Workshop: Cape Town Community Dialogues

The Cape Town office piloted Community Dialogues in May 2010 in Sub Council 19. DDP continues to capacitate and empower members of civil society and organizations in order for them to fulfill their roles of representing the interests of their respective communities. DDP Cape Town has also conducted Tours of Parliament. These are one of the many tools used to educate citizens on the process of democratic governance spurring further interest in the democratic process and creating a citizenry that is willing and able to think critically.

For the last nine months, DDP Cape Town office has been focused on community dialogues which aim to a create platform for dialogue and debate between leaders, experts, academic and civil society. These debates seek to advocate accountability and public participation.

Some of the dialogue subjects included:
“The State of our democracy: has the bubble burst”
“Dinokeng Scenarios”
“The 2010 Legacy: Exploring the myths and realities of the FIFA World Cup”
“Ethical leadership and political culture in local government”
“Municipal elections: What does your vote mean?”
“The role of civil society in deepening democracy.”

There is a definite interest amongst the community in changes and the citizens are eager for civic involvement. Each workshop is characterised by robust debates. We have had good attendance for the workshops which ranges from 20 to 60 participants.

For the time being we have concentrated our dialogue workshops in the area of Sub Council 19, in the areas of Capricorn, Sea Winds, Steenberg, Lavender Hill and Retreat.

As an organisation we would like to expand and proceed with our workshops in other areas. At the same time, we would like the project commenced in Retreat to stay in place and to be driven by the local civil society otherwise we would not have achieved our objective of ensuring sustainable community development initiatives. We believe that sustainable community development is about processes being decided upon and owned by the community members themselves that will continue once the organization has left the community.

We would therefore like to invite your organization (Max 2 representatives) to attend our next workshop on Saturday 19 February 2011.

The focus of this workshop will be to look at the following:

1. Reflection on Dialogues
2. Raise Issues
3. Suggested way forward

The venue will be Square Hill Community Centre, c/o Allenby Drive and Concert Boulevard Retreat.

Time: 09h30 for 10h00 – 15h00

As an organistion we feel that democracy entitles us to many rights but as citizens we need to recognize the responsibilities to ensure we attain those rights in a constructive manner.

Your representation at this event would be greatly appreciated.

Please note that we will need a reply by Friday 11 February 2011.

To reply please send us an email on colleen@ddpcapetown.org.za  or contact our office on 021-4221796 and speak to Gosia or Colleen.

Yours sincerely

Colleen Ryan
PROJECT CO-ORDINATOR