PRETORIA PROPOSAL -- FY'09 TAFT FUND FOR REFUGEES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRETORIA 000728

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/S, PRM FOR M.LANGE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF SOCI ASEC CASC SF ZI
SUBJECT: PRETORIA PROPOSAL -- FY'09 TAFT FUND FOR REFUGEES

REF: A. STATE 14280

B. CARRAWAY-LANGE EMAIL OF 14 APRIL 2009

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Summary
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1. Post hereby submits a proposal (ref B) for PRM's FY 2009
Julia V. Taft Fund for Refugees (ref A),recommending a grant
of $20,000 to Ikenze Kungwe Mazwi Community College, a
start-up elementary and high school serving children of
Zimbabwean migrants in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. Funds will be
used to purchase PCs and printers for a student computer
room, microscopes and electronic equipment for a science lab,
and a long list of basic text books. Given the increased
influx of Zimbabwean migrants into South Africa in the last
year, many of them coming to Hillbrow, these teaching aids
are intended to bridge the gap until the College can sustain
itelf with government support. End Summary.

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Project: Purchase of School Equipment
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2. Proposed purchases fall into three categories: computer
room equipment, science lab equipment, and a school library
of teaching textbooks. For the computer room, an existing
facility with a dedicated teacher but insufficient stations
for teaching entire classes, are budgeted 30 desktop
computers (the largest line-item purchase, for about $13,500)
and three laser printers. The science laboratory's largest
purchases for biology and physics courses are three
microscopes and three oscilloscopes alongside various other
electronic meters, gauges, and experiment kits. Books
encompass a full range of standard subjects for grades four,
five, six, and seven. The proposal's budget appendix offers
a detailed shopping list, including actual price quotes
obtained from suppliers. The total of the three areas --
about $14,000 for computers, $3,000 for science, and $8,000
for books -- exceeds the grant value of $20,000, but that
total is made up of many discreet items that can easily be
pruned to the budget ceiling.


3. Given the nature of this proposal as a one-time
procurement, rather than a year-long performance of an
activity, Post recommends an accelerated timetable for
disbursement. We suggest we divide the grant in two tranches
of $10,000, per usual practice, in order to verify that money
is spent correctly; but immediately on verification of the
first tranche of receipts we ask that we may disburse the
second tranche of $10,000 without waiting for midyear.

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Recipient: School Assisting Zimbabweans
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4. Izenzo Kunge Mazwi ("Action Talks Louder than Words")
Community College was opened in July 2006 in the immigrant
district of Hillbrow to serve foreign migrants' children from
kindergarten through grade 12. While its 700 students
represent 14 nationalities, the students are overwhelmingly
Zimbabwean, reflecting the lion's share of English-speaking
migrants in the area. Accomodating migrants' often sudden or
unplanned movements, the College takes in new students at any
time during the school year, not just on the government's
annual defined entry dates. It also takes a flexible
attitude toward identity documents, a hurdle for many migrant
children to gain admission to SAG schools. These two
policies minimize the disruption of schooling often faced by
children in displaced families. Judith Sidambe Ncube, the
school's passionate and persistent director, began calling
refoff last year urging a visit, then conducted a two-hour
Qrefoff last year urging a visit, then conducted a two-hour
tour of every classroom (in a high-rise facility that seems
to be an abandoned state school) cataloguing every need.
Refoff sees good potential for positive press coverage of a
handover of school supplies by our chief of mission.

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Criteria: Tangible, Urgent, Long-Use
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5. Through outreach to refugee NGOs and their networks, Post
was able to elicit 13 proposals this year, among them some
very good options for PRM funds. Our six-member selection
committee of political, economic, public affairs, and USAID
officers initially had individual preferences for eight of
the proposals -- a good sign of a reasonably high standard of

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submissions -- but was able quickly to converge on three
finalists. We liked the African Disabled Refugee
Organisation (ADRO)'s plan to send Cape Town asylum seekers
to job-training courses at a local community college, which
could potentially create income for migrant families; but
past experience made us hesitant over job placement rates.
Similarly we very much liked the Tshwane Leadership
Foundation's concept of community-based action to discourage
xenophobia and promote non-violence, action which is
desperately needed in South Africa, but the proposal was not
specific enough on the nature of its interventions for us to
feel we could verify its impact. In the end we agreed on
Ikenze's request, as a very tangible contribution to a
community of new arrivals with urgent needs. The equipment
and books will have immediate benefit but are also likely to
be used for years to come.

LA LIME