Moving community service up a ‘GEAR’
The inaugural meeting and launch of GEAR will take place on 22 November at 2pm at Effingham Secondary School.
FOUR months ago a meeting was convened to address the needs of the community members in the Greenwood Park, Effingham Heights, Avoca and Redhill areas. The meeting looked at the various organisations that operated within the boundaries of the areas and how effective they were. Effingham resident, Karan Bhogal, said it was decided that a new forum would be set up in order to give a platform to all residents, community members and stakeholders.
“All the organisations, whether it be civic, the CPF or religious were all governed by certain aspects of legislation. And all faced various challenges. We saw the lack of a single organisation that serviced the complete needs of the community and decided to form the GEAR forum.
“Which is an acronym for Greenwood Park, Effingham Heights, Avoca and Redhill forum. We hope through this to empower local residents by focusing on creating opportunities for local entrepreneurs and ensuring efficient service delivery. We hope to have a list of all businesses in the four areas which would help create opportunities for local businesses rather than getting business in from outside the area,” Bhogal said.
The inaugural meeting and launch of GEAR will take place on 22 November at 2pm at Effingham Secondary School. Everyone is welcome.
“In all there will be a working committee of 115 people with six office bearers and nine portfolio heads who in turn will have people under them,” he explained. “We will also be registering the forum as an NPO and the membership will be R10. The meeting will deal with the introduction, the constitution and the election of residents as well as the ratification of the agenda. We want to empower the community and this is something done by the people for the people.”
Bhogal added the formation of the new forum was not to dilute other community organisation’s already in existence. “It’s hoped that they will work with us to ensure a quality of life for local residents. This is about taking ownership, it’s the community’s forum and it will not be governed by any political ideologies or be politically influenced.”
The nine suggested portfolios are: Safety and Security; Social and Economic Upliftment; Senior Citizens; Women and Youth; Education and Health; Amenities and Municipal Service Delivery; Sports, Arts and Recreation; Development, Strategy and Job Creation; Disaster Management and Housing.
For more information email gear forum34@gmail.com or contact Karan Bhogal on 083 797 2233.
