ADRO: Programme and activities 2010-2011

ACTIVITIES:

ADRO’s program primarily focuses on enabling ADRO to act as facilitators for refugees to undertake valuable training programs that will provide them with skills to increase their employability, whilst also increasing its support network for refugees and foreign-nationals in the Cape Town area, offering advice and becoming an information centre. ADRO also continuously maintains its advocacy campaign in order to improve conditions for refugees by impacting change on a legislative level.
ADRO aims to place people on educational courses and provide a service for advice and assistance in areas such as job activation, immediate food relief, housing assistance and referrals to counseling services, etc. ADRO’s active advocacy program also runs regular media campaigns, implants ADRO representatives to lobby local, provincial and national government at relevant meetings and organize and host important workshops for refugees and service providers that address areas of concern.

• Skills training

ADRO has established a connection with the Cape Town Hospitality and Commercial Centre, which is located in the City Bowl and offers a range of courses in hospitality (catering, hotel reception/management, bar keeping etc.), office administration, Information Technology and English language. The centre is accredited and students receive diplomas and certificates that are recognized qualifications in South Africa.
ADRO wishes to avoid creating a dependency upon aid from government or NGOs and therefore believes that enabling people to provide for themselves by providing them with the means to seek gainful employment is the most suitable route to the sustainable development of this marginalized community.

• Rights education through workshops

ADRO also organizes workshops and training seminars for refugees as well as local advice centers on human rights to raise awareness in communities. ADRO believes that xenophobia in South Africa may be reduced if more cultural awareness campaigns are brought to local communities. Increased cultural dialogue and regular group activities (e.g. soccer matches, drumming sessions etc.) can only serve to diminish negative perceptions of outsiders and decrease the envy and suspicion of foreign-nationals.

• Advocacy and Legal Advice programs

ADRO regularly lobbies local government, locates clients for relevant legal cases and publishes informative articles in the print media regarding the issues facing the refugee community. ADRO has had good results from advocacy campaigns, including printed articles in The Cape Times, and held live discussions and interviews on Bush Radio and TV. Recently, ADRO Program Coordinator, together with M. Patrick Kawuma Male, UNHCR Head of Field Office in Cape Town, were interviewed by Cape Town TV. These enabled ADRO to broadcast important information regarding the issues facing refugees to local communities.

Many of the refugees that ADRO has worked with in the past rely on ADRO’s advice when facing difficult challenges. Such information required might include the locations of suitable shelters, where to go to claim social grants (if eligible), legal matters (in which case they may be referred to the Legal Resource Centre) and who provides information regarding job activation services.
ADRO works alongside other NGOs/CBOs in the Cape Town such as Black Sash, the refugee network Tutumike and CORMSA, in order to uphold a strong referral system so that different types of support can be easily located.

The Advocacy program is closely linked to the Legal Advice program, both aiming to assist clients in access to accommodation, food and income security, social security and access to grants (especially for the disabled, the elderly and the children), self-protection, material needs, legal support, health, transportation, education and skills training, employment, stigma alleviation and AIDS, media campaigns. This can indeed be done through an increased access to information, the development of a referral program and advice provision to refugees.
ADRO has been providing food security to the refugees in camps around Cape Town, and to those who come to our central office in the city of Cape Town for more than three years and has built up relationships with local transport service providers, food bank and wholesalers. ADRO is already considered an information focal point for refugees and offers advice on a daily basis to those in need. With the help of the Black Sash, ADRO has compiled leaflets and informative brochures regarding the rights of refugees, including which social grants they can access and which companies they can apply to for small business loans.

• Monitoring program

ADRO has been very involved in De Doorns for the past year together with Black Sash in support of OXFAM through CORMSA.
Weekly monitoring continues with various government departments such as Home Affairs, Social Development (as well as SASSA – South African Social Security Agency), Health, Education and Housing.

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ADRO is committed to assisting those displaced by the xenophobic attacks of May 2008, as well as other foreign-nationals who remain vulnerable in South Africa, with the intense challenge of reintegrating into local communities and supporting their long-term prosperity and independence. ADRO believes a program of assistance will flourish when carried out by a supported community of local NGOs/CBOs and we aim to work as part of the Cape Town refugee network in order to fulfill our shared goals. Our strength lies in the fact that we have already established a relationship of trust with the communities in need, and it is important to us to be able to further assist those who come to ADRO for help. By increasing our institutional capacity, building upon existing communication systems and extending our advocacy program, ADRO can remain active and visible to the affected communities and to the sources of authority that can introduce real changes, with regards to the treatment and support of refugees in the Western Cape. By providing training to those who are without a sustainable livelihood, ADRO hopes to invest in people’s futures to ensure they are able to support themselves and build a secure life in South Africa.