The district of Chris Hani District is plagued by several social ills, including amongst others, unemployment, substance abuse, lack of community development initiatives, misuse of social grants and child neglect, gender-based violence, vulnerability of people with disabilities and financial abuse of older persons who bear the burden of being bread winners. These issues were highlighted by the community at a dialogue convened by the NDA where close to 100 community members attended. The dialogues are central to community engagements, which is one of the NDA Key performance indicators in the province. The NDA will continue with community engagement beyond the planned iCROP.

"In supporting the district development model (DDM), community engagements, through dialogues and profiling, are the starting point for the NDA to gain entry into communities and understand their development context. These engagements help uncover the community's unique challenges, existing and proposed development initiatives, available resources, and strengths. They also aim to strengthen relationships between communities and government departments. Thus far, dialogues have been conducted across three wards with 20 villages and one township" says Mrs Nokulunga Skeyi, Eastern Cape Provincial Manager.

"The NDA is here today to lend support in bringing our services directly to the community and to provide a platform for residents to present the development issues raised during the dialogues" , says Mr Thabani Buthelezi, Acting Chief Executive Officer of the NDA.

The NDA also offers capacity building training targeting 60 Civil Society Organisations in local communities in Basic Bookkeeping & Financial Management, Cooperative Governance & Compliance for ECD Centres, Resource Mobilization, Entrepreneurial Mindset and Mindset-change. These trainings are conducted in collaboration with the Services SETA and German Cooperative and Raiffeisen Confederation (DGRV).

In response to the malnutrition report released by the SA Human Rights Commission, the DSD Portfolio is leading the implementation of the Malnutrition Intervention Program in the Province. The NDA is facilitating initiatives aimed at feeding over 5000 malnourished children over a period of 10 months in the Chris Hani District. In addition, 34 Elderly Care Centres have been identified for support.

Going forward and in response to the issues raised during community engagements, the NDA will embark on the following activities in ward 17:

•  Continue with community engagements in-order to get deeper understanding of development issues.
•  Organize stakeholder engagements to get support for community initiatives
•  Assist community members to formalize their structures and register with relevant registration bodies (NPO/ CIPC)
•  Identify economic activities relevant to the community and facilitate a process of establishing Community Owned Enterprises (COEs)
• ·Provide financial support for the established COEs
• ·Mobilise financial and non –financial resources from NDA strategic partners
•  Continue to respond to malnutrition incidents identified by Department of Health by providing nutritious packs.
• ·7Training of CSOs on Entrepreneurial mindset by Services SETA

The Minister's visit coincides with Nelson Mandela month, with the theme "It's still in our hands to combat poverty and inequity," as publicized by the South African Government. It is this theme that propelled the Minister to bring the basket of comprehensive social development portfolio services to address the ongoing challenges of poverty and inequality.