The Thina Sinako Provincial LED Support Programme is actively supporting the development of an integrated provincial LED support system. A number of levels of support partnerships are targeted: the Provincial LED partnership, District Support Teams, Local Action Teams, and Community-based Development Facilitators. To date, work has focused primarily on the Provincial LED Partnership and District Support Teams.The development of District Support Teams is critical in effective leveraging of support resources within a range of government institutions at the district level. These teams, which have been established in all of the districts of the Province and are undergoing a process of formalisation, are a critical point of interface between the provincial LED partnership and the more locally-based support arrangements. The phasing out of the Thina Sinako Regional Offices by the end of 2009 is complemented by the building of capacity and systems for improved functioning by these District Support Teams.
The Thina Sinako Programme has produced an LED Facilitators’ Handbook that captures the systems and tools developed during Programme implementation to date, as well as guidelines for the development of municipal LED strategies. Training has been provided in LED facilitation and project development, with further training on aspects such as cost-benefit analysis, social accounting matrices, etc. focused on the members of district support teams. Anchoring of LED training into the Provincial institutional landscape is being facilitated through the work of a consortium of the universities based in this Province.
The Programme has also supported the development of a Provincial Cooperatives Strategy and an emergent “LED-friendly” public procurement system for the Province.
