• Phuhlisani turns 10 Phuhlisani friends and associates gathered on Friday 5th December to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, hear plans for the launch of an NPO wing and pay tribute to Boyce Williams forced into retirement due to ill health. |
• Cape Winelands District partners with Phuhlisani Tirelo Bosha Public Service Improvement Facility approves a CWDM proposal for a process of research-led social dialogue, policy and strategy development for the long term settlement of farm workers on and off farms |
• Contributing to national and provincial land reform summits Phuhlisani has been active at the National Tenure Summit and Western Cape Land Reform Summit. Presentations and papers are available for download |
• Resolving complex tenure and land rights cases Mediation and community facilitation panelists from Phuhlisani are working to address a range of complex projects |
• Steady progress in Ebenheaser A community development and land acquisition plan complete and a new CPA registered |
• In search of solutions at Ebenheaser Towards a community land acquisition and development plan |
• Smallholder agriculture scans complete Phuhlisani has a completed a scan of smallholder agriculture in the Overberg and John Taolo Gaetsewe Districts |
• How can smallholder producers be best supported? Consulting roleplayers in the Overberg and John Taolo Gaetsewe Districts on the DAFF Strategic Plan for Smallholder Producers |
• Supporting Lanquedoc Housing Association (LHA) Identifying options for future management |
• Phuhlisani obtains full accreditation with the AGRISETA as a training service provider Phuhlisani can now offer SAQA accredited training in agricultural production management |
• Presenting at Carnegie 3 Phuhlisani presents on research undertaken for the Programme for Support to Pro-Poor Policy Development on the need for a poverty information service |
• Facilitating policy dialogue for a new policy on extension and advisory services Phuhlisani is working with DAFF and a range of state and non state development actors to develop policy options and facilitate a national dialogue resulting in the development of new policy for South Africa |
• New dedicated extension policy website soon to go live, Twitter stream starts today Join the national conversation to shape a new extension policy for agriculture, forestry and fisheries. |
• Phuhlisani professional team to facilitate the development of a national policy for agricultural, forestry and fisheries extension in partnership with DAFF and sector stakeholders The Ford Foundation has awarded Phuhlisani a one year project grant to support the policy development process. |
• Ursula Smith: Three years with Phuhlisani Ursula Smith joined Phuhlisani on the 1st June 2009 as our admin and logistics manager. She has been a co owner of Phuhlisani since January 2011. |
• From subject to citizen The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC) produces a comprehensive review of the National Development Plan - Vision 2030 |
• Working with the Land Rights Management Facility to regularise Communal Property Associations (CPAs) Phuhlisani is udertaking a fact finding visit to the Khomani San in the Northern Cape and is working to mediate a dispute between Anglo- American Farms Investment Holdings and the Languedoc Housing Association. |
• Phuhlisani working with Eco Africa to develop a community development and land acquisition plan in Ebenheaser Phuhlisani is acting as the task manager for the co-development of a plan to enable disbursement of funds from a settled Restitution Claim |
• Phuhlisani appointed to undertake a rapid review of Area Based Plans for Land Reform countrywide The Department of Land Affairs introduced an area based approach to land reform in 2006 to locate land reform within municipal IDPs and align it with the programmes of other sectors of government. |
• Multiple perspectives on changing agricultural employment patterns in the Hex and Breede River Valleys A wide range of state and civil society development actors gathered in De Doorns to participate in the second Cape Winelands District research led round table dialogue |
• Strategies to support small holders PLAAS has produced Research Report 41 - a two volume report providing a situation analysis and a collection of case studies commissioned for the Second Economy Strategy Project |
• Roundtable workshop No 2 in the Cape Winelands: Changing agricultural labour patterns in the Hex and Breede River Valleys The second roundtable workshop is scheduled for Thursday 10th May in the Council Chambers of the Cape Winelands District Municipality in Worcester. |
• Small farmer focus groups in three provinces Phuhlisani has been commissioned by the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) to conduct focus group research with small farmers as part of a wider PlaNet Finance study |
• Dube TradePort Worker Empowerment Initiative Phuhlisani appointed to investigate empowerment options and to develop a road map |
• Successful mediation in Picketberg Boyce Williams negotiates long standing farm dispute on behalf of the Land Rights Management Facility |
• PLAAS State of Rural Civil Society Workshop Presenting research as a stimulus for reflection, dialogue and improved practice |
• Draft scan of rural civil society complete Phuhlisani recently presented the draft findings of a rural civil society scan to an inhouse workshop at PLAAS in preparation for a civil society workshop on 12th and 13th March |
• Out of the Starting Blocks Phuhlisani wishes everyone who we work with a constructive and stimulating 2012. |
• Op die Plasie: 16th December 2011 Masithethe, Laat ons praat, Let's talk. More than 300 people attend this Reconciliation Day Event starting an important new conversation about the future of life on farms. |
• Phuhlisani: 2011 in review We have posted a report on our work in 2011 which describes the combination of research, strategy, training and capacity developmentlivelihoods and institutional development initiatives we have been involved in over the past year |
• Decentralised land governance A new publication from PLAAS features local voices and case studies from Botswana, Madagascar and Mozambique. Phuhlisani researched the Botswana case study with the assitance of DITSHWANELO, the Botswana Centre for Human Rights |
• Phuhlisani makes submission on the Green Paper on Land Reform Phuhlisani emailed its submission to the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform today |
• Round table dialogue discusses troubled wine sector Farmers, workers, unions, wine sector groupings, government departments and the municipalities in the CWDM search for solutions in a Phuhlisani research led dialogue |
• Global and local trends in the wine grape sector in the Cape Winelands District A research led round table dialogue |
• Seeking your support for a new scan of rural civil society in South Africa Who is out there? What are they doing? How do they engage with the state and other development actors? How can this engagement be strengthern by access to research? How can local needs inform action research agendas? |
• Gearing up for Year 2 of CWDM farmworker programme Phuhlisani signs service level agreement for Year 2 |
• Training and development needs assessment Unlocking capacity for pro poor policy development |
• Online gallery of pictures from the CWDM farm workers open day available All the photos from the farm workers open day have been uploaded to a Picasa gallery |
• Cape Winelands Farm Workers Open Day a huge success Hundreds of farm workers from all over the Cape Winelands District attended the second annual Farm Workers Open Day at the show halls at Kleinplasie in Worcester |
• What role for deliberative dialogue in the agricultural sector? In a context of strained relations between organised agriculture, government, workers and NGOs working in the agricultural sector Phuhlisani is exploring the potential of structured dialogue to discuss and address problems. |
• Managing social conflict risk Draft Memorandum of agreement prepared for discussion and review by key role players in the Cape Winelands District and the provincial government of the Western Cape |
• Phuhlisani to support Middelrus vegetable joint venture Phuhlisani appointed by the KwaZulu-Natal Agribusiness Development Agency to support Middelrus vegetable joint venture |
• Investigating decentralised land governance in Botswana PLAAS has partnered with DITSHWANELO - the Botswana Centre for Human Rights to examine issues arising out of the Land Rights Programme run from their Kasane office as part of a broader focus on decentralised land governance. |
• Developing a MOA to manage conflict risk between South Africans and foreign migrants Reporting on the first three of a series of five workshops which kicked off in the Cape Winelands District on Tuesday, 1 March |
• Land, memory, reconstruction and justice Launch of new book reviewing the Land Restitution process in South Africa |
• Back to the Plot!
Debating a new agenda for rural transformation in South Africa A public debate on Monday 31st January at the Centre for the Book Cape Town |
• Capacity building for natural resource management in Ethiopia Phuhlisani is part of an international consortium designing a three year capacity building programme for natural resource management, tourism, and eco-tourism with Ethiopian Institutes of Higher Education |
• A workbook on decentralised land governance in Southern Africa Phuhlisani has been contracted by PLAAS to research case studies from Botswana, Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa and prepare a workbook for practitioners and policy makers |
• Phuhlisani appointed to prepare a population migration strategy for the Cape Winelands District Municipality CWDM seeks a preventative and a responsive framework to effectively minimise and manage social conflict related to the influx of foreign migrants into the urban areas within the District. |
• Tenure and Development Community of Practice established Following up from the Learning from Complexity workshop it has been agreed to establish an online Tenure and Development Community of Practice to bring together researchers, practitioners and policy makers. |
• Actor collaboration toolkit complete An overview of key debates, three case studies, a draft syllabus and an introductory Prezi prepared for the African Centre for Cities |
• Learning from complexity Workshop on securing land rights in urban, rural and small town South Africa - 22 - 23 November 2010 |
• Actor collaboration toolkit under development Phuhlisani has been commissioned to develop an online toolkit on actor collaboration for the Centre for African Cities on behalf of the Association of African Planning Schools |
• Assessing skills development needs on properties restored through Restitution Phuhlisani has been appointed by AGRISETA to assess skills development needs on restitution projects in Limpopo and Mpumalanga where people on the land are focusing on livestock production |
• Schmidtsdrift: The poverty of Restitution? Phuhlisani presented a paper at the recent conference on overcoming structural poverty and inequality which critically examined the impact of the Restitution programme on poverty and inequality in South Africa. |
• Poverty and Inequality Conference 20 - 22 Sept Johannesburg Poverty falls marginally but inequality on the rise: Keynote highlights |
• Phuhlisani completes research into self survey process in Joe Slovo informal settlement Phuhlisani has recently completed a series of interviews with role players involved in the 2009 self enumeration survey conducted in Joe Slovo informal settlement in Cape Town and written up a research paper. |
• Deliberative democracy as a tool for dialogue and development In rural settings characterised by contestation how can 'deliberative democracy' approaches contribute to an improved climate of dialogue and meaningful change? |
• Hundreds of farmworkers turn out for the first Focus on Farmworkers Open Day Kleinplasie Living Open-air Museum in Worcester was an appropriate venue for the open day which saw more than 200 farmworkers awarded certificates for their involvement in a civil rights education programme. |
• Joint Portfolio Committee Workshop on rural development and agrarian reform Examining evidence around grassroots practices, policy implementation and identification of policy gaps |
• How could a Land and Rural Development Information System (LARDIS) assist in improved co-ordination of government development effort and provide reliable information for M&E? Its no secret that government development effort in the land and rural development sector remains poorly aligned and co-ordinated. Development actors continue to work in silos. How can we break free? Collaborators wanted. |
• Cape Winelands farmworker education programme focuses on sectoral determination and dismissals More than 150 farm workers gathered at a training venue near Rawsonville for the second workshop in the civil rights education series funded by the District Municipality. |
• Cape Winelands research and farmworker civic education programme get under way View a Prezi which provides an animated overview of the programme |
• Rural development strategy takes shape in the Northern Cape Phuhlisani has incorporated stakeholder commentary to produce five strategy papers as part of a draft rural development strategy for the Northern Cape. |
• Phuhlisani facilitates Live the Future HIV and AIDS scenarios workshop for Metropolitan Foundation Phuhlisani runs initial one day workshop for officials from Breede River Municipality |
• Phuhlisani and Associates research evictions in the Cape Winelands District Municipality Phuhlisani, PLAAS and IR Change have been contracted to research farmdweller evictions, develop and run a civil rights education programme |
• Phuhlisani welcomes two new partners Ursula Smith and Siyabu Manona join Phuhlisani |
• Watch a two minute movie on Phuhlisani and our work Phuhlisani has started using Prezi - innovative web based story telling and presentation package where the only limits are one's imagination. |
• Phuhlisani moves into new offices Phuhlisani is now at 85 Durban Rd, Mowbray in Cape Town |