Rick de Satge of Phuhlisani presented an overview of the research findings from a scan of rural civil society at a workshop on the 12th and 13th March which brought together activists from rural NGOs and CBOs and researchers as well as Members of Parliament and representatives from local and international development agencies.

The study which was commissioned by PLAAS in partnership with Atlantic Philanthropies combined

• a review of the literature on rural civil society in South Africa,
  
• the development of a conceptual framework, 
  
• a survey of a 100 rural organisations
  
• six case studies.

Rick de Satge managed the research process with support from David Mayson and Boyce Williams from Phuhlisani. Ruth Mhlanga and Aidan Host managed the survey, data capture and analysis. PLAAS researchers Karin Kleinbooi and Jan Mogaladi  researched two of the case studies.

PLAAS plans to produce a research report to make the study available on its website. In the meantime the presentation can be downloaded from the link below.