INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: G/Tip Fy07 Grant Update - World Hope International

Published: Mon 14 Dec 2009 01:11 PM
VZCZCXRO5300
RR RUEHDU RUEHJO
DE RUEHSA #2578/01 3481311
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141311Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0626
INFO RUEHTO/AMEMBASSY MAPUTO 6185
RUEHMB/AMEMBASSY MBABANE 4601
RUEHTN/AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN 7442
RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN 1506
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 9795
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 002578
SIPDIS
G/TIP FOR M. FORSTROM
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KTIP SF
SUBJECT: G/TIP FY07 GRANT UPDATE - WORLD HOPE INTERNATIONAL
REF: STATE 55367
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Summary
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1. Per Department request (reftel), Pretoria's officer for
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) met on December 10 with G/TIP
grantee World Hope International (WHI) to monitor progress in
the first six months of an 18-month $200,000 FY'07 grant.
The funds will be used to support anti-trafficking awareness
raising activities by WHI subsidiaries in South Africa,
Mozambique, and Swaziland. From Pretoria's perspective, the
grant appears to be on track, with World Hope having
completed the first step of general TIP training to
representatives of diverse civil society groups, as well as
capacity building training for its new units. Barnard noted
that TIP prevention training is increasingly in demand, as
South African NGOs gear up to protect children and other
potentially vulnerable populations during the 2010 World Cup.
End Summary.
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Ongoing Contacts with WHSA
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2. On December 10, poloff met with Elske Barnard, Director
of World Hope South Africa (WHSA), for a progress update six
months into an 18-month $200,000 grant supporting
anti-trafficking awareness raising activities in three
countries -- South Africa, Mozambique, and Swaziland.
Barnard has regional responsibility for all three countries,
but within this grant she is mainly focused on developing the
new subsidiaries in Mozambique and Swaziland, while her
colleague Ajwang (LNU) manages the South African program.
This conversation, while not a "site visit" (since no
training sessions were currently taking place) built on two
prior meetings earlier in the year, including one with G/TIP
Ambassador CdeBaca in July and a second with visiting WHI's
U.S.-based Director of Anti-Trafficking Programs Adeyemi
Oshodi. Poloff will also conduct drop-in visits to workshops
in Pretoria on January 25-27, 2010.
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Grant on Track (Foundations Laid)
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3. The grant is on schedule, vis-a-vis the project
activities outlined in the project proposal. (Note: Barnard
spoke from an "amended" table of activities, which she said
was a simplified version of what poloff had received from
G/TIP. Poloff will scan and send to G/TIP if required. End
note.) Of the project's four steps, World Hope has now
completed the first, related to "technical and organizational
capacity building." This step included two-day
train-the-trainer workshops on a general TIP curriculum, with
one such workshop in each of the three project countries.
(Pretoria's was held in late September. Poloff was unable to
attend due to a competing conference.) While World Hope's
South Africa subsidiary is well established, its sub-grantees
in the other two countries are fledgling organizations which
received capacity building training in October and November,
in technical skills such as work planning and financial
reporting. The three subsidiaries have begun preparing
monthly narrative reports, which Barnard said G/TIP will
receive.
4. When asked how the first step had fared, Barnard said the
groundwork had been "a little rough," but that now WHSA was
well positioned to carry the project forward. Where WHI had
"struggled" most, she said, was on staffing the project, and
on finding an officer to run the South Africa unit while
Barnard focused on building the other two. She had also
learned the hard way that confirmed participants sometimes
Qlearned the hard way that confirmed participants sometimes
withdraw from workshops at the last minute, as Salvation Army
had done in Pretoria, and she would counteract that by
inviting a few more than the target in order to ensure a full
quota. Poloff's impression was of an organization that is a
bit thin on the ground, and so has undergone some growing
pains in order to undertake this grant, but which is
confident it can ultimately meet the objectives. A verdict
on this point will be more apparent from observation of the
workshops in January.
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Next Step: TIP Prevention Training
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PRETORIA 00002578 002 OF 002
5. The grant's second step, involving training workshops on
TIP prevention activities, will take place in early 2010.
First, in January, three-day train-the-trainer workshops will
be conducted, with the same participants as attended the 2009
sessions on general TIP knowledge. In Pretoria these
participants included officers and social workers from
organizations such as the Human Rights Commission (SAHRC),
Saving Grace, Amazing Grace, Sonke Gender Justice Network,
New Life Centre, and Open Mind. (Poloff will forward to
G/TIP a list with descriptions of the organizations.) The
Embassy has also asked to add a participant from the Royal
Bafokeng Nation, a traditional community whose stadium will
host 2010 World Cup games and whose leadership asked the
Ambassador for help in countering anticipated TIP risks. The
goal is to train 15 trainers in each of the three countries.
From February to April, each of those trainers is then
committed to conducting at least one one-day workshop for at
least ten members of his or her own community.
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Post Supports Continued Funding
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6. Overall, Barnard appears confident that WHSA is
fulfilling its grant objectives. Poloff will have more
direct insight into the South African program from firsthand
observations in January. (Note: Mbabane and Maputo can speak
for the activities of the new subsidiaries in Swaziland and
Mozambique. Financial reporting is being handled by G/TIP.
End note.) From the limited perspective of the three
discussions thus far with WHSA in Pretoria, the project does
indeed seem viable for continued funding.
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2010 TIP Efforts Proliferating
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7. As an aside from the grant discussion, Barnard noted that
WHSA had recently begun receiving many requests for anti-TIP
training in the lead-up to the 2010 World Cup in South
Africa. "Everyone knows a bit," she said, "but wants to do
more." Referring to an NGO forum hosted earlier in the week
by the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund (NMCF -- a participant
in WHSA's G/TIP-funded workshops) to discuss child protection
during the games (septel), Barnard said she was pleased to
see an entity of NMCF's stature and resources taking on a
coordinating role on this urgent issue. While Barnard
acknowledged that the South African government and civil
society had been slow in mobilizing against TIP during 2010
and were now in a catch-up mode, she felt the NMCF was
uniquely positioned, with strong networks and backing, to
succeed in such a campaign.
GIPS
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