Developmental Services working independently and in partnership with the Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies has been one of the major training service providers supporting different aspects of South Africa's land reform programme.
Training programmes commissioned by the Department of Land Affairs have been of two different types.
Foundation courses
Programme focused training
Foundation courses
Initially training was designed to equip DLA officials and NGOs active in the land reform sector with key concepts and a working knowledge of policy and procedures.
The White Paper on Land Policy identified three main components of the land reform programme
Land restitution which involves returning land (or otherwise compensating victims) who lost land rights since 19 June 1913 because of racially discriminatory laws
Land redistribution makes it possible for poor and disadvantaged people to buy land with a Settlement and Land Acquisition Grant
Land tenure reform is the most complex area of land reform. It aims to bring all people occupying land under a unitary, legally validated system of landholding. It will devise secure forms of land tenure, help resolve tenure disputes and provide alternatives for people displaced in the process
White Paper on South African Land Policy 1997 Page VI
Training courses were designed to address key issues within each land reform component. Course design had to be flexible as the policy and legislative environment was constantly changing.
The most successful training development processes involved us working with a team of DLA officials. The team identified key training objectives and outcomes and developed an overall session plan. Thereafter we identified responsibilities for key inputs and designed course activities and supporting materials.
All courses were trialled and revised and then updated with each delivery.
This course was designed and delivered together with Professor Ben Cousins - Director of PLAAS. It has been delivered in many different formats. Originally designed in 1996 the course was delivered in two three day blocks. In 1997 the course was reduced to five days and then further compressed into a three day course in 1999.
The design and delivery of this training programme was linked to the drafting of a proposed Land Rights Bill. However with the change of Minister the draft Land Rights Bill was sent back for redrafting. DLA shelved Tenure Basics training as result of a policy rethink. A new Bill is expected to be released shortly.
This five day course was designed together with a team of people from DLA in Pretoria. The course was delivered by the team and went through many changes reflecting shifts in policy, procedure and land reform 'products'.
As this course progressed it was changed in several ways. Content areas such as legal entity formation and commonage were taken out and were developed into stand alone courses.
On taking up office Minister Didiza initiated a Redistribution Review and imposed a moratorium on new Redistribution projects. A new look Integrated Programme for Land Reform and Agricultural Development (LRAD) forms the basis of current Redistribution policy. This programme will require joint training of DLA and Department of Agriculture staff who are tasked with its implementation.
Developmental Services assisted Dr Andries Du Toit of PLAAS in the design and facilitation of the initial training course on Restitution policy, legislation and procedures for staff of the Commission and the DLA.
Many households acquiring land under the land reform programme have to hold land as a group. This means that they have to establish a legal entity to hold the land and establish institutional arrangements for managing the land rights of members.
The process of establishing and supporting legal entities has been much neglected under the land reform programme. Recognising these problems DLA commissioned a basic three day course to examine the options and process involved in establishing effective legal entities.
The Extension of Security of Tenure Act (Act No 62 of 1997) was drafted by DLA to address problems of insecure tenure and illegal evictions. This five day training course was designed and facilitated with a team from DLA who subsequently took over the training delivery and amended the course for different audiences.
The course was designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to ESTA and strategies for its implementation.
was initiated in 1999. The project involved the preparation of a set of planning guidelines and a linked 18 month training programme in the Free State and Mpumalanga provinces
PLAAS, together with IUCN put in a proposal to design and deliver the training programme. Rick de Satge of Developmental Services was appointed as the training manager with responsibility for design and facilitation of training and the commissioning of training partners and resource persons.
Common Ground Consulting and TRAC joined the project team with responsibility for delivering project based training in the Free State and Mpumalanga respectively.
The overall training design is reflected in the graphic below. Foundation courses were interspersed with project based learning in the field.
A technical team worked on compiling the guidelines in a process that ran parallel to the training and learning programme. At the mid point of the overall programme the guidelines were critically assessed and changes made..
Towards the end of the programme we extracted key issues for managers and held a reflection session on the strategic questions posed by the project based training.
The final part of the training programme has focused on introducing the guidelines to all nine provinces. Unlike other training for the DLA this programme sets out to serve a variety of role players in the land reform process - DLA planners, extension officers from Department of Agriculture, and officials from the provincial departments of Environmental Affairs.
Foundation course introduced key concepts while project based learning enabled participants to apply what they had learnt in the field while interacting with land reform participants.
