also continue to decline, most likely due to program closure.
As has been stated previously, partner organisations focused on organisational sustainability in the last six months with the view that OAU is exiting at the end of the next 9 month financial period. Partner reports revealed more networking, marketing of their work, updating of websites, and the development of fundraising strategies. On the ground, communities have also started to develop a sense of ownership. This was shown by the effort of certain communities to contribute funds for interventions rather than wait for supporting organisations to raise these funds. An example of this level of ownership was shown by the communities working with Siyavuna who contributed funds to build a shed that is used as a collection point for vegetables for sale. Highlights observed during this period of project implementation due to lessons learnt included increased capacity development of farmers, improved advocacy strategies and improved networking ability among partners.
3
It is important to note here that very few indicators can be accurately used from the first year of the program (July 2012 – January 2013). This is because, among other things, many changes were made to the output summary template and the indicators in the July – December 2013 reporting period. In all indicators, we have gone as far back as is accurately possible.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 20
male condoms distributed
Finally, stakeholder engagement continued to be a crucial focus area in this 2015 reporting period as the number of public/community meetings rose sharply, while others (such as network and government meetings) remained constant. The number of meetings with traditional authorities decreased further which is a point of concern. We would like to flag this with partners as a challenge for their organisations to grapple with. Although we identify this as critical, unfortunately OAU cannot provide any extra support on this given the closure.
No. of Condoms (Millions)
16
Supporting Health Outcomes As in the previous reporting periods, improving health outcomes continues to be a key focus of the majority of partners reporting (68%). Historically, OAU in South Africa prioritised interventions on those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS, and in the No Longer Vulnerable program this and broader health issues have continued to be a key foundation for decreasing household and community vulnerability. As articulated in previous reports and demonstrated below, there is a great diversity in the kinds of interventions partners are involved in including the delivery of health services as well as processes to enhance stakeholder engagement and active citizenry on health issues. Overall most of these health indicators have continued to decline which is expected due to the closure; however, there has been a slight increase in female condom distribution and a marked continued increase in the number of HIV prevention programs and participants.
14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 jul-dec 2012
jul-dec 2013
jan-jun 2014
jul-dec 2014
JAN-JUN 2015
jul-dec 2014
JAN-JUN 2015
female condoms distributed
Condom Distribution Throughout the program, the vast majority of condoms distributed by partners were male condoms with the last period being no different at 98%. This reflects the general trend with condom access within South Africa. Female condom distribution, however, did experience a slight rise in this last six months (Jan – June 2015) with over 2000 more being distributed. Male condom distribution has continued at around 800 000 for the last year of the program. This is evident in the graphs to the right:
No. of Condoms (Thousands)
300
Palabora continued to lead the male condom distribution with over 600 000 distributed. They also increased the number of female condoms distributed to 6 500 this reporting period. Project Empower and GLN also experienced increases in both male and female condom distribution, as did PACSA with male condom distribution. Palabora and Project Empower together represent 54% of the female condoms distributed. Some partners’ distribution numbers decreased such as Africaid, CATCH, TAC and Sophakama. It is important to note at this point that it is well understood that condom distribution does not result in correct usage and safe sex. An example in recent local media was the usage of condoms by the elderly for arthritis pain4. Although an extreme example, this does reiterate that distribution/access is only one part of the prevention puzzle.
4
jan-jun 2013
250 200 150 100 50 0 jul-dec 2012
jan-jun 2013
jul-dec 2013
http://www.health24.com/Medical/Arthritis/News/Limpopo-gogos-swipe-condoms-for-aches-20150903
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 21
jan-jun 2014
Home Based Care and VCT/HCT Sessions
The number of VCT/HCT sessions increased from the end of 2014 as did the number of beneficiaries attending with almost double the amount of females attending as males.
The majority of partners reporting on these indicators (seven partners) conduct both home based care and Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT)/ HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) sessions. There are also a number of other partners who reported conducting these on their own; to be exact three partners conducted home based care visits and six partners conducted VCT/HCT sessions.
No. of Beneficiaries (Thousands)
beneficiaries at vct/hct sessions jul 2013 - june 2015
The total number of home based care visits conducted continued to decrease as it has done since 2013. Sophakama reported 20 000 less visits which has affected this trend. However, the number of beneficiaries receiving these visits increased dramatically by over 15 000 in this early 2015 reporting period. This is most likely led by CHoiCe who reported the number of home based care and beneficiaries increasing to over 12 000. The number of males being visited remained relatively stable but the number of females decreased by approximately 1500. The graph below shows the number of beneficiaries receiving home based care visits over the last two years.
No. of Beneficiaries (Thousands)
beneficiaries receiving home based care visits 100
15
10
5
0 jul-dec 2013
80 60
jan-jun 2014 MALE
jul-dec 2014 FEMALe
JAN-JUN 2015
TOtal Beneficiaries
40 20
Access to Treatment
0 males jul-DEC 2013
females jan-jun 2014
The majority of beneficiaries initiating Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) with support of partner organisations continue to be female (76%). However, with the initiation of Tuberculosis (TB) treatment there are slightly more males than females (52%). When comparing TB and ART treatment initiation over the last two years of the program (2013 – 2015), it is interesting to note that there are roughly 2000 more beneficiaries who initiated ART treatment with support of partner organisations. This is presented in the graph on the following page.
total jul-Dec 2014
jan-jun 2015
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 22
HIV Prevention Programs It is encouraging to note that the number of HIV Prevention programs has increased substantially in the last six months with 208 more programs being reported. This is the highest it has been during the course of No Longer Vulnerable as shown in the graph.
10 8 6
hiv prevention programs
4
800
2 0 MALE
FEMALE ART
No. of Programs
No. of Beneficiaries (Thousands)
beneficiaries Initiating treatment with partner support july 2013 - june 2015
TOTAL TB
However, over 7000 beneficiaries are referred for TB treatment by partner organisations, as well as initiating treatment. In each indicator for treatment, the numbers have been lowest in this final period (Jan - June 2015). This could be due to the imminent program closure. This work by partners in supporting individuals to access and continue treatment has become especially important in this Jan – June 2015 period given the nationwide stock-outs of ART and other medication. Treatment access together with home based care visits works particularly well with HIV and AIDS and TB care, as evident in the work of the HIV and AIDS Prevention Group (HAPG, Bela Bela) who in 2014 had no TB patients default on their medication and who lost minimal HIV patients to follow up5.
5
600
400
200
0 jul-dec 2013
jan-jun 2014
This information is found in HAPG’s ‘2014 Outcomes’ document.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 23
jul-dec 2014
JAN-JUN 2015
WASH
As to be expected, the number of beneficiaries has also increased with almost 80 000 beneficiaries being involved in these programs, the majority of whom are female, from Jan June 2015. This trend is demonstrated in the bar graph below.
Of the 38 partners who reported for the last period, 12 provided results on the WASH indicators. The number of beneficiaries with access to WASH continues to increase in this period. The most dramatic increase in this Jan - June 2015 period was with access to appropriate sanitation where 8922 additional beneficiaries gained access. This was followed by 1785 additional beneficiaries now having access to appropriate hand washing facilities, and 750 additional people with access to safe water. This is quite different to the previous two reporting periods in 2014 where the number of people accessing appropriate hand washing facilities was the highest. This is demonstrated in the Graph below.
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
people with increased access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
males jul-DEC 2013
females jan-jun 2014
No. of People (Thousands)
No. of Beneficiaries (Thousands)
beneficiaries participating in hiv prevention programs
total jul-Dec 2014
jan-jun 2015
This trend has been led by HAPG, Bela Bela who reported 200 more HIV prevention programs reaching over 12 000 more beneficiaries in this 2015 period. Many other partners reported slight increases such as Palabora and CATCH, while others had the same amount of programs running, such as Thusanang and Operation Upgrade. Only a few partners experienced a decrease in the number of programs, namely Sinani and Africaid, or did not report, such as JAW and the Denis Hurley Centre.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Jul-Dec 2013
Jan-JUN 2014
Additional people with access to safe water
additional people with access to appropriate sanitation
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 24
Jul-Dec 2014
Jan-jun 2015 additional people with access to appropriate handwashing facilities
Females continue to be the main beneficiaries of the interventions to increase access to water, sanitation and hand washing facilities. Another 166 locations with hand washing facilities and soap were added bringing the cumulative total at the end of the program to 325.
What is also encouraging is that the number of additional people with increased awareness of rights has gone up dramatically from the last period where it was much lower than increased hygiene knowledge. In this period over 8000 more people are aware of their rights; compared to the almost 1500 increase in the July - Dec 2014 period. Once again this was led by One Voice reporting over 6000 people, followed by Sophakama who reported just over 650. Increasing knowledge of hygiene practices remains a top priority with another 10 000 beneficiaries in these first six months of 2015.
One Voice and the Denis Hurley Centre led the massive rise in access to appropriate sanitation as they reported over 6000 and over 2000 additional people this period respectively. Both of these partners did not report on this figure in the previous two periods so it is unclear whether this is an accumulation over the last 18 months or whether this occurred within the last six months.
Number of additional people (thousands)
Increased hygiene knowledge and rights’ awareness
Often, WASH based programs focus on infrastructure and access alone; however this was not the case with the NLV program where decision making, knowledge and awareness were also prioritised as crucial to meaningfully decreasing vulnerability. In this light, it is positive to note that the number of additional women and vulnerable group members participating in decision making relating to WASH was over 400 during this 2015 period as demonstrated in the graph that follows.
Number of additional women & vulnerable group members participating
inclusiveness in wash decision making 600 500 400 300
12 10 8 6 4 2 0 jul-dec 2013
jan-jun 2014
with increased rights’ awareness
200 100 0 jul-dec 2013
jan-jun 2014
jul-dec 2014
JAN-JUN 2015
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 25
jul-dec 2014
JAN-JUN 2015
with increased knowledge
Food Security
Over the course of the NLV program, it is heartening to note that although there have been different rates of increase each six month period, there were always more and more people involved in these initiatives each time with strong increases in this last year.
After the health indicators, food security is the second most reported with 59% of partners providing information during the January – July 2015 period. The number of community and household gardens has increased at essentially the same rate as the previous 2014 period. As highlighted in previous reports, the number of household gardens has continually remained much higher than community gardens. Looking across the last two years, most gardens were added in early 2014. It was at this time that the Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE) and Siyavuna first reported with 1 500 and 172 additional household gardens respectively. Biowatch also reported another 658 household gardens. For community gardens, Sophakama reported an additional 149 in the Jan – June 2014 period. This was followed by Isibani (10), Sinani (7), and Women on Farms (7). This extremely high number reported by Sophakama may be due to a specific program at the time or a reporting error. This would need to be investigated further.
In addition, four more local CBOs/communities actively participated in local government monitoring processes. This brings the total of local CBOs/communities for the last two years of the program up to 63. This work with government, although challenging, is essential to address WASH issues and it is concerning that the rate of organisations involved has continued to drop every period since the July to Dec 2013 reporting period. The number of additional people with disabilities accessing WASH services has increased dramatically in 2015. This is an extremely positive result strengthened by the capacity building work around disability inclusion done with the WASH partners. This was also seen in the narrative discussions around disability inclusion within the wider OAU partnership earlier on in this report.
Additional Household and Community Gardens Established
700
3500
600
3000
No. of Additional Gardens
no. of additional people with disabilities
Wash access for people with disabilities
500 400 300 200 100 0
2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0
jul-dec 2013
jan-jun 2014
jul-dec 2014
JAN-JUN 2015
jul-dec 2013
jan-jun 2014 Community
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 26
jul-dec 2014 Household
JAN-JUN 2015
Access to Rights and Social Protection
In this period, the two productivity indicators (surplus and multiple harvests) both continue to increase but at slightly different rates. The projects producing surplus have risen to 226. Most partners who reported a surplus had the same number of projects as the last reporting period, such as KMCRC, Biowatch, and Women on Farms. Those that experienced decreases were only minor, for example, Siyavuna went from ten to four projects, and these were offset by other partners such as FSG, Thusanang and Sinani who experienced small increases. The largest increase was by TCOE where surplus projects grew by over 30 to reach a total of 65.
Twenty partners reported on these indicators during this period. These indicators centre on accessing grants, legal documentation, and community engagement. Compared to late 2014, this period has seen a decrease in the number of additional people receiving partner support with various documentation and grants as expected. However, interestingly the number of male beneficiaries receiving IDs went against this trend and increased by 415 compared to 315 in the last period (July - Dec 2014). The female/male ratio for these interventions has remained relatively constant with female beneficiaries in the majority. Over the last two years of the program, the number of social grants received remains the highest, followed by IDs and then birth certificates.
Furthermore, there were just over 700 more households harvesting more than once a year bringing the total to almost 2500. This has been driven by Palabora (440 more households reported), and TCOE (150 more households reported). Other partners also added to the overall increase with Women on Farms reporting 60 more households, Siyavuna reporting just over 50 more households, and Isibani reporting 44 more households.
Partner support with accessing documentation & grants
3000 No. of People Supported (Thousands)
No. of Projects and Households
Productivity indicators of food security initiatives
2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 jul-dec 2013
jan-jun 2014
Projects selling surplus
jul-dec 2014
JAN-JUN 2015
20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Total Social Grants
Household harvesting more than once a year
jul-DEC 2013
The indicators for the number of technical training workshops and participants have both increased slightly during this period. These are in fact the highest results over the last two years with over 130 workshops and almost 2000 participants. Female participants remain in the majority (80%) in this period, which has been the case for the entire NLV program.
Total Birth certificates jan-jun 2014
jul-Dec 2014
Total IDs jan-jun 2015
The number of community plans created has remained constant compared to July-Dec 2014, with almost 30 plans in this 2015 period.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 27
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
reporting on the number of participants. However, in this last 2015 period this seems to be corrected as 144 focus groups were held with 450 participants. The number of people involved has increased slightly in the period unlike the other indicators. The number of participants involved in Participatory Capacity and Vulnerability Analysis (PCVA) processes has decreased significantly from over 300 in late 2014 to only 30 in this 2015 period.
Community members involved in drr processes
No. of community members
7000 6000
This decreasing trend is also found in the number of people with disabilities engaging in partner activities. In the last period of 2014 there were over 400 people with disabilities involved in partner activities, but in the first six months of 2015 just over 150 people with disabilities were engaged.
5000 4000
Lastly, the two infrastructural outputs in the last six months by TCOE have continued into the 2015 period. The number of community action plans created with the community have increased again by 54, whereas the plans created by government have dropped to only three according to partner reports.
3000 2000 1000
Meetings
0 jan-jun 2013
jul-dec 2013
Trained as fieldworkers
jan-jun 2014 surveyed
jul-dec 2014 Participated in focus groups
JAN-JUN 2015
Facilitation and attendance at dialogues, forums, meetings and other interactions appear like simple interventions; however, it is these engagements that are the bedrock of partnership, government accountability, active citizenship, and community ownership. Across the No Longer Vulnerable objectives and partnership, partners have continued to engage with various stakeholders such as government officials, traditional authorities and community members in the Jan – June 2015 reporting period6.
participated in pcva process
The DRR work continues into this final phase with 11 partners reporting on these indicators. This demonstrates how this program has become integrated into many of the partners’ ongoing work. Many of the DRR indicators centre on engagement and research, and most of these have continued to decline in the Jan – June 2015 period which is to be expected given the formal closure of this program.
There are quite a number of interesting trends from the latest period as well as over the entire program; a few highlights will be presented within this report. The number of education and awareness raising meetings on health issues has decreased slightly from the last period to just under 2000. This remains the type of meeting most held within the health objective. The number of public community meetings has increased substantially with over 350 more meetings taking place in the Jan - June 2015 period led largely by Vhutshilo. Meetings with government officials and network meeting increased slightly. This gives some indication that the importance given to different types of stakeholders has varied which is to be expected in a responsive program. Meetings with traditional authorities decreased by only five which means it has essentially remained constant. This is a potential gap to flag as these meetings with traditional leaders have slowly decreased each period from July 2012 to June 2015.
As evident above, the number of fieldworkers continues to decline. As in previous reporting periods, the vast majority of those trained remain female fieldworkers (86%). Despite the efforts of the TCOE who surveyed 4800 community members in this 2015 period, this indicator has also decreased slightly. This is probably because other partners such as CHoiCe, Sophakama and RSS did not undertake this activity in this period according to their reporting. Interestingly, three quarters of the community members involved were male in the early 2015 period. For the focus group discussions, the figures in the July - Dec 2014 period contained reporting gaps whereby partners reported on meetings held without also
6
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.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 28
Compared to the end of 2014, the number for each of the meeting indicators has dropped within the WASH sector. Over the course of the program (from July 2012) almost 350 of these various meetings took place on WASH issues with most of those being network meetings (48%), followed by meetings with government (36%), and finally meetings with Traditional Authorities (16%).
for the Jan - June 2015 period was DRR for the first time in the NLV program with 41%, followed closely by health with 40%. This is due to the humanitarian response to the xenophobic violence discussed above. The social protection and rights theme in this period held 15% of the meetings.
For food security, the number of meetings held, facilitated and attended by partners in this last six months have all remained relatively constant compared to the previous six months in 2014 with only slight increases and decreases. The more interesting story is of course looking across the last three years. Network meetings with regards to food security and livelihoods have continued to be the highest within each period. Meetings with Traditional Authorities peaked in early 2014 but have decreased since then. Meetings with communities similarly peaked in early 2014 but have experienced a rise in early 2015. Lastly, meetings with government have remained relatively constant over the entire period with an average of 39 meetings being held by partners with government officials every six months.
As seen in the chart which follows, this is different to the cumulative results across the three year period where health holds 53% of the meetings, DRR has 22%, the social protection and rights theme holds 17%, followed closely by food security with 6%. WASH has had only 2% of the meetings held over the course of the program.
meetings per objective for full program 2012-2015
22%
The number of education and awareness raising meetings has remained constant compared to July-Dec 2014 with regards to access to rights, with over 800 meetings in 2015. The number of community, government, and network meetings was also stable. However, the meetings with Traditional Authorities dropped. This is concerning given that these meetings were already the lowest. Over the last two years, network meetings remain the highest after education and awareness raising meetings with about 90 occurring every six months. Meetings with government peaked in early 2014 and have decreased slightly since then. Community meetings were highest at the end of 2013. As with other DRR indicators, the number of education and awareness raising meetings continued to decline in this reporting period. On the other hand, the number of community dialogues held has skyrocketed to over 2500. This was driven by RSS and connects to their response to the xenophobic attacks in Durban which started in April 2015. Many of these dialogues took place over the last three months in the temporary shelters for foreigner nationals that were set up, as well as in communities. The number of network meetings has remained constant at just above 40 meetings in the last six months (Jan - June 2015).
drr
17%
rights
6%
53%
Health
Food security
2%
Wash
In terms of types of meetings facilitated/attended during the entire NLV program, education and awareness raising meetings are the strong majority with 56%, followed by public/ community meetings with 22% (which includes community dialogues), network meetings with 13%, and meetings with government officials at 7%. Meetings with Traditional Authorities are only 2% of all the meetings held. This is illustrated in the chart on the following page.
Overall, for the Jan – June 2015 reporting period, the vast majority of the meetings were no longer education and awareness raising meetings which stood at 46%. This is due to the sharp increase in public/community meetings (44%) within the health and DRR areas. On the other hand, the lowest amount of meetings continues to be with Traditional Authorities which has dropped further from over 70 in 2014 to 46. The objective with the most meetings
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 29
types of meetings facilitated/attended across the partnership for the full program 2012-2015
WASH
Health
Food Security
RIGHTS
DRR
meetings with government officials
13%
250
2%
No. of Meetings
network
56%
traditional authorities
education and awareness raising meetings
7%
govt officials
200 150 100 50 0
22%
jul-dec 2012
public meetings
jan-jun 2013
Jul-dec 2013
jan-jun 2014
Jul-dec 2014
JAN-JUN 2015
Jul-dec 2014
JAN-JUN 2015
network meetings 500 No. of Meetings
Looking deeper into these meeting indicators over time, it is interesting to note where partner priorities lay at different periods. For example, public meetings (led in DRR and health) has spiked in this final period (Jan - June 2015), while network and government meetings were highest in the first period (July - Dec 2012). Partners involved in food security held almost 70 meetings with Traditional Authorities in the Jan - June 2014 period which was the highest number for the entire program. It then dipped again in the last six months of 2014. This is clear in the final set of graphs which follow.
400 300 200 100 0
public/community meetings
jul-dec 2012
Jul-dec 2013
jan-jun 2014
meetings with traditional authorities
2500 2000
No. of Meetings
No. of Meetings
3000
jan-jun 2013
1500 1000 500 0 jul-dec 2012
jan-jun 2013
Jul-dec 2013
jan-jun 2014
Jul-dec 2014
80 60 40 20 0 jul-dec 2012
JAN-JUN 2015
jan-jun 2013
Jul-dec 2013
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 30
jan-jun 2014
Jul-dec 2014
JAN-JUN 2015
It is positive that partners have engaged much more in public/community meetings in this final period of the NLV program given the community centred approach to this work, as well as responsiveness to critical issues, for example xenophobic violence. However, it is concerning that the number of meetings with traditional authorities continues to decrease as these started from a low base and this kind of engagement is vital especially in rural and peri-urban areas where many partners continue to work.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 31
Concluding Remarks
Partners that have limited funding streams fear closing down of projects, offices, and staff losing jobs. This reporting period is one where the relationship focus of this partnership was both critical and tested. In this light, the program challenges highlighted in this period included the drug stock-outs and the inequitable health system, mistrust in government processes, and the difficulties associated with marketing produce within the food security and livelihoods projects. There are always many more lessons learnt then can be presented in this report. Some of the key points from the last six months are: the importance of networking and integration within and between organisations, and the critical aspect of organisational sustainability.
The South African program context remains strained, as many stressors persist such as high unemployment and poverty. Food security is also becoming more and more of a concern in the country and the region, and resource limitations in the civil society space continue to challenge our partners. Despite these factors, the partner organisations have continued to move forward in their programming as evident in the achievements over the last six months, such as the progress in organisational capacity and sustainability strategies. Partners have furthered their work in supporting active citizenship, for example the electricity increase campaign led by PACSA, and various influencing strategies such as those driven by Biowatch. In various areas, partners are engaging more with one another and with other key stakeholders like government. In this reporting period, it is evident that the networking, partnerships, and link and learn events are adding value to organisational development as knowledge of staff is deepened and spaces are created for collective understanding of developmental issues confronting most communities. This understanding then forms the basis for collective influencing strategies that target policy makers through raising grass-root voices and getting people from the ground ‘at the decision making table’. Gains in partnerships have been achieved among different stakeholders. Partners’ joint program reviews, planning events, and exchange visits assisted in strengthening partnerships and increasing linkages, sharing expectations and learning from the program. These events strengthened learning opportunities for partners to plan especially regarding sustainability and value for money.
Thus, within the final period of the formal No Longer Vulnerable program, partners continued to address persistent challenges, work towards achievements and identify opportunities in this time of change. This is reflected in both the qualitative reports and the quantitative data (output summaries). Partners, OAU staff, and other stakeholders are encouraged to use the lessons and momentum from this program within the final nine month closure period and beyond.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 32
annexure 1:
Management response to nlv midterm
review and recommendations Management Response to the South Africa Midterm Review ‘No Longer Vulnerable’ Strategic Plan 2013 -2015
4. The Rao and Kelleher Framework/Strategy: the MTR aimed to interrogate whether the framework has been used effectively to monitor the changes happening in the program.
Prepared by: Francesca Alice
Position: Project Coordinator
Reviewed by: Allan Moolman Glenise Levendal Wendy Lubbee Pumla Mabizela
Position: Country Director (South Africa) Development Effectiveness Manager (South Africa) Deputy Country Director (South Africa) Program manager (South Africa)
The process of responding to the recommendations was done through a consultative process over two days, 10th and 11 September 2014. Those involved were two Managers, Deputy Country Director and Country Director, facilitated by Program Coordinator, Francesca Alice. The consultative process resulted in the development of a Management Response and Action plan. This process was further expanded to the program team for further discussion, understanding and final input, especially around the implementation of the action plan.
Cleared by: Allan Moolman
Position: Country Director
Completion Date: 8 Sept 2014
Report Submission: 7 Oct 2014
Evaluator : Scott Drimie
Oxfam Task Manager: Pumla Mabizela assisted by Francesca Alice
The MTR report indicated that the integrated approach is pioneering new effective ways resulting in positive change for the people with whom Oxfam works. The report indicates that integration is happening across Oxfam’s work through partners and communities and experiences are articulated in the report. This approach has allowed civil society partners to “identify the links” between factors underpinning social vulnerability and to prioritise these according to what beneficiaries articulate. This empowers partners and communities to begin engaging with the structural underpinning of vulnerability, such as holding local government to account for non-delivery and poor service delivery. The MTR report identified challenges in the design, implementation, management and achievement of the program, to meet the objectives and outcomes.
Background The main purpose of the Mid-term Review (MTR) was to determine what happened over the 18 months of program implementation. The MTR was to reflect on four key areas:
Response to Overall Findings The review highlighted areas of work that still needed further focus and attention going forward. These included health; integration; vulnerability and gender; social accountability; the integral framework as well as the theory of change. These and other issues are elaborated in the management response below.
1. Progress: what progress has the program made towards intended objectives? 2. The integrated Approach: was the program successful in integrating the different programs and approaches into one; what where the successes and inhibitors of integration? 3. Vulnerability: the program sought to use vulnerability as a measure and entry point for programming. How far has the program gone in defining this term and has the program been able to measure changes in vulnerability?
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 33
Key issues and recommendations No.
1
Management Response
Recommendation
Accepted (Y / N / Partially)
INTEGRATION AS A WAY OF WORKING
Yes
Promote opportunities for conscious reflection amongst Oxfam staff to interrogate and reflect on the grassroots experiences of “integration” more critically to derive a set of principles that might inform future work.
Response
Key Actions
Timeframe
At this stage of the implementation management have come to the realisation that the NLV program is complex and thus it is important that Oxfam staff develop its thinking and learning internally.
Coordinate face-to-face events and develop learning papers on broad concepts of:
Start in Nov 2014 and be finalized in April 2015 so that all pieces can feed into the bigger partner event in June 2015
• Integration • Vulnerability and Gender • Social accountability (to look at contestation as a means of embracing this with gender as a cross cutting theme).
Tracking Responsible person/unit
Different people in the team will hold different pieces: Inger/Pumla Renee Wendell/Nic
Use the established institutional arrangements that Oxfam has a learning organisation at local level to stimulate experimentation, adaptation and learning.
2
ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP: Articulate a multi-pronged approach that can be targeted at national level or within a particular community to link organisations across a particular issue. Strengthen the national civil society platform Awethu! to build solidarity in confronting development challenges in South Africa and contribute to addressing the fragmented nature of many civil society attempts to hold the state and private sector to account.
Yes
The work is telling us that it is important for solidarity to exist in South Africa in order to bring about change. Continue with AWETHU! Platform but take a more instrumental role to develop a multi-directional relationship rather than oneway funding
To develop vignettes on different approaches (best practices plus key lessons). For example: Community health worker guidelines, NHI work, Sanitation that TU is doing, Shukumisa Campaign, Early Childhood Development
Ongoing and all the vignettes should be done by April 2015 to feed to the bigger event in June 2015. June 2015 By End Dec 2014
• At Voice 2 (partner event) how partners how can AWETHU! Be different from what has come before and how Oxfam can stimulate ‘bottom up’ action as a principle of engagement • AWETHU! maybe could be grounded in the health conversations • Set aside some time for deliberate conversation
By end Dec 2014
Wendell (managing consultant) Allan/Pumla/ Glenise
Status
Comments
Progress has been made on the NLV learning pieces: in April 2015 the group of Oxfam writers participated in a facilitated writing retreat to finalise the structure and content of their individual writing pieces and think through a process of getting input/ reviews on their work. Since the retreat, through the support of Scott Drimie (consultant) the writers have been guided in various ways to work towards the completion of the papers. The project was ambitious with regards to completion dates. Finalization of some papers. are behind schedule due to time constraints, the efforts and energies required for the process of writing and concluding it in a format expectable for the targeted audience.
It is hoped by end of October all the papers will have been finalized as they need to be ready to be included in the final documentation (Coffee Table Book) of OAU’s work in South Africa.
As the results of OAU program in South Africa coming to an end in March 2016 some initiatives had to either postponed or be cancelled. The ‘voices 2’ was then postponed to November of 2015. This event which was to have to focal areas: linking and learning and celebration which was to bring all the partners together in one venue. Due to other circumstances this event now is taking a different approach which will be one day provincial events instead of one big 3 day event. 20 short stories (vignettes) have been written, will be packed as a collection and distributed as well as individual vignettes used through the final publication to illustrate partner work around different topics for the final publication. A partnership/contribution towards AWETHU! And OAU was terminated. The reason was influenced by the closure of the program and that the team needed to shift its focus than engaging with new area of work.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 34
Key issues and recommendations No.
3
Management Response
Recommendation
Accepted (Y / N / Partially)
GENDER:
Yes
Continue to place women more centrally as both actors in development and as primary beneficiaries of Oxfam’s work.
Tracking Responsible person/unit
Response
Key Actions
Timeframe
Consider gender and vulnerability together in the reflection activity in item 1
Host ‘Gender Conversations’ internally and as part of broader, ongoing learning strategy
Ongoing until end 2015 then write learning paper by March 2016
Renee
Due to the resignation of Renee who was assigned with this task and the preparations of office closure this internal learning had to be scrapped from the plan.
Add to item 2 AWETHU! Activity (Voice 2 event)
Wendell (managing consultant)
June 2015
Include as a vignette for item 1 reflection activity, for example, the Joe Slovo moratorium (Sophakama) and the Wage Bill (WEGB)
Wendell (managing consultant)
Creation of ‘spaces’ for dialogues was not done. However, in terms of vignettes and AWETHU! See point 1 and 2.
Accept first recommendation: NLV is already framed as a women’s rights program
Status
Consider a nuanced approach to specificity and location to account for the different forms of discrimination in the urban and rural contexts for women.
4
EMBRACING CONTESTATION:
Yes
Create participatory spaces to enable communities to express disagreements, contest power and outcomes, and reach decisions. Ensure these spaces are structured to expand dialogue and enable the emergence of new solutions to contribute to building the strength of a community.
To create spaces that allows communities, partners and Oxfam to talk about the contestation issues. The work is telling us to engage in these spaces now and that we assist our partners to take up the challenge.
Ongoing to be finalized by April 2015
A vignette titled “Sophakama: Building Joe Slovo’s future” covering the community engagement with government around the housing being put up in the township.
Include as a general vignette, ‘lessons from partners’
The Wage Bill vignette was not done due to time constraints.
Understand the role of contestation in planning processes for better understandings of how to develop people’s capacity to build resilience through collective action.
5
EMBRACING COMMUNITY COMPLEXITY: Ensure that the experiences of how to do this are an explicit learning and are documented as such across the organisation.
A vignette titled “Clinic committees: the strategy of community mobilization”
Yes
This will include examples of underestimating complexity alongside when it has been factored in. For example: too simple food security interventions that have had negative outcomes as compared to holistic interventions modelled by the DRR/Urban work.
Commission a specific vignette
Wendell/Inger (managing consultant)
Ongoing to be finalized by April 2015
See point 2 – that vignettes on different topics were written and are going through the final stages, so they can be shared with partners and wider community by October.
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 35
Comments
Key issues and recommendations No.
6
Recommendation
Response
Key Actions
Timeframe
HEALTH:
Yes
This is to engage with:
Undertake a focus piece on health through the reflection in item 1
Nancy/Varshi
Design a two-pronged strategy to establish and demonstrate an effective system while simultaneously mobilising people and building partnerships to demand an adequate and functioning service at district and local level from government structures.
7
Management Response
Accepted (Y / N / Partially)
WASH:
What are the sites of contestations around health?
Tracking Responsible person/unit
Finalized by April 2015
Undertake targeted analysis of the health section of NDP
Where is Oxfam best placed to act, and how? Look at linking the ‘supply’ (Policy, NDP) to ‘demand’ (action at community level) and in the gap between these, what new forms of organising might exist. It has been acknowledged that this is huge, thus, the questions are being asked
Yes
Recommendation accepted as is already happening
FOOD SECURITY AND LIVELIHOODS:
Yes
Have rejected farmer’s association as they do not exist is South Africa
Support farmer associations to advocate directly for the support government often fails to provide. Support more explicit consciousnessraising in connection with livelihood work to bring people together to explore questions such as ‘why is our situation like this?’ and ‘what is our capacity to create change?’ to create more holistic strategies for addressing vulnerability.
A targeted piece focusing on health will still be undertaken and form part of the NLV Learning pieces. However, the “paper” will be completed differently than anticipated, i.e. making use of an external writer instead of staff members See comment on point 8 related to NDP
John
Ongoing
On-going program and also wrapping up the activities. This includes: program evaluation and final documentation of the approaches and learnings from the program over these years.
Wendell
Ongoing
Glenise/Nolucky
February 2015
Vignettes around this partners and themes have been documented and at final stages.
Explicitly integrate WASH training with a range of issues as this is proving to be an effective mechanism to address vulnerability in a holistic manner.
8
Status
Commission vignettes: • Bela Bela Clinic • JAW and tribal leaders • BioWatch and Agro-Ecology • Umzi Wethu – Youth Employment Connect to item 6, action 2 and engage with Women on Farm’s analysis of the food security section of the NDP:
Due to the time constraints and the changes resulting in OAU closing its program in SA engaging with the National Development Plan (NDP) has to be called off.
• Hold a workshop event over 3 days and run with health analysis as parallel.
Review and potentially challenge assumptions within the South African National Development Plan (NDP).
oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 36
Comments
Key issues and recommendations No.
9
Management Response
Recommendation
Accepted (Y / N / Partially)
ACCESS TO RIGHTS/SOCIAL PROTECTION:
Yes
Response
Key Actions
Timeframe
See item 1, recommendation 1
Wendell/Nick
Consolidate of National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) work and formalisation of relationship with Cooperatives and Governance Affairs (COGTA)
Benny/Inger
Tracking Responsible person/unit
Status
See point 1
Review whether No Longer Vulnerable can harness social accountability mechanisms to strengthen its work.
10
DRR:
Yes
Consolidate and build new opportunities to push the boundaries of disaster preparedness and risk reduction.
11
VULNERABILITY:
This is being translated into the new Urban DRR program and has been integrated into the humanitarian strategy for the Southern African region
Yes
See item 1, recommendation 1
INTEGRAL FRAMEWORK AS THEORY OF CHANGE: Share lessons and raise awareness of the “integral framework” both internally and amongst partners, as a more explicit part of programming and strategy development.
Yes
The MTR has indicated the importance of Oxfam team engaging in learning, thus, internal learning sessions will be arranged so as to build staff capacity in order to be able to build partners capacity.
Undertake mapping to see whether there are tools and strategies that can be drawn out and shared – there may emerge a set of principles from this work.
In April 2015 a collaborated response was done by the Oxfam in the country. The Durban office worked very closed with RSS, DHC, Save the Children, other NGO and City of Durban in the response. For future and ongoing engagements the work has been passed to OZA.
See point 1. In addition to this respond in point 1 and end of phase evaluation will be commissioned to explore the key learnings from the notion of vulnerability through the NLV program
Prepare and publish a paper at end of program focused on what Oxfam has learnt about the notion of vulnerability as a key learning as well as an important resource generally.
12
Ongoing
Pumla/Allan
See point 1 for progress.
Pumla /Allan
Not achieved but the paper is in progress, see point 1.
Glenise
Develop a framework for using the integral framework as an analytical tool, a test of the Oxfam program, and then with partners.
Time was not enough to engage with the full review of the gender MEL tool; however an initial updating was done and some of the lessons may be included in the Final Publication and BuZA program
Review the gender MEL tool and see if it can be extended
Socialisation: •The MTR learning note on recommendations was sent to partners with survey link for partner feedback. •The recommendations and actions have been socialized to the Oxfam program team for greater clarity and understanding. oxfam australia in south africa • no longer vulnerable report for period January 2015 to June 2015 37
Comments