Organisations that work to improve their communities may be eligible for the government funding through the National Development Agency (NDA).

The NDA’s senior manager of Grant Bouwer Funding and Research Mobilisation, Anthony Bouwer, says it funds organisations that promote community development, including cooperatives, faith-based and non-profit organisations.

“The cooperatives and organisations that are funded by the NDA help to address development in communities. Many of them feed communities or fight gender-based violence in our societies,” says Bouwer.

The cooperatives that the NDA assists must have the potential to help develop the local economy or promote food security.

“We also support initiatives started by the unemployed, the young, women and people with disabilities.”

The NDA also helps ensure that qualifying organisations remain sustainable and are able to carry out the work they do well into the future. It links organisations with local, provincial, national and international markets and opportunities.

“We fund the cooperatives that cannot get funding from banks. We also link up the smaller cooperatives with the bigger ones, so that they can do business together,” Bouwer explains.

Cooperatives that do embroidery and are involved in agriculture were the NDA’s main beneficiaries over the past year, according to Bouwer.

Cooperatives can apply for funding through provincial NDA offices where they will receive assistance to put together comprehensive funding requests, complete the application forms and submit the necessary supporting documents.

Bouwer says funding is awarded on a term basis, ranging from three months to one year.

For more information on NDA funding, email info@nda.org.za or call 011 018 5500.

– This story first appeared in GCIS Vuk'uzenzele