Help your community to identify pressing issues in your neighbourhood.
The Action for Accountability (A4A) project believes South Africans are experiencing a crisis of accountability.
Those with power have let the communities down – from the highest levels of government to local leaders.
A4A project wants to assist communities in organising and directing cooperation among the communities and local leaders.
The project is implemented by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, Accountability Lab South Africa and the Public Service Accountability Monitor and co-funded by the European Union. This project is carried out in Gauteng (Lenasia, Finetown, and Mondeor), as well as in Makhanda, Eastern Cape.
Dawood Raphalalane, community facilitator in Ward 54 said the A4A team held a public meeting in Mondeor (Ward 54), to introduce the project in June. During the meeting, participants discussed their understanding of accountability and their satisfaction levels with practices of accountability in Mondeor.
“The public meeting was followed by a series of meetings with various community members and organisations to incorporate them into the project. This action was to recognise that effectively addressing issues of accountability requires broad collaboration across all sectors, including councillors and municipalities,” he said.
To get involved there are three avenues Mondeor community members can join:
• Civic action teams: These are community action teams who will identify community problems, connect community groups with local representative and drive the change and accountability process.
• Community frontline activists: This group will collect data from community members to identify what communities need and how they want it addressed. This data will be used to strengthen feedback between communities and public servants and representatives.
• Activist media fellows: The media fellows will be trained in digital storytelling and media skills to report on how authorities are carrying out their service delivery responsibilities and how communities are engaged to enhance accountability.
Shaazia Ebrahim from the project said this is not a policing project. “By convening these three groups, the A4A team hopes community members will be able to identify pressing issues in the community and work collectively to hold authorities accountable to solve these challenges. The A4A team invites everyone to learn about accountability and collaboration.
“If you’re willing to work with us, we’ll work with you and hopefully we can collaborate to make the community work better for its people. The A4A team will commit to using its networks to apply pressure and demand accountability,” noted Ebrahim.
If you want to get involved in the project or invite them to make a presentation to your organisation, contact Raphalalane on 067 6269 520, WhatsApp 065 567 9383, or email: dawood@kathradafoundation.org