Shelter Networking Forum founded
Councilors and community organisations are standing together in the fight against poor health systems, poverty and corruption.
In the Rainbow FM hall on 5 Goldman Street a new networking forum was founded on 8 August 2013.
This network of shelters, sanctuaries, aid centres and policing groups currently describe themselves as the Shelter Networking Forum, but an official name is to be declared at a future time. Under lead of Dorcas Aid South Africa a group of non-profit organisations held a conference to discuss their social and political problems and find a way in which to deal with these situations, not as single organisations but as a network of well-informed community members and caregivers.
Councilor Gert Niemand and Dorcas Aid South Africa regional director Annette Reed hosted a number of guest speakers to highlight all stakeholders’ responsibility in taking control of their roles in the community.
“We are 20 years down the line (of being a democratic South Africa) and we are still battling a poor health system, poverty and corruption,” said Niemand to the crowd.
Councilor Ingrid Reinton was one of these guest speakers.
“The city’s response is to start building those safety nets needed for our NPOs.
“I’m asking NPOs on the West Rand to start that process with us.”
Rainbow FM content manager Thato Baqwana said that people who are homeless tend to lose the sense of who they are, “and it is people like you [stakeholders] that give them hope and support”.
The general consensus was that, in order for the Shelter Networking Forum to take its first step, the stakeholders need to establish a central depository of information that they can network and share. Other issues to be addressed was the clarification of Section 36 of the latest Child Protection Act update and to mobilise shelters in order to help a broader spectrum of the community.
Reed mentioned probono.org as one of their most important resources. Probono.org is a social law expertise “bank” that aims to assist NPOs in finding the correct person to prosecute their cases and give them legal advise on a pro-bono basis.
“These are our first steps as a forum — we will be creating a website that serves as our directory, we will be documenting our problems and struggles as NPOs and stakeholders and we will share our experiences.
“We will also need to initiate advocacy with regards to the issues that become crises to our collective of caregivers.
“We need media exposure for this.
“One of the more urgent issues to be addressed is to clarify some information and communication with the local South African Police (Saps) branches.”
Reed closed the conference meeting stating that all that has been shared should be given a chance to settle in.
Immediately after the conference, all stakeholders were urged to start networking and building a list of contact information relevant to their causes.
