James Secretariat
At present the Trust consists of a Board of 6 Trustees with elected posts of Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary. The Board meet quarterly and are responsible for strategy, policy and the general corporate governance as outlined in the King III report as well as other regulatory requirements. The Secretariat is led by the CEO who is appointed and managed by the Board. The Secretariat forms the operational arm of the Trust. The Secretariat consists of a CEO, Operations manager, OVC Coordinator and IT support (4-full time staff members). Other staff members include administrative support and an accountant (part time posts). The Trust has contractual relations with professional service providers. These include: IT software development; Communications and Marketing; Events; Fundraising, Monitoring and Evaluation.
In addition the Trust has a platform for professional volunteers who serve on different advisory committees these include: Technical; Financial; HR; Marketing; OVC Care Cycle Development. The committees are in different stages of development. The intent is to grow each committee to a fully functioning operational arm of the Trust.
Message from the Chairman
As the first Chairman of the Trust, I can look back over the past 6-years with a deep sense of gratitude to the journey that we as the James family have travelled. It is quite a sobering moment as we celebrate what has been achieved and as we ponder how best to address the gaps and challenges that we face. It is clear to us that the HIV and AIDS epidemic, levels of unemployment and the devastating impact of poverty is producing an environment in which affected children are trapped with little hope of escape. It is as if they are in a nightmare scenario that gets progressively worse with risks of abuse increasing at every turn. The poor education that the majority face is also perpetuating this sense of marginalization. We are witnessing orphaned children having children, pulling their community into further despair. This generational degradation threatens the very fabric of the child rights framework that we as a progressive society hold dear. Our commitment to the millennium development goals is also under threat. This is patterned throughout sub-Saharan Africa where the pandemic is most acute. While universal access of treatment remains a critical priority, there is also a realization that prevention movements need to be strengthened.
The Department of Social Development estimate that there are at least 800 000 maternal orphans with up to 3 million children at risk. We are of the view that the new Children’s Act 38 of 2005, as amended, as well as the whole policy framework reflects best practice. We also know that the caring for children within family-based care units in which holistic child development is practiced is foundational. The whole care of children within a child rights framework and within integrated community development praxis is essential. What has been missing in the puzzle, however, is how to scale existing levels of care from 15% to 60% in order to match the scale of the problem. In this regard 2009 and 2010 have been an important period for the Trust.
Our hosting of a national conference at the Innovation Hub securely planted the need for social innovation. The Trust’s inclusion within the National Action Committee for Children Affected by HIV and AIDS (NACCA),will also ensure that the Trust is able to play a role at a national level.
In this regard the James’ model for promoting “virtual adoption” to leverage resources and the use of ICT as a platform from which to administer and manage these resources heralds a potential breakthrough. It is exciting therefore to confirm that the Trust’s Management System for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (MOSVC) has been launched with our first Community Based partner, SA Cares for Life, being our implementation partner.
They have successfully migrated to the SAP Business One Enterprise Resource Planning system and are in the thick of migrating to PTC’s Windchill, a multi-dimensional data and documentation system.
We remain therefore cautiously optimistic as our proof of concept is emerging. It is indeed a brave thing that the James family is doing. While challenges associated with innovation are inevitable I believe that the inherent values and the passion that we share will hold us all together.
We are committed to a long term solution, one in which we are guided by the values and principles of holism, integrity, simplicity, community, solidarity and innovation. I am proud to be associated with the James 1:27 Trust and as such it is with much gratitude to our sponsors and supporters that I introduce the Annual Report for 2009 and 2010.
Catherine Makwakwa – 17 October 2010
Message from the CEO
Innovation is an intimate dance between the problem and the solution, the success of which is determined by the balancing of discipline that is taut and practiced against creativity that is unbounded and free. It is in this space that the dreamers and visionaries, strategists and thinkers have to find the harmony of working with the planners, builders and implementers.
The creative tension that inevitably comes is held together by the knowledge that each one is needed in order to achieve that which has not been achieved before.
In this instance 2009 and 2010 has witnessed the birthing of the James Model with the concept of “virtual adoption” being located within the theoretical framework of social capital and social network theory. It is a concept whose time has come.
Inspired by South Africa’s history it brings together the global and local village giving new meaning to the information society. We now have the piece of the puzzle that has been missing - how we resource holistic child development. The extended virtual family, which in essence is what virtual adoption is all about, is now through a menu driven system able to securely subscribe to essential goods and services in order to ensure the holistic development of the child. The matching of these children with extended virtual sponsors within family based care units and within a protective child rights framework, heralds an exciting breakthrough.
The James 1:27 Trust, located at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria has during the period under review (2009/2010) seen the successful launch of our product MSOVC 1.0.
We now have for the first time in South Africa a community-based partner using SAP Business One as a an enterprise resource planning tool and probably a world leader in using PTC’s Windchill as a data and documentation life cycle management system. This innovation has not been easy and has demanded much sacrifice and faith.
Our main funders APD and our implementing community partners SA Cares for Life and Lefika La Botshabelo OVC Centre have bravely taken on the shared responsibility of introducing our technology platform and the James Model into the children at risk sector.
But when all is said and done we look at the number of children that being reached, whether at individual, household, cluster or at a village level.
While the Trust has during the period under review secured sufficient funds for MSOVC 1.0, we now begin the process of securing funding for MSOVC 2.0 and 3.0. With the additional staff covering operations, technical support, OVC data support and marketing and communications we feel confident to take the Trust to its next level of operational capability.
Robert Botha – 17 October 2010