Partnerships

DOCKDA currently partners with 22 women-led Community Based Organisations (CBOs) in the Northern and Western Cape.

Who do we work with?

Women-led community based organisations and the community carers/home based carers that are employed or volunteer for the CBOs

John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality, surrounding Kuruman, Northern Cape

Greater Cape Peninsula, Western Cape

To directly support theses organisations contact DOCKDA at admin@dockda.org.za
and we will put you in direct contact with the CBO co-ordinators

What programmes do the CBOs offer?

Including but not limited to the following:

• Food security, organic food gardens, feeding schemes, food parcels
• Gender Based Violence Prevention and Response Programmes including providing safe spaces, assisting survivors of GBV to report cases and seeking counselling, hold after school and holiday programmes, host support groups, have community wide awareness campaigns and community dialogues. Medical care of a survivor that has physical injuries. Assistance in reporting abuse to SAPS, Traditional Council, seek counselling support from FAMSA and Dept. of Social Development and Thuthuzela Centre.
• Income generation projects to sustain the organisation – including sale of airtime and electricity, hiring out of venue/premises and tables and chairs for events, catering, raffles, sale of excess food from food gardens
• Orphan and Vulnerable Children – providing psycho social support, after school and holiday programmes, provision of school supplies and food to vulnerable households, life skills, safe spaces. Assisting vulnerable children to attend or return to school.
• Primary health care – home based care for elderly, ill or those living with a disability. Assisting clients to access health care at the local clinic for treatment of HIV and AIDS, TB and adherence to medication by collecting medication and ensuring clients have adequate healthy food to be able to take their medication. Monitor households and refer those showing possible symptoms of illness to the local clinic for care, contacting social workers to assist those in need of counselling and social relief.
• Social relief and psycho- social support – assisting clients to apply for identity documents, SASSA grants, connect to Dept. of Social Development, Traditional Council and ward council for psycho-social support. Host support groups, trauma and debriefing sessions, hold events to celebrate important events such as International Women’s Day or World Volunteers Day.
• Support groups for those overcoming addictions to substance and alcohol abuse – referral to health care and social services, counselling, connect to Thuthuzela, FAMSA, Dept. of Correctional Services and SAPS.

What challenges do the CBOs see in their communities?

• High rates of unemployment, great reliance of households to social relief/social grants, low economic access for women and girls in rural communities
• Lack of landownership rights of women in rural communities
• High rates of alcohol and drug abuse which leads to crime, violence, sexual abuse, gender based violence and trauma in communities
• Children vulnerable or orphaned due to passing of care givers from HIV and AIDS, TB, COVID19. Traumatized, require psycho social support, destitute without carers. Social workers are contacted to assist the household.
• High rates of school drop outs especially from grade 7-9 ages 12-15 years due to lack of access to middle and high schools, poverty, lack of motivation, irregular school operations due to COVID19 shut downs of schools, far distances to travel to schools.
• High rates of teen pregnancy due to unequal relationships, sexual abuse, alcohol and drug use.
• Difficulty in access to primary health care due to illness, frailty or disability. Care facilities are far from the client’s home and the cost to travel to visit clinic and collect medication is out of reach of many households. Living in close quarters the transmission of TB and COVID19 is high and persons have fear to seek medical help due to misinformation, stigma and lack of knowledge of the illness and how it can be managed. Without proper food to eat HIV and AIDS patients and TB patients are unable to take their medication and default on their treatment. Survivors of gender based violence are reluctant to seek medical care for their wounds as they fearing having to report the case of abuse to authorities.
• High rates of malnourishment and food insecurity. Due to changing climate conditions it is more difficult to subsistence farm in Northern Cape, stigma about growing your own food rather than being able to buy food, with schools closed during pandemic children did not have access to school feeding schemes which are often the only meal they have in a day. High rates of unemployment mean impoverished households unable to afford essential items. Reliance of feeding schemes and food parcels to support vulnerable households. Rising food costs impact what households can afford to buy and the cost of transport is becoming excessive to reach the nearest shop/spaza to purchase items.
• Growing digital divide especially in rural areas where there is a lack of access to cell phone networks, persons cannot afford to buy a smart phone or the high cost of data, lack of access to information and connection locally, nationally and internationally.
• Deteriorating infrastructure due to damage from floods and no repairs to roads means communities are cut off from access roads to central town, hospitals, social services, police. Cost to travel to town is increasingly expensive due to wear and tear on vehicles and escalating fuel prices. Persons cannot afford to travel to larger towns.