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Click
here to find out about Skillshare International's
partner organisations in Lesotho.
Skillshare International Lesotho country programme
was launched in 2001 by the Honorable King Letsie
II as a result of a merger between Skillshare Africa
and Action Health. Skillshare Africa was originally
International Voluntary Service (IVS) which came into
operation in Lesotho soon after independence. IVS
transformed itself from a volunteer sending organisation
to a development organisation which responded to locally
identified needs.
During the period 1999-2004, Skillshare International
worked in 4 sectors in Lesotho:
Education,
training and employment
The country office in Lesotho piloted the first Skillshare
project which aimed to bring 11 development workers
under the auspices of the Technical and Vocational
Training. The aim of the project was to alleviate
poverty in Lesotho through the development of improved
skills training programmes and to provide new opportunities
for income generation activities. A development worker
has been recruited to assist the Ministry of Education
Technical and Vocational Department with the completion
of the policy and law which will pave the way for
transformation of TVED. Skillshare is currently exploring
an option to continue to provide support in business
training and leadership development within the TVET
system.
Working
with Disadvantaged People
Support for people with disability
Skillshare International has supported the placement
of 2 development workers within a period of 5 years
to support the Lesotho Society of Handicapped Persons
(LSMHP) to strengthen their managerial and advocacy
skills within the organisation so that they are in
a better position to perform their core function of
advocacy for human rights and access to services for
their clientele. This fruitful long term partnership
with LSMHP also resulted in support to raise funds
for LSMHP to expand their services to sensitise the
families, community members and health professional
about the needs of the children with learning disabilities.
The family members have been empowered to advocate
for the rights of their children as well as to practice
community based rehabilitation to ensure that the
children are well integrated in the community.
Empowerment of people with disability
Skillshare, working together with the Department of
Social Welfare, conducted an extensive needs assessment
of the Department of Social Welfare and the needs
of the organisations of the people living with disability
to develop a capacity building project. The project
is aimed at strengthening the department through providing
expertise in the areas of special education, physiotherapy,
occupational therapy and income generation.
HIV/AIDS
Initially the focus of our programme was on people
living with HIV/AIDS. The current structures and lack
of strong organisations in this sector was a challenge
for us to move forward. There are several initiatives
under this sector including education and awareness
creation, support for affected and infected people
and mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS.
Environment, Science and
Technology
We have had a very long partnership with the Department
of Appropriate Technology Section (ATS) where over
a period of five years, four engineers and one food
technologist were assigned to ATS. Skillshare International
first assisted the ATS in the late 1980s and early
1990s by supporting skills development within the
organisation. Through the partnership we have assisted
ATS in the research and development of environmentally
friendly and energy-saving applications as well as
in promoting the entrepreneurial commercial manufacture
of new environmentally friendly products. This component
of the work is now coming to an end as we feel that
we have given ATS support over the last decade.
We have committed up to four years of technical support
to our partnership with the Lesotho Council of Non
Governmental Organisations (LCN). Through this partnership,
we have committed to change public attitudes towards
environmental degradation by supporting LCN, the Environment
Commission, NGOs who deal with environment and government
institutions involved in environmental awareness-raising
programmes. As part of the initiative of strengthening
the capacity of environment NGOs we have placed a
development worker with fundraising skills to work
with Rural Self Help Association (RSDA) to develop
fundraising strategies and build the capacity of the
staff to implement the strategy to make RSDA more
self reliant.
Poverty alleviation
Our focus has been to assist government with qualified,
highly experienced engineers to offset the high shortage
of engineers in Lesotho. Our partnership in this regard
was to support the department of Rural Roads Construction
with a total of seven engineers for the last five
years who were based in Maseru, Mohale’s Hoek
and Thaba Tseka. Our objective was to support the
government's overall policy to have a road network
that is capable of supporting national economic activities,
connects all district towns, and provides better access
for isolated rural communities. The outcome of the
partnership was to strengthen the Department of Rural
Roads through building the capacity of local personnel,
development of systems for roads construction and
maintenance, as well systems for managing resources.
Another notable outcome was to develop a system of
contract administration and outsourcing so as to increase
the capacity in the country overall. There is still
is a need for technical expertise and for rural roads
construction which will require us to examine how
we can contribute to this sector in the future.
New Programme Areas
Facilitation of handicrafts trade within
the region
This is a new regional initiative. Working with our
offices in Botswana, Swailand and South Africa, Skillshare
International's country office in Lesotho has recently
completed an assessment of the status of handicrafts
produced in Lesotho. The information gathered from
the needs assessment is being used to develop a regional
project which will support handicrafts producers in
all areas of their businesses which will include:
- Product development and diversification
- Acquisition of supplies of materials
- Quality control
- Market development
- Financial management
- Electronic communication and business English
- Facilitating smooth boarder crossing
HIV/AIDS
Mohatlane Hospice
A needs assessment revealed that there were a number
of individuals who were sick and dying in their homes
and yet they were not receiving medical attention
or food supplements. The pilot Basali Moho Project,
Women with Women, will support 20 single women who
are very sick together with their 60 children and
their family members. The project aims to establish
a network of women which will be composed of family
members, community health volunteers, clinic and national
level staff to support the affected women and their
families to live longer despite HIV/AIDS. We have
recruited a development worker with palliative care
experience to provide technical expertise to the Basali
Moho Project. A long-term proposal for a hospice at
Mohatlane is being developed.
Partner Organisations
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Lesotho Council of NGOs (LCN) is
an umbrella organisation which was founded in 1989.
The primary mission of LCN is to stimulate, promote
and support NGOs in Lesotho in their development efforts.
In pursuit of this mission LCN assists the member
organisations to be increasingly more effective in
meeting their goals and to be able to initiate and
implement self-supporting and self-sustaining activities.
LCN offers the supportive services to its members
through networking, leadership, information, training,
coordination and advocacy of their interests when
dealing with government, international NGOs and donors.
Skillshare International provides a development worker
to assist LCN in building its capacity through skills
transfer. LCN staff have also attended the Leadership
Development Programme (LDP).
Katlehomoho Community Eco-Tourism Project
is a youth project of 120 young people from 6 villages.
Katlehomoho Project seeks to build economic self-sufficiency
for these young men and women by developing skills
and entrepreneurial activities in eco-tourism. Skillshare
International has placed a development worker to enable
the project to build its capacity. This project is
part of the Semonkong Community Project, which works
towards the economic development of the area by building
individual and institutional capacities to reduce
poverty and environmental degradation in a rural setting.
The Katlehomoho Project has identified eco-tourism
industry, environment and agriculture as its focus.
Department of Rural Roads' mission
is to build rural roads, foot bridges and air strips
in the highlands of Lesotho using labour-based methods.
The construction of these infrastructures enables
rural communities to access services such as schools,
clinics and markets. Labour-based methods mean jobs
for rural people living along the road corridors.
The department employs about 10,000 labourers per
year, of which 40% of this number are women. 100%
are from rural communities. Most are young people
who have the physical strength needed for this type
of work. During our longstanding partnership with
the Department of Rural Roads, Skillshare International
has placed highly qualified and experienced engineers
in the department. Senior managers from the Department
of Rural Roads have also attended Skillshare International's
Leadership Development Programme (LDP).
Rural Self-Help Development Association
(RSDA) strives for self-organised community organisations
that are able to run their own affairs so they can
work towards improving the standard of living and
contribute to poverty reduction in Lesotho. In order
to achieve this, RSDA assists small-scale farmers
to improve their quality of life using sustainable
agricultural practices. This is achieved through food
security activities with a focus on agriculture production
practices which use low external inputs and restore
soil and natural resources. Skillshare International
has placed a development worker at RSDA to support
the development of a long-term fundraising strategy
and strengthen the organisation's capacity.
Lesotho College of Education aims
to train student-teachers in areas that will enable
them to feature in schools as efficient, competent
and professional teachers who will be able to convey
knowledge and life-survival skills to pupils and society.
The college trains primary and secondary school teachers
in vocational skills, technical, commercial and management
education. A Skillshare International development
worker is working at the college to establish a research
programme.
Taung Skills Training Centre was
founded in 1998 to provide skills training to young
people, who for one reason or another failed to complete
their formal schooling, leaving them at a disadvantage
in the labour market. The centre also aimed to retrain
retrenched miners. Equipped with skills by the centre,
people who had few employment prospects are in a position
to start their own business or find a job. Skillshare
International has placed a development worker at the
centre to assist with the management and curriculum
and to train local staff.
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