What We Set out to Do, How and Why

MEASURING AND VALUING WHAT THE COMMUNITY BRINGS TO THE DEVELOPMENT TABLE

A CASE STORY OF JANSENVILLE, EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE, SOUTH AFRICA

they could leverage to attract WHAT WE SET OUT TO external resources as an DO investment in what they do for themselves. The participants in This demonstration case was this case certainly found it eye- one of a number of opening, encouraging, inspiring explorations in South Africa and transforming. supported by the Community Grantmaking and Social Investment Programme (CGSI), at the Centre for Leadership and Public Values at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town from 2006 to 2008.

While cases were unique they all in some way considered how community driven development could This case was carried out in build from and leverage the Jansenville, a small Karoo town local ethos of self help and in the Cacadu District of the mutual assistance, that exists Eastern Cape Province, a in poor African communities. farming area where the wool and This particular case mohair industry is the backbone concerned itself with the of the economy. Many equity that a community organisations and people were brings to the development involved in this collaborative table setting out to develop learning exchange: and test a process and technique to determine: The CGSI (www.gsb.uct.ac.za). the AMOUNT of volunteer time, Ikhala Trust a community money and other in grantmaker based in Port kind goods that a Elizabeth community (www.Ikhala.org.za). contributes to its own development and; The Jansenville Development Forum the financial VALUE (JDF) an umbrella body of these of Community Based contributions. Organisations (CBO’s).

We wanted to empower a JDF member community to recognise its organisations include: own “helping” assets and The Camdeboo Hospice, generate powerful evidence Ezwezwe Information & Technology Centre, However missing, are numbers Ikhala Shoe Factory, and figures that recognise and Ikwezi Educare value the contribution that Centre, Jansenville citizens make through volunteer Advice Office, time, skills, goods in kind and Masiphilisane Aids money to local initiatives. We felt Group (MAG), this contribution was important, Jansenville Chicken something to be aware of, have Project, Khayelizwe confidence in and potentially Burial Society, leverage to attract external Nomfuneko Feedlot resources to the community. Project, Sinethema knitting Project.

The JDF

The Jansenville Development Forum was launched in 2000. It is an umbrella body of 10 CBOs. It mobilises and organises from within the community to incubate the capacity of associational life. Rather than introducing new associations, JDF builds up the leadership that exists and nurtures within it a common interest and desire to “move”.

In creating the space for local associationsHOW WE DID IT to “discover” themselves, JDF is supported by the Department of Social Development,In response, tools and techniques works closely with the Municipality andwere is andeveloped to measure and Ikhala Trust grantee. value what Community Based Organisations (CBOs), Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Faith-based organisations received from In planning this research we people in the community. decided to work in Jansenville because the community is pro-active in Over a six month period we: enhancing its own wellbeing and livelihood. They are Agreed on what we doing a lot to help wanted to do and who themselves drawing on local would be involved. associations and Developed an organisations. However, information collection despite all these efforts, no technique, tested and one can tell you “exactly refined it. what” and “how much” the Collected information community mobilises. from the 10 members as well as JDF. Numbers exist for municipal Analysed the findings expenditure, provincial and converted numbers government allocation as to a financial value. well as corporate social Wrote up the information investment and other forms into a two page summary of development assistance. for each member, detailing “who we are,

© 2008 Centre for Leadership and Public Values 2 what we do and how we help ourselves”. It sounds like a lot of work. This includes a However the whole data “community time, collection process took talent and treasure about two and a half chest”, as well as a hours for each map of each organisation. We found organisation’s the process was as community of help, important as the sighting all the other information itself. organisations they help and get help In carrying out this case we had from. to make several Shared and decisions. We agreed: discussed the information with To gather data organisation asking: retrospectively, for the “it is correct, what previous 12 months; does it tell us and how can we use it, to that a member of the JDF “help ourselves”? staff would work closely The tools and templates with the facilitation team to assist with the we developed can be interviews, translation downloaded from and advice on the local www.gsb.uct.ac.za. context. This would ensure that a local There are six main steps to person would be able to the process: assist the JDF to replicate the process in Step 1 The the future and finally we Organisational Profile agreed that; Step 2 Taking Stock of what you the most critical have and informants would be what you those who were involved have in the day to day achieved activities of the Step 3 The Scribble organisation/ association. Sheet Four or five project Step 4 Recording members would be the the Amount ideal size of group to get of a broad spectrum of Community information, and Help discussion. As we were Step 5 The Talley taking a 12 month Sheet retrospective view, recall Step 6 The and memory was Converter Sheet important. This number of people was sufficient to “prompt” each other’s memories.

CONSIDERATIONS AND CONCERNS

© 2008 Centre for Leadership and Public Values 3 Along the way several cases where specific issues cropped up organisations had relating to measuring and received funds in the valuing help. For example, past and staff were remunerated those rates Situations are were used to assign a sometimes value to labour time. complex and no two organisations Adding up and valuing are the same: One in kind contributions: of the organisations Due to the varied nature had regular funding of the in-kind for staff contributions and the remuneration, so retrospective nature of there was less the study, it was decided community giving. to merely describe the in- Another organisation kind contributions rather relied on voluntary than try to put a labour and other monetary value to them. donations for the first If this exercise is done in seven months of the real time however it year, and after would be easier to keep securing a large track of the financial client to purchase value of in-kind their outputs, began contributions. But for a to receive regular retrospective wages, but continued assessment, it was to make voluntary cumbersome and not contributions to very reliable. certain activities.

There are various interpretations given to the term Relying on recall: In a “volunteer”: In retrospective study recall South Africa many – how much people can “volunteers” receives remember and with what regular stipends. level of reliability is Increasingly we always a concern. In our spoke less about experience we found that voluntary time and the help associations focused on the terms receive is either so “paid” and “unpaid” regular or so exceptional time. that people remember it! For example in many Establishing an cases associations relied hourly rate for on volunteer work labour: In order to schedules in order to run arrive at an hourly or their operations. Often daily rate for labour, regular schedules are we used what made written down. In other the most sense to an cases, the help is so organisation. In unusual or unexpected some cases that the group comparable paid remembers it. For work in the local area example, the donation of was discussed a sign for their establishing what the organisation, or a tea set rates were. In other for a fundraising raffle.

© 2008 Centre for Leadership and Public Values 4 Also we found that, given scarcity of financial resources people know the cost As far as valuing labour there is a of a phone call and similar situation. We could use remembers the the minimum wage rate amount of transport established by the South African money they took government for different levels or from their own classes of work or use the value pockets. that the associations themselves consider fair and appropriate. In the first instance we kept it simple While an exact measure is impossibleand to asked people for the financial generate it is possible to develop avalue that made sense to them. believable estimate of the financial Peopleand had no trouble doing this. labour time contributions the community makes to local clubs, associations and organisations. For home-based care volunteers, they used as a benchmark the Furthermore, we had to work government’s stipend of out how to assign a financial R1 000 per month. value to community contributions. In South Africa For the ladies in the it is possible to use two chicken project, they different economies, the identified the wages that formal economy and the local a local commercial economy, in assigning a rand poultry farmer pays his value. staff; To illustrate, if an individual provides transport for the The Educare centre used members of an association, the rate paid to their the 10 km distance could be gardener for a five hour valued at, the South African day and turned it into an Automobile association rate, hourly rate; a widely accepted standard. Alternatively, the value could The Advice Office be pegged to what someone workers had a salary for in the community would pay six months of the year, if they stood on the side of so for the other six when the road, and hitched a lift. they were not paid, they calculated the value of 10 km at the AA rate of the salary they would R2.95 per kilometre is a have received and finally; value of R 29.50. While catching a lift from The computer training point A to point B in people said they would Jansenville would cost expect to receive a around R5. salary of at least R 2 000 per month if they were formally employed.

Ikhala Trust

A total of the combined number of volunteer hours and cash contributions received by the 10 members and JDF were added up and a financial value assigned. The results are impressive!

In total R371, 150, 00 was mobilized and this can be broken into R341, 938, 00 (41 555 volunteer labour hours) plus R29 212, 00 (direct cash contributions).

In addition many forms of in-kind contributions were contributed:

bringing food to work to share with volunteer colleagues; loans of personal vehicles; using private telephones for organizational work; donation of prizes for fund-raising events; sharing knowledge and passing on skills; donating materials and equipment in the start-up phases of income generating projects and; access to municipal land and buildings at nominal rates.

INTERPRETING THE FINDINGS

© 2008 Centre for Leadership and Public Values 6 The 41 555 volunteer hours THE CBO RESPONSE translates into a total community contribution of 19 We reported these results back to years and 8 months of the community to find out how the “volunteer” labour in the year organizations thought they could under review. This use the information to benefit calculation is based on an 8 themselves. hour day and 22 working days a month. We learned that some changes were already taking place. This high rate of volunteer Attitudes and practice were time is attributable to the fact shifting: that only JDF and six organisations received any Some of the grant funding during the organisations had begun period. Of these, some had to record their community only received funds for part contributions. One of the year. Only one organisation had done organization had staff that their own tally and said had been paid for the full 12 they agreed with our months. estimate. One individual had Two organizations which are conducted the process income generating projects with her church group, worked as volunteers for 11 and they had been months, receiving surprised at the results. remuneration only in Organisations reported December as a once-off that this recording and gratuity from government. 11 valuing of contributions months were unpaid and was having a considered voluntary labour motivational effect on time. their volunteers and other staff members. People The R 341 938 value of the now saw “over time” and 41 555 hours of labor time “going the extra mile” as was calculated by adding up something positive rather the assigned comparable than a burden. local values for paid work, One income-generating ranging from R5 per hour to project had members R22 per hour. The who were looking for impressive sum of R 371 150 greener pastures, but was generated by 4343 once they saw the value people across 378 of their contribution to households where 60% of building the organisation, families are considered by they decided to stay and local government to live in build on their poverty. “investment”.

In thinking about how to use this information, this is what people come up with:

“In our fund-raising, we can now point to our local contribution or local income with confidence because we have a value for it. We no longer

© 2008 Centre for Leadership and Public Values 7 thumb-suck our own “We can use this contribution.” information to build from “We also have a the inside out. To clearer picture of the strengthen ourselves”. value of our relationships with In terms of moving forward, JDF, other organisations, its members and Ikhala Trust which points to agreed to: sustainability and could also motivate Round off the demonstration stronger case process by holding a relationships.” meeting to “launch” the findings. “We are already The JDF would invite using the information stakeholders with whom they to motivate project have relationships as a way of members to keep appreciating them, as well as doing the work and other stakeholders who would also to motivate new benefit from being exposed to volunteers”. this approach to community “We can give this assets, including government presentation to departments. visitors who will get a different picture of our organisation than they usually do just Funders want to know that we will still be there from a meeting.” after their money is finished. Our members fill “This makes us more our bucket, it shows their sustainability, and that confident to they can stand on their own. approach funders, we don’t feel like beggars.” Notizi Vanda, Director and Founding Member of JDF.