In a breakthrough effort to further improve relations with, and assistance to its beneficiaries and applicants, the National Lotteries Board signed collaboration agreements with the Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa, Black Lawyers Association Legal Education Trust, Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC), National Development Agency (NDA), National House of Traditional Leaders; South African Graduates Development Association, and South African Local Government Association (SALGA).
 
This follows the commitment of the National Lotteries Board (NLB) to the 1 800 delegates at its 2013 Stakeholder Indaba to engage with various structures to provide assistance to the many smaller rural non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs) that have less resources and expertise than their more urban and established counterparts.
 
“In processing the thousands of applications we receive each year we see that many deserving proposals are declined because the applications do not comply with regulations. We also find shortcomings in reports submitted and non-compliance with the Grant Agreements that our beneficiaries sign”, says NLB chairperson, Professor Alfred Nevhutanda.
 
Under the chairpersonship of Professor Nevhutanda, the NLB continues to make improvements on its mandate to spread the proceeds of the National Lottery across South Africa and to ensure that the lottery proceeds help improve the lives of the vulnerable.
 
The Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa; and the National Development Agency are both committed to a strategic goal that will develop the capabilities and capacity of civil society organisations to effectively design, implement and manage their organisations so that they can access and utilise resources that will lead to self-reliance and better livelihood for their communities.
 
Collaboration with the Black Lawyers Association Legal Education Trust and the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission will focus on areas of governance and compliance with relevant and applicable legislation including the Lotteries Act, Companies Act, Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and Treasury regulations.
 
To focus on assisting prospective applicants in the more rural parts of South Africa, the NLB has signed a collaboration agreement with the National House of Traditional Leaders that commits to assist their more rural NGOs and CBOs in the application process and the managing of projects.
 
With the ever increasing number of unemployed graduates, the South African Graduates Development Association will use graduates on its database to assist non-compliant NGOs and CBOs to achieve compliance and thereby access funding.
 
The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) will assist the NLB in developing capacity in rural NGOs and CBOs, make recommendations for projects in their jurisdiction and also assist the NLB with venues for the expansion of the NLB workshop and helpdesk programme.
 
“Now that we have signed the Memorandums of Understanding, we are drawing up the required Service Level Agreements and will commence the programme of assistance as a matter of urgency”, says NLB chief executive, Charlotte Mampane.
 
For more about the National Lotteries Board, refer to www.nlb.org.za.