Partner Institutions in Southern Africa
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Komeho Namibia Development Agency Komeho Namibia Development Agency is a Namibian NGO, registered in July 2002. Komeho aims to improve the quality, cost effectiveness and impacts of development programmes and projects; to revive and sustain rural and urban economy; to capacity build institutional personnel, NGOs, CBOs and community groups; to provide funding, when available, to local NGOs, CBOs, etc; to reduce marginalisation, injustices and causes of poverty; and, to add value to livelihood products, improving the living standards of people and enable them to exercise their rights and manage their own lives. The programmes Komeho runs are aimed at meeting people's basic needs and improving their standard of living in a sustainable way.
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WIMSA - The Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa WIMSA was established in 1996 in response to the requests of San communities across southern Africa for the establishment of an NGO which would effectively represent their problems, needs and concerns. WIMSA's regional office was set up in Windhoek , Namibia in order to co-ordinate efforts for San living across the entire southern African region. The WIMSA Team contains both San and non-San members of staff, although the organisation is governed by a Board consisting of San people from South Africa , Botswana and Namibia . WIMSA is also represented in Botswana by 'WIMSA Botswana' which operates from a small office from D'kar, near Ghanzi. For ten years WIMSA has worked closely with a variety of partners in relation to San human rights, cultural heritage and development. WIMSA's current partners include national and international governments, NGOs, UN agencies, researchers, the media and donors. Most importantly, WIMSA has always sought to build up a strong grassroots membership amongst San communities themselves across southern Africa . These groups are often living in very remote areas with restricted access to modern communication infrastructures and this can present great logistical difficulties for both WIMSA employees and San communities. Despite this, many San frequently contact the regional WIMSA office in order to seek assistance with issues such as human rights abuses, political representation, development assistance, the protection of natural resources, aid relief, cultural practices and access to formal education.
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| The Omaheke San Trust was established in 1999 at the request of local San community leaders and activists. The OST represents the San in the Omaheke Region, Namibia and works with San communities and individuals across the whole Omaheke Region to help improve their livelihoods and protect their rights. The OST is a not for profit, community based organisation, led by San people for San people. The organization works to empower San communities through income generation projects, worker and civil rights awareness, child development and education programmes, HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns and sustainable food production projects. The underlying ethos of their work is to protect and respect San tradition, culture and language.
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| The University of Botswana and the University of Tromso The University of Botswana and the University of Tromso Collaborative Program for San/Basarwa Research and Capacity Building has an overarching objective to promote research focusing on the linguistic, cultural, historical, social, economic and legal aspects of the Basarwa or San people. More specifically the program’s main objective is to encourage University of Botswana faculty staff to conduct research on the San and act on the findings of such research either in the form of teaching materials, policy reform or publications.
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| The Letloa Trust is the support organisation for the Kuru Family of Organisations (KFO) working in Botswana and South Africa, that has the common goal of empowering the most vulnerable group of indigenous peoples in southern Africa, namely the San, to take control over their own destinies through a holistic process approach to development.Through Letloa Trust, KFO also supports the Botswana arm of the Working Group for Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA).ÜKFO’s work currently reaches 40% of the San in Botswana and 70% of the San in South Africa.
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 | The Eden Project promotes the understanding and responsible management of the vital relationship between plants, people and resources leading to a sustainable future for all. It was established as one of the landmark Millennium projects in the UK to mark the year 2000 and is structured as an educational charitable trust. "The Trust’s interests lie in explaining how the natural world works seen through the lens of plants, exploring how people might best organise themselves in the face of this knowledge and thereby reach an understanding of what sustainability might mean and, through best practice of these principles, create an organisation that is sustainable to act as a model for others.” (Tim Smit, CEO).
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GardenAfrica's work is currently focused in Southern Africa, where they establish productive organic training gardens in schools, hospitals and clinics, growing nutritious food and medicinal herbs. These gardens offer practical and effective solutions for building community health and livelihoods, ensuring the continuation of vital botanical and horticultural knowledge through to the next generation of carers and providers. |