About Afesis-corplan
Afesis-corplan is a progressive, non-governmental organisation that has contributed to community-driven development and good local governance in the Eastern Cape since 1992. Registered as a not for profit Company, Afesis-corplan operates under the governance of a capable Board of Directors. Eighty percent of its staff have professional and postgraduate qualifications and ninety percent come from historically disadvantaged communities.
It had never been more crucial and critical for Non Governmental Organistions (NGOs) to be able to clearly understand and articulate their positioning as it is now. Afesis-corplan has had to define and concretize its positioning in a more explicit manner as it had in the past. The organisation has positioned itself to support communities, community groupings and citizens to effectively engage with the state. This position guides all of its work.
The broad aim is to support citizens to actively unlock and enhance the state’s potential to deliver responsive services and targeted development initiatives. In doing this, Afesis-corplan will use participatory methods – most of which it has developed and tested over time – with a broader aim to empower citizens to take their rightful place in a participatory democracy. Following the organizational position explained above, the refined organisational positioning statement is:
Team Culture Statement
Our team vision is one where we are dedicated and committed – in a respectful, supportive, empowering and dignified manner – to providing excellent work that sustainably achieves our organisational guiding statements.
Strategic Goal
The organisation’s strategic goal is to support citizens to actively unlock and enhance the state’s potential to deliver responsive services and targeted development initiatives. To achieve this, Afesis-corplan uses participatory methods, most of which have been developed and tested over time, to empower citizens to take their rightful places in local governance.
Vision, Mission & Values
Our vision is a self-reliant society in which people have equitable access to resources and institutions are an expression of people’s needs and aspirations.
Our mission is to empower communities of the Eastern Cape and beyond by promoting active citizenship and good governance through participatory methods, policy-driven research and dialogue aimed at promoting access to land for sustainable human settlements, local economic development and good governance.
Our mission and vision are based on the following values:
Equality
Democracy
Transparency and Accountability
Honesty and Fairness
Efficiency and Effectiveness
Theory of Change
Afesis-corplan had always been conscious of a need to articulate in a clearer manner that which it is working towards and how its different programmatic interventions were directed towards the attainment of the same long-term goal.
The Theory of Change is a tool we use to present the change we are working towards, in simple terms; it is a graphic representation of the change process.
History
Afesis-corplan was officially registered in 1992 as a Section 21 Company from a merger of Afesis (‘Aphesis’ meaning liberation in Greek) and Corplan (abbreviated from Community Research and Planning). Afesis was established in 1983 as a Trust, and in 1992, through a merger of Afesis and its project, Community Resource and Planning, Afesis-corplan was born.
Afesis-corplan was created with the purpose of working towards the realisation of a participatory democracy, where citizen participation in governance would be entrenched at the lowest spheres of government. To date, Afesis-corplan continues to work towards deepening participatory democracy and the realisation of good governance. The decisions to strengthen efforts to support citizens to better engage with the state are in line with the founding values of the organisation.