NEDLAC DOUBLES ITS TRAINING BUDGET THIS YEAR

15 July 1996

The National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) has more than doubled its budget this year for capacity building and training.

However Nedlac Executive Director Jayendra Naidoo said while the R750 000 allocated to capacity training this year far exceeded the R300 000 spent last year, it was still insufficient to meet the needs of its constituencies.

"There is a vital need to build capacity in our constituencies, particular Labour, Community and among small business organisations represented in the Trade and Industry Chamber, to maximise their participation in and contribution to the Nedlac process," Naidoo said.

Nedlac has enhanced its capacity building fund by getting R2,5 million for training on the new Labour Relations Act donated by the African-American Labour Centre. In addition, Nedlac has earmarked a further R500 000 from its budget for training for small business owners through the umbrella bodies of Fabcos and Nafcoc.

"We are also investigating the establishment of a trust fund involving the labour and community constituencies, so creating a credible central control mechanism through which funds earmarked for capacity building and training by Nedlac or any other organisation, could flow," he says.

"This would enable the labour and community constituencies to take full control and accountability for the funds. It is not really Nedlac's role to manage capacity building and/or training courses. Rather, our role is to facilitate the funding of capacity building and training programmes," Naidoo says.