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HOME > ABOUT US
The Equal Opportunity Foundation has been in existence for the past twenty years. Since inception the foundation has had a clearly articulated development strategy to fund development projects with the objective of alleviating poverty, empowerment, capacity building and community beneficiation ensuring sustainability whilst targeting historically disadvantaged individuals (HDI). The main aim is to address apartheid's development imbalances.
The foundation focuses on small and micro development projects. Programmes are periodically reviewed taking into account the country's current development trends. The sectors previously supported are bursaries, primary health care, women empowerment, community resource centres plus arts and culture. However, currently the focus is on Early Childhood Development (ECD), cross cutting Income Generation projects (IG) and HIV/ AIDS.
The annual grant budget is R3, 6 million. This amount is spread proportionately as per the National Economic Spatial Development Strategy. The criterion is that the projects should be community based and should be in possession of a Non Profit Organisation certificate. The projects should already be in existence and should focus on promoting job creation targeting community members.
The EOF has undergone three external evaluations. The first was conducted in 1995 by James Taylor. His overall assessment was that the EOF has clear objectives and strives to provide a high quality service to its recipients and is accountable to all stake holders. The second external evaluation was prepared by Radya Ebrahim, an independent consultant, on behalf of Pact/ SA. The review revealed that the EOF's capacity to deliver services effectively is at a mature stage of development and that the expertise in disbursing funds is highly regarded by the full range of stakeholders.
The third evaluation conducted by Jon Campbell and Jan Webster, also independent consultants was at the behest of USAID in conjunction with the EOF as part of the agreements (grants) number 674-0301-G-SS-4151-00 and number 674-0301-G-SS-4151-02 between USAID and the EOF. The overall assessment of the evaluators was that the EOF handled its responsibilities with integrity and efficiency on all organisational levels.
The EOF has a Project Team whose objective is to work on all aspects of project management. The Project Team is led by a Project Coordinator who has a master's degree in humanities with emphasis on Organisational Development and is also in the process of obtaining a second masters degree in Public Development Management. Her experience in the development field includes 5 years working in the Government's Community Based Public Works Programme.
There are three project officers whose combined work experience is 15 years in the development field, which includes the years worked at EOF. The team members are highly experienced, knowledgeable and devoted to their work. Their educational background is in the Social Sciences sector. In addition they are in possession of project management certificates, business management, and local economic development and one is a qualified trainer. The EOF has dedicated support staff that works closely with the project team led by a Manager who has a Human Resources Management background and has been with the organisation since 1989.
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