Message from the CEO

Welcome to the ECSECC website. On this website you can find information about ECSECC, our work and our partners. You can also find ECSECC’s publications and resources such as maps and statistics. We have a well stocked Resource Centre in East London, and a part of the catalogue is searchable from this website.

If you take the time to visit the Resource Centre you will be assisted by our staff to find information documenting the journey of creating a government in the Eastern Cape. In the course of 2012, the entire Resource Centre collection will become searchable from this website.

2012 is going to be a busy and exciting year for ECSECC. In addition to the operations, corporate and financial services function we have six programme streams. EECSECCs employees are a collective of energetic professionals covering a wide range of areas.

In the area of economic and rural development we continue to provide support to distressed companies. Here ECSECC works with the provincial Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEDEAT), national departments and agencies to facilitate solutions that enable companies to remain operating, scale up operations and thus retain jobs in the province. ECSECC also works with DEDEAT in the development of policy and financial instruments for enterprise development and industrial development. Further, ECSECC in partnership with DEDEAT is involved in 6 projects as part of the Wild Coast Development Corridor initiative.

ECSECCs development planning and infrastructure programme aims to build the strategic and technical capacity of the state at provincial and local level to accelerate delivery of quality infrastructure and services.  Effective from December 2011, Premier Noxolo Kiviet has mandated ECSECC to assume the role of co-ordinating the Provincial Strategic Infrastructure Programme, providing technical support as necessary. Support will be provided to the Premier for her engagements in the Presidential Infrastructure Commission.

In the development planning and infrastructure programme stream ECSECC works to support government departments and municipalities. Working with Department of Transport, we provide strategic support to position Eastern Cape Strategic Priority Projects in the transport sector for investment. Other departments supported include Department of Human Settlements and Department of Social Development. In 2012, our support to local government will focus on Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, King  Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality and Chris Hani District Municipality.

The Human Resource Development programme stream works in the areas of schooling and post-schooling. In the schooling area, ECSECCs focus is on education transformation and language transformation. ECSECC support the Quality of Learning and Teaching Campaign (QLTC) of the Provincial Department of Education. In terms of language transformation ECSECC is building a national network of people who can support the Eastern Cape Department of Education to roll-out its policy of Mother Tongue Based Bilingual Education. Further, we are working with other partners to publish a multilingual newsletter that can play a role in consolidating such a network of specialists, scholars, activists, practitioners, policy-makers and community members.

In terms of post schooling, ECSECC continues its support to lectured development in FET colleges. We also work with partners to run a number of programmes, including a Public Private Partnership for automotive mechatronic training, promotion of participation of industry in artisan development.

ESCECC hosts the secretariat for the Eastern Cape AIDS Council (ECAC). Some of the activities of ECAC include:

• The steps for future films on HIV/AIDS project, partnering with the German development corporation, GIZ
• Research on Human Rights and stigma, partnering with NAPWA and Global network of people living with AIDS
• Coordinating implementation of the Provincial Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS and TB
• Conducting research studies identifying causes of challenges facing Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) and Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) programmes in the province.
  
  

Looking ahead, we are confident that ECSECC will, in its own modest way, accelerate the process of socio-economic transformation underway in our Province.