Gauteng Department of Social Development tackles issues facing NPOs
Gauteng Department of Social Development hosted members of NPO sector at the recently held Regional NPO Summit in Alberton Civic Centre.
The Gauteng Department of Social Development hosted members of non-profit organisations (NPO) at at regional NPO summit held at the Alberton Civic Centre on June 13.
The department has so far made it possible for the social sector to receive over a billion rands in funding, making the Gauteng government the largest funder of this sector nationwide.
Regional director of social development, Phumla Nkosi, said that the department cannot be viewed as the sole actor responsible for resolving complex social sector problems because such problems require an interplay between different actors in society.
“The interplay must be characterised by the stable relationship between government and non-government network actors through collaboration and effective coordination,” Phumla said.
Some of the conference’s objectives were to discuss institutional realignment project with the NPO sector, discuss funding challenges facing the NPO sector, talk about repurposing NPOs to be relevant in attracting funding, discuss government and NPO engagement framework, and also to restore a relationship of trust between the government and NPO sector.
The summit also aimed to provide NPO sector respondents with an opportunity to exchange and share ideas on challenging social issues.
As a result, the day’s proceedings concluded with the creation of workstreams that covered the following topics: regulatory framework, priority programmes and programme implementation, community development, and job creation.