The South African government remains firm in its primary objective of improving the quality of life for people of South Africa and is on course to building a caring society. This policy trajectory highlights the centrality of community development as a discipline, to locate itself as a central hub for engaging with the communities towards building and strengthening their livelihood capabilities and strategies in order to counter poverty and vulnerabilities through social facilitation and mobilisation.
Most certainly, this approach towards development would require a skilled and capable workforce.
Therefore the department of Social Development has initiated the Community Development Professionalisation process which aims to create a community development system that consists of knowledgeable and well-trained community development practitioners.
Therefore as part of the process a Community Skills Audit was conducted in order to assess the existing capacity, qualifications, skills and competencies of Community Development Practitioners and Managers. After this the inaugural summit for the professionalisation of community development practitioners was held in October 2011.
The purpose of the Inaugural Summit for the Professionalisation of Community Development was to create awareness within the community development sector about the process towards professionalisation of Community Development which has resulted in the existence of standardised Community Development Qualifications and also to create a platform to consult stakeholders within the community development sector to collectively map a process towards the professionalisation of the practice of community development in South Africa.
The summit also gave a platform to get buy-in from the sector to kick start the process of conceptualising the establishment of a Community Development Association which will serve as a foundation and also carry the responsibility for establishment of Community Development Professional Body.
Emanating from the summit the Community Development Professionalisation Steering Committee has proposed the hosting of a national workshop and provincial briefing sessions. The purpose of these sessions is to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are adequately informed and mobilised around planned objectives towards the professionalisation process. It is against this background that the department has planned Community Development Professionalisation national and provincial Road Shows.
The Northern Cape province road show will thus be held as forth:
Date: 25 April 2012
Time: 08h00 to 15h30
Venue: Bikers Church, No. 03 Smart Street, Southridge, Kimberley
The purpose of the road show will be to:
- Create awareness and solicit broader stakeholder buy-in at individual provinces level within the community development sector about the new Community Development Qualification Frameworks at Levels 4, 5 & 8
- Engage critical stakeholders on the upcoming Community Development Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Pilot Project and;
- Provide a platform to engage around the Community Development Professionalisation process (past, present & future) including a process towards the establishment of an Association for Community Development.
The media is hereby invited to attend the road show.
Enquiries:
Conrad Fortune
Cell: 0798730679
E-mail: cfortune@ncpg.gov.za
