Community Voice & Accountability
The Accountability Project is an exploratory process that aims to strengthen community agency and voice in monitoring government performance in South Africa. It has three components: understanding local accountability mechanisms and how people engage with these (Community Engagement), establishing a data-driven platform to create an evidence base for accountability (Data), and working with partners to strengthen advocacy for greater government accountability (Strategy and Tactics).
Working in partnership with five civil society organisations and 10 of their community partners, the Project facilitated 76 community engagements across five provinces.
Meet the people behind the Accountability Project
Meet the team from the Durban South Community Advice Centre (DSCAC), who facilitated 20 community engagement sessions in Wentworth and Lamontville, Durban.
Sithembile Jele
My name is Sithembile Jele, and I am 31 years old, residing in Lamontville, Durban.
I am an active member of the Accountability Project, which involved having conversations with people in my community about their experiences of public and private responsibility to others. The project entailed engagements with different community groups who clearly had strong feelings about accountability and how it leads to a lack of trust. I really enjoyed co-facilitating community sessions and getting to hear different views from people. I am a social and outgoing person who enjoys dancing, even though some people don’t believe me.
Moné Goldstone
I am Moné Goldstone from Wentworth, Durban. I was the scribe in the accountability project. My role was to capture the participants’ understanding of accountability, how they view the issues that are faced in our community, and how they also play a role in making a difference in our community.
During this project, I enjoyed seeing the perspectives of others, getting to see our community from a different view, and understanding that in different areas of our community, the challenges are real. It was also breathtaking to see that there are community members who are so dedicated to making our community a better place and that there is so much work being done that is not commonly acknowledged.
I now have a new perspective on how I see our community and have gained more knowledge. The different views of the participants made me realise that each participant has one common goal, and that is to make our community greater than what it is. One fun fact about me is that I love to read, which allows me to gain so much knowledge. This project has sparked a new interest in gaining more knowledge about our community.
Amim Siphesihle Zungu
My name is Amim Siphesihle Zungu, residing in Lamontville, Durban. I am a community facilitator and scribe on the Accountability Project.
The Accountability Project involved facilitating community sessions on what different community groups felt about public and private accountability. People spoke about promises made and broken by government officials. What was beneficial to me was the learning curve, as community facilitation was my first learning experience. The engagements boosted my confidence in public speaking and working with diverse groups. Generally, I enjoy learning new skills and taking on challenges.
David Pieters
My name is David Pieters and I am the coordinator of the Durban South Community Advice Centre (DSCAC), a social justice NPO based in Wentworth, Durban serving communities in the South Durban Basin. We were happy to participate in the Accountability Project as it provided space for people to express themselves on community issues, challenges and their relationship with local government and surrounding industries. We learnt that while people are clinging to hope for a better future, they do not fully trust government officials, leaders and industry management because they feel that these people make great promises and in most cases do not keep them.
People were able to talk about ways of engaging with each other and others on how to deal with emerging community issues/challenges. Reflection sessions with the community facilitators gave more insight into the resourcefulness of communities and the growing interest of facilitators to want to do more. Development is about continuous listening, learning and growing; and not forgetting to be present, honest and reliable activists.
Colin Ogle
I am Colin Ogle from Wentworth, Durban, and I facilitated the Accountability Focus Group discussions.
Being the facilitator meant that I had to plan and design the sessions, taking into consideration the groups that we were engaging with, as well as prepare flip chart guiding questions in advance for discussions, and capture answers on the flip chart for reference and filing. I also had to ensure that I constantly had probing questions for “vague” or “broad” answers so as to draw out deeper, reflective responses.
I enjoyed engaging with different groups using very much the same questions and seeing how they responded. The most fun thing about facilitating the focus group sessions was how everyone responded to the session that dealt with terms or words used when referring to “duty bearers.”
