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As statistics have confirmed that Eastern Cape is the poorest province in South Africa, this indicates how the legacy of the past has created "widespread poverty and gross imbalances in levels of development and the distribution of wealth, income and opportunities" (Opening Address of Parliament by President Thabo Mbeki on 9/02/01). This calls for a joint fight from all the people of this province against poverty and its consequences for the upliftment of our people, especially in rural areas. Rural development is one of the priorities of the government at all levels, nationally, provincially and locally.

In simple language, one would argue that development is the process whereby people move from the current undesirable state to more desirable one, where they are able to meet their basic needs in a sustainable manner. The Rural Livelihood Programme is aimed at supporting such a process, by testing certain development measures so that lessons can be learnt in order to influence the policy and intervention approaches at all levels.

In a place that is characterised by high unemployment rates and poverty, development is the order of the day if we are really concerned about reconstructing and transforming our society. The basic dream in this instance is to ensure that the majority of the poor, particularly in the rural areas are able to solve their own problem with minimum external support. That is why when the rural communities are supported, one needs to identify solutions that are adjusted to the social context and can cater for the majority of the population. We need to take the task of identifying locally adjusted solutions seriously even though we often faced by a strong pressure to deliver.

Gone are the days when technocrats would come as professional 'rural development tourists' dictating to the poor what they think should be done by the communities to alleviate poverty. The top down approach is outdated, there is a strong move towards decentralisation in as far as development is concerned - 'let us support people develop themselves' rather than providing hand outs that are not sustainable anyway. That is why development practitioners should seriously consider the principle of subsidiary, which implies that you let the community do what they are good at and support them by developing options to strengthen their survival strategies in those areas in which they lack capacity.

The implications for government at all levels are the following:

* Transformation of the extension strategies to be more participatory and specific to the needs of the local community;

* Co-operation at all levels. Specific request is made to departments, district and local municipalities, to prioritise this project so that we can all learn in the process;

* Realignment of departmental programmes to accommodate this project as we are testing some of the new approaches to development. This does not mean that departments should stop their programmes and focus on this one. Thank you to the key departments, namely, Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Land Affairs and Housing and Local Government who have showed some commitment by availing themselves and the necessary resources to support this move. This is what is called interdepartmental co-operation. This is what President Thabo Mbeki calls it "unity of action for change" in his opening address in the Parliament this year.

* Capacitation of government officials/politicians to cope with the new challenges. You will all agree with me that we need to develop a capacity building strategy for development at all levels, as there are transformation processes that are taking place in our country. In this regard, I refer to the local government elections and the demarcation process in relation to the changing needs, demands and aspirations of our society.

NGOs, CBOs, parastatals and business in general have a key role to play in mobilising communities to be developmental and capacitated to engage service providers meaningfully. Secondly, they together with service providers need to be linked between government and the communities, especially private business as they have shown some commitment to partnerships with local entrepreneurs, which needs to be expanded.

The Rural Livelihood Programme is the project that test models of sustainable service delivery in the Eastern Cape that is in line with the thinking of integrated service delivery of government in general. In this, we are going to learn lessons that will help us to plan and implement strategically in addressing the needs of the poor.

In a nutshell, the Rural Livelihood Programme will:

* Support local government transformation to ensure that they are able to deliver on their mandate;

* Ensure that government service delivery is appropriate and addresses the community needs directly;

* Stimulate local democratic process by capacitating communities to call their councillors to account;

* Ensure communities are able to engage the development debate and form an integral part of planning and implementation of their area.

We are said to be the poorest province - that is true, but we are perhaps the richest in as far as skills development is concerned. We supply other provinces with resources at every level of social interaction. For this reason, the Office of the Premier, other key departments and stakeholders have come up with this idea to address our own problems.

In conclusion, this game is for everybody, that includes, tertiary institutions, parastatals, businesses, NGOs, CBOs, civil society in general and donor agencies that are supporting such development efforts. It calls for a multi-cultural approach to development.

Let us all play the ball and score the goals, namely, the capacitation of the poor and the establishment of positive preconditions in order to address poverty in this region.

Thank you.

Issued by Office of the Premier, Eastern Cape, 21 February 2001