Summit 2019: Moshupa Sub District Council-Economic Justice

The council seeks to improve the community’s standard of living and economically empower community members. In pursuance of this objective the council has carried out various projects through their economic empowerment schemes such as the Pitseng Washing Powder project that has 11 women under it and the Moshupa Toilet Paper project that has 16 women and 1 man under it. Both projects also employ 9 people living with disabilities. To execute its mandate the council engages different stakeholders including the department of Animal Production, Department of Crop Production; Churches, Department of forestry and Range Resources, Local Enterprise Authority, Department of Youth, Wildlife Department, CEDA and OSET and AGRI business.

The council’s budget for gender related projects was P235 500 and it was able to reach 309 beneficiaries. 276 of the said beneficiaries were women while 33 were men.

The council uses three different monitoring methods to measure its efforts. The first is Assumption Monitoring which measures the success or failure of the project based on the set project mandate. The second is Financial monitoring which supervises the management of project finances by beneficiaries and the third is Impact monitoring which observes the long-term impact of the project and whether it improves the general living condition of the beneficiary.

Some of the council’s beneficiaries include Ms Olebogeng Kgabanyane, who started out hiring out traditional pots and expanded into a decor business which employs two people on a temporary basis. Another beneficiary is Kgomotso Atlhopheng, who is a fashion and design beneficiary that used the proceeds of her business build a 2-bedroom house and a tuck-shop.

Through feedback from beneficiaries of the fashion and design training, the council realized that some of the courses need to be updated. One of the council’s major challenges is the lack of commitment by some beneficiaries and lack off lack marketing skills by beneficiaries to sell their products. The council also faces a communication barrier when working with PWDs like the deaf who speak sign language.

The council sustains its projects through mass monitoring of projects in Manyana. It also sustains its projects through the provision of business skills to equip beneficiaries with financial management skills.

Next steps

The council is preparing beneficiaries to graduate from the program. The council intends to continue to create employment in the community and improve the livelihood of community members. The council also intends to improve the competence of officers by training them in sign language.