Community development
Committed to people, community and infrastructure development.
Economic Development Plan
To effectively implement a range of development programmes, Noblesfontein categorises their development efforts into people development, enterprise development and infrastructure development. These focus areas are interrelated and, when properly carried out, the outcome is a community that is well-adjusted and on its way to self-sustainability, based on this Economic Development Plan (ED Plan). The ED Plan then formulates the socio-economic development (SED) and enterprise development (ED) programmes implemented in these communities.
The SED and ED Programmes are collectively called SE.ED Programmes. The SE.ED programmes are aimed at a holistic development of the Victoria West and Hutchinson communities and include the following:
Education
Education support programmes in local schools to help staff and learners acquire knowledge, nurture healthy attitudes and develop skills to better their educational environment.
Welfare
Home Affairs documentation which covers birth certificates and identity documents for community members. Youth development programmes covering computer literacy and life skills.
Bursaries
Funding study opportunities at institutions of higher learning for promising students.
Youth Work Opportunities
Internships and job placement programmes to assist the youth to gain work experience.
Infrastructure Programmes
Construction and supply of Solar Photovoltaic systems mainly to schools to alleviate energy poverty situations.
Psychosocial support and career counseling
Supporting participants through their learning and development journeys using professional counseling, support programmes, and community-based parent circles.
The SED and ED Programmes are collectively called SE.ED Programmes. The SE.ED programmes are aimed at a holistic development of the Victoria West and Hutchinson communities and include the following:
Education
Education support programmes in local schools to help staff and learners acquire knowledge, nurture healthy attitudes and develop skills to better their educational environment.
Welfare
Home Affairs documentation which covers birth certificates and identity documents for community members. Youth development programmes covering computer literacy and life skills.
Bursaries
Funding study opportunities at institutions of higher learning for promising students.
Youth Work Opportunities
Internships and job placement programmes to assist the youth to gain work experience.
Infrastructure Programmes
Construction and supply of Solar Photovoltaic systems mainly to schools to alleviate energy poverty situations.
Psychosocial support and career counseling
Supporting participants through their learning and development journeys using professional counseling, support programmes, and community-based parent circles.
Learning and Development Support
All our implemented SE.ED Programmes are supported by counseling and specialist support to remove learning and development barriers. Learning and Development Support, which incorporates Psychosocial Support, is essential to ensure the SE.ED Programmes participants are motivated, supported and focused for future prospects in their chosen paths of development.
In-school Education Support
Education Support is vital to the development of a community. Enterprise development, or ED (EnD), is a programme that involves investing time and capital to help people establish, expand or improve businesses.
As part of our SED Programme, education support at the local schools follows a structured programme implemented by competent service providers. Education support includes soft skill development, digitisation and infrastructure support, and more.
Enterprise Development
Enterprise development, or ED (EnD), entails a programme that involves investing time and capital to help people establish, improve or expand their businesses.
Enterprise development helps people earn a living and so find a way out of poverty. It leads to long-term economic growth for themselves, their families and their communities. Small businesses are globally recognised as important contributors towards job creation and economic growth in South Africa.
Our approach to the Enterprise Development (ED) programmes is two-fold:
Small business start-up programme:
Developing and assisting aspiring entrepreneurs to start and run their own business profitably. This Phase 1 programme provides participants with a business model and a SETA certificate.
Coaching and support:
We assist a selected number of small businesses that have been through our Phase 1 programme to grow in a sustainable way. This phase involves more financial support and a coaching programme.
Noblesfontein Wind Farm believes in a development strategy that empowers communities. The community is consulted on a continual basis through our liaison offers and the working group to ensure two-way communication and feedback.
Noblesfontein Wind Farm uses the work of Community Liaison Officers (CLOs) as well as community structures to ensure community needs and views are integrated when formulating SED and ED (EnD) programmes.
As community needs change, Noblesfontein is agile in adapting and tailoring support to ensure immediate needs continue to be met, while implementing SED and ED programmes.
For community development programmes to meet identified socio-economic and enterprise development (SE.ED) needs, implementors need to be in touch with the community on a continual basis. To ensure all-inclusive representation of the entire community is attained, a number of community leaders, each from different sectors in the community, volunteer and serve on the working group structure.
The purpose of the Working Group is to ensure the community is informed about our SE.ED programmes, as well as advising the implementors on important community activities and developmental needs. SE.ED Programmes are submitted to the working group for approval, as well as monitoring and evaluation purposes. The working group meets quarterly to discuss progress, challenges and solutions towards improving the implementation of the SE.ED programmes.