Rural Development Support Programme
Rural Development Support Program (RDSP) is an Associate Body of the Southern African Catholic Bishop’s Conference (SACBC) and has been building the capacity of rural communities in South Africa since 1992. Over the last sixteen years we have created, tested and delivered a range of support services designed to contribute to the building up of a rural infrastructure. With half of our population classified as non-urban, rural development is of utmost importance to the future sustainability of our country. Rural communities need to be assisted in finding sustainable solutions to their pressing needs.
RDSP works primarily with rural community based organisations (CBOs) and small groups in need of skills training, organisational development, mentorship and exposure. We work to strengthen civil society within rural areas and to assist in creating community leadership. Most of the organisations we work with struggle to access training opportunities, require assistance in organisational skills and are under-resourced, often existing in a permanent state of crisis management. Since 1992 we have worked with or trained over 350 organisations, many of them in remote rural areas. According to our way of working, rural organisations are the implementing agents and we are the support program or service providers with the common aim of alleviating rural poverty. Our programs are our tools for achieving this.Over the period of a year, we are able to reach communities on a national scale through our various programs, including an average of 20 training sessions, 30 fieldtrips, 6 exposure programs and various seminars and information sheets. The total number of participants who attend our sessions in one year is almost 1000 and those involved in the organisations we serve through our organisational development work conservatively reaches over 400. We have five programmes, which are run nationally from our Cape Town base. We have a small regional office in Queenstown, Eastern Cape. RDSP is in the process of gaining accreditation for our training workshops through the South African Qualifications Authority (services SETA).
12 Bouquet Street
Cape Town 8001
South Africa
Tel: +27 21 462 4555
Fax: +27 21 465 8338
Eastern Cape Office
983 Buhlebezwe Drive
Mlungisis, Queenstown 5326
Tel: 045 854 9200 or 078 157 3120
Fax: 086 606 3173
