Beyond Zero commenced a two-day workshop programme for small grants recipients in the province. The workshop was held in East London, the two-day conference was held on the 4th to 5th March 2024.  

It was a joy and celebration for 16 civil society organisations (CSO’s), from 3 district municipalities in the province, namely Alfred Nzo, O.R Tambo and Amathole as well as provincial metropolitan municipalities Buffalo City Metropolitan and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan. 

The objectives of the workshops were to provide the programme’s specific understanding, guidelines to develop implementation plans, budgets and Monitoring and Evaluation(M&Es) plans, orientation on M&E tools and reporting guidelines as well as familiarisation with Finance, Risk and Compliance.  

According to acting-small grants manager Tendai Chiduku within Beyond Zero, the programme will be implemented in three different Provinces in South Africa including Eastern Cape.  

“The main aim of the programme is to train organisations to a point of self-capability, strengthen their capacities in terms of organisational development, management operational systems and finance” said Chiduku. 

All the participants received a branded Beyond Zero inception package which assisted with the roll outs of the programme. 

According to Anelwa Tshabalala from Incubeko Community Development, they were able to get the opportunity to be part of Beyond Zero by applying the community strengthening system, which resulted in them being able to benefit from the community grants from Beyond Zero. 

In addition, Tshabalala said, an organisation needs to get the community strengthening systems before they can get the sub fund from Beyond Zero. 

Today, the 08 March 2024 the programme will be rounded off by ensuring that each CSO leaves with a draft costed programme of implementation and M&E plans in place.