Home

The People’s Contract for Faster and Shared Growth

Building a People’s Contract for Faster and Shared Growth was Phase Two of ESST’s mass mobilisation campaign to enable communities throughout South Africa, from the peri-urban developing areas to the remotest regions, to take their first practical steps towards accessing training and entrepreneurial opportunities created by government to implement the Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA). ASGISA aims to increase economic growth by 6-8% by 2010 and to halve poverty by 2014. Our focus therefore was towards sustainable change. We have galvanised and directed the hopes and energies of communities towards transformation and partnership.

As an underpinning to Building a People’s Contract for Faster and Shared Growth, a 32-page end-user-friendly publication and a Facilitator’s Guide were developed. A comprehensive training manual was also developed for ESST coordinators in the provinces.

The implementation of the project centred on the establishment of a close relationship with GCIS regional managers and a host of other stakeholders in each province. To lay the foundation for full-scale implementation, ESST made presentations to stakeholders and conducted train-the-trainer and beneficiary workshops, which formed the basis for further roll-out activities. Together with provincial stakeholders, we designed provincial implementation strategies. This meant that our project was implemented with local expertise.

By the end of 2006, more than five hundred workshops had been conducted nationally. These outstanding outcomes could only have been achieved through close partnership with government at national, regional and local levels.

Another consequence of working flexibility into our methodology in order to be more relevant and specific was that the format at workshops changed from one workshop to another. Where other programme representatives, government department representatives, LED, GCIS SCO or CDW availed themselves of the opportunity to give presentations on their programmes or programme access, the workshop took up the entire day. Many of our coordinators took up to an hour explaining how to put together a business plan. These services as well as the other requests from beneficiaries were not included in the workshop format ESST usually followed – but we allowed ourselves to be directed by the felt needs of the community as well as the practical requirements of accessing government programmes. To Top

Workshop Format

1. Opening by a GCIS official or Councillor and introduction of guest speakers
2. Introduction of ESST facilitator and brief background of the People’s Contract
3. Participants introduce themselves and break the ice
4. Participants discuss community needs with input from participants .
6. Participants survey opportunities described in end-user material using a shared learning, shared meaning making model.
7. Facilitator summarises and time is given for input from government departments.
8. Action groups are formed according to interest. They devise a plan of action, conduct a SWOT analysis, elect a group liaison to liaise with the local government employed community development worker and set a time for the next meeting.
9. Report-back to whole forum and a way forward is discussed, including: How will the process be taken to communities at large, how will it be sustained, who and how will it be followed up.

Training

We provide training and support to our coordinators in all the provinces. This training is also learner-focused, building on the rich store of knowledge our coordinators have as former teachers, social workers, principals and community leaders. This year, ESST developed a comprehensive facilitator manual to guide them in the numerous skills required of them, including project management, oral and written communication skills, report writing, presentation skills and monitoring and evaluation skills.

Monitoring and Evaluation

All of ESST’s projects are subjected to stringent evaluation. The impact of a project is measured according to formative and summative criteria. It is measured quantitatively – the extent to which the content has become part of operational knowledge, e.g. the matric results of our maths and science learners; access of beneficiaries to government economic opportunities as a result of our People’s Contract intervention; and access of HIV/Aids affected women to job creation opportunities and other support as a result of the My Life, My Rights intervention. We also evaluate qualitatively – testing the individual and corporate responses of beneficiaries to the project, its educational material and implementation activities. We conduct structured interviews with individuals and groups to assess impact up to six months after implementation. Data is then consolidated and processed for client purposes.

The fieldworkers are freelance contractors who work regularly for ESST. Their standard of performance – and the accuracy of their data collection and reporting – is high, since future work depends on consistently above-average performances. The national project coordinator has the added task of verifying both performance and data collection on a random basis. This ensures a high level of project integrity at insignificant additional cost.

Project Reporting

Field staff report to their regional coordinators on a regular basis (usually weekly or fortnightly, but sometimes on the basis of task completion). The regional coordinators report to the national project coordinator on a weekly to fortnightly basis, while the latter reports directly to the project leader and to Head Office. Project formats range from verbal reporting to comprehensive data sheets and narrative reports.

– Project Review
During the development of our projects, project review is an ongoing process based on progress and field testing. Formal project review takes place at the end of every 3-month period over a twelve month cycle, unless specific problems or unforeseen circumstances necessitate interim reviews.

9 Kommissaris Street, Welgemoed 7530 PO Box 6460, Welgemoed 7538 Telephone No. +27 21 913 7710, Fax No. +27 21 913 7727
ESST is a non-governmental organisation registered with the Master of the South African High Court. Registration No. T800/89 Non-profit No. 000249NPO