Modern, Growing, Successful Province

Non - profit organisation speech by Premier

Address by the Premier of Northern Cape, Ms. Hazel Jenkins, on the occasion of the Non-Profit Organisation’s Gala Evening, Kimberley, 24 November 2010

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Programme Director,

MEC Alvin Botes and Members of the Executive Council

Members of the Provincial Legislature

Executive Mayor and Councillors

Our religious and traditional leaders

Leaders of NPO’s and CBO’s

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Programme Director,

We are deeply encouraged by the attendance by so many non –profit organizations willing to play an active role in the national effort to push back the frontiers of poverty and contribute to close the gap between the poor and the rich.

Across the country and around the world, non-profit organizations are implementing programs that are improving the quality of life of people, and they are often doing so against heavy odds and with very limited resources if any at all.

The successes that non-profit organizations have demonstrated in addressing social issues are immense, and have generated increased demand for their services world-wide.

The theme for this conference is: “EXPANSION OF SERVICES BEYOND OUR COMMUNITIES”. The focus in this regard is to discuss strategies on how to grow Non Profit Organisations into more established and efficient functioning organizations, strengthening their capacity in order for them to broaden their footprint in service delivery across the province.

As government we welcome the constructive collaborative role that NPO’s are playing and would like to ensure that we create an environment in which NPOs can flourish and grow into formidable entities.

Programme Director, each historical period defines specific challenges of national progress and leadership.

Realising this Frantz Fanon wrote in 'On National Culture” that:

"Each generation must out of relative obscurity discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it."

Further to this, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan once proclaimed that “to live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.”

Therefore in 2001 propelled by the Kofi Annan’s assertion, United Nations member states of which South Africa is part of, and 23 international organisations chose eight (8) development goals to be achieved by the year 2015. These eight (8) development goals, now known as the Millennium Development Goals was a realisation of our generation’s mission to reduce extreme poverty, to achieve universal primary education, to promote gender equity and empowering women, to reduce child mortality rates, to improve maternal health, to fighting disease epidemics such as AIDS, and to developed a global Partnership for Development.

Programme Director,

By choosing these eight (8) goals, as member states, we affirmed the relevance of the words of former US President, Franklin D Roosevelt when he said, “No country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources. Demoralization caused by vast unemployment is our greatest extravagance. Morally, it is the greatest menace to our social order…. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

Therefore our shared vision for South Africa, is the vision of a South Africa that is democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous; a country in which all the people enjoy a better life.

This vision is based on the age-old values of Ubuntu, of selflessness, sacrifice and service in a manner that ensures that the interests of the people take precedence over our desires as individuals, therefore in all our endeavours as a government we are guided by the values of “Batho Pele”.

Therefore, in 2004 when we adopted our Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS), in pursuit of ensuring that the interest of our people is put first, we identified the critical areas of our economy which are crucial to such goals as job creation, the modernisation and enhancement of our competitiveness of the economy and the achievement of sustainable high shared growth.

We identified developmental objectives that are central to promoting shared growth, diversification and transformation of the provincial economy, the reduction of poverty through social development, the development of the requisite levels of human and social capital, the improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of governance and other development institutions and enhancing infrastructure for economic growth and social development.

Therefore when this administration took office, one of the first things we identified as urgent, was the need to identify the most needy households in our province to enhance our planning so as to ensure that our strategies and resources are aimed at providing a safety net for those who have too little, those who are vulnerable and poor.

The adoption of the Balelapa Household Survey by the Executive Council is therefore a tool aimed at Integrating of our services across all spheres of government, to inform our planning, budgeting and decision making in pursuit of putting the interest of those we serve, first.

Programme Director,

Through the Department of Social Development, we stand committed to the agenda of social transformation that is embodied in the principle of social justice and the Bill of Rights contained in our Constitution. The Department must at all times endeavour to create a better life for the poor, vulnerable and excluded people in our society.

However, for this to happen we must ensure that we work in an integrated manner with all sectors of our society, government departments and all spheres of government, faith-based communities, the business sector, organized labour, and our Non-Profit Organisations.

We are mindful of the challenges that continue to face our people; however we are hopeful that through our shared determination and conviction as partners in social development, we shall overcome.

Today we are mindful of the words of Albert Bandura when he said, “In order to succeed, people need a sense of self-efficacy, to struggle together with resilience to meet the inevitable obstacles and inequities of life.”

And therefore in providing our people with a sense of self-efficacy, we must ensure that we share a common vision as government and you, our partners in social development. We must ensure that we continue to create a conducive environment to enable you to enhance your capacity as we struggle together with resilience to meet the inevitable obstacles and inequities of life.

We know that as government alone, our efforts will be inadequate, however, through our partnership, we shall overcome the bondages of poverty and deprivation that continues to hold our people hostage in our province.

One of the major challenges facing us today is the need to activate a sense of common purpose on behalf of all sectors of society. The chances of forging such a sense of purpose will depend on the willingness of all sectors to participate in genuine social partnership and dialogue, while recognizing the independent roles, responsibilities and special capacities of each.

Therefore as we gather here today, we need to reflect on our common and shared vision of a democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous country. A country guided by both the Ubuntu and Batho-Pele values.

I am confident that you will actively participate in all conference proceedings at the 3rd biennial NPO Conference. For me it is key that your inputs will help to set the NPO development agenda in this province for the next 2 years. This administration acknowledges the prominent space Non Profit Organisation’s occupy within the development arena and we invite you to dynamically occupy that space.

Therefore your participation over the next 2 days at this conference bears testimony to your willingness to ensure genuine social partnership and dialogue for the development of our people. Over the next 2 days you will be deliberating, share and learn.

Let us therefore be bold in our resolve, let’s go where no one have treaded before, let’s set new standards and let us be the change we all long for.

Through our collective effort we can and will restore the human
dignity and protection of our people's basic right to live a more humane life: that no one will go hungry, that mothers and children have access to health care, that children be assured of education, that women and people with disabilities are empowered and do not suffer discrimination.

Programme Director,

Our collective resolve therefore needs to reflect integration, an alignment with what government wants to achieve over the next 4 years, but most importantly a resolve that puts people at the centre of all our development efforts, one that speaks to the needs, hearts, dreams and aspirations of our people, a resolve that puts people first.

All this is possible if we continue to work in a collaborative manner aimed at ensuring that we are giving our people a sense of self-efficacy, to struggle together with resilience to meet the inevitable obstacles and inequities of life.

Forward with the Non Profit Organisations, Forward!

I thank you.Air Jordan

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