Linked with Very Small is Beautiful for the Majority of Our People.
- The consultancy would like to see a shift in the way in which development is designed and implemented. We believe that development interventions should be thoroughly negotiated with beneficiaries, who should act as the project leaders to achieve real change and results.
- As part of this shift in thinking and activity, organisations and staff should make their knowledge and expertise available in a supportive capacity to beneficiaries leading and driving projects based on their own responses to their needs.
- Working to make South Africa a better place to live and work in: … (full text vision and Mission).
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Address: QED Development Consulting, P.O.Box 2432, Pinegowrie, Johannesburg, South Africa 2123;
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Experiences: Consultancy Formation: The consultancy was established in 1999 by a multi-skilled and highly experienced development specialist who has worked for some 25 years with historically disadvantaged and marginalised SA citizens in both urban and rural areas in all nine provinces of South Africa.
Between 1999 and 2003, the business attracted work of a generalist developmental nature, predominantly in learning facilitation and project management. Over the last three years, we have worked in more specialist areas as well.
Micro-Enterprise:
- The managing consultant has worked in small and micro-enterprise policy research, finance and after-care services provision, and in youth enterprise development, from the early 1980s in SA. As part of the Planning and Strategy Division of The Urban Foundation between 1982 and 1985, she produced a series of research papers on a number of issues and obstacles inhibiting the development of small business at that time, which fed into research being conducted into urbanisation trends by the Urbanisation Unit.
- She worked all over Kwazulu-Natal in urban and rural areas between 1989 and 1992, supporting the development of survivalist informal sector enterprises. Most recently, she has evaluated a number of youth business education and enterprise development initiatives (Junior Achievement SA, the NBI-Nations Trust and Thembalethu-Thuthuka-Uplands programmes).
Adult Basic and Further Education and Skills Development:
- The managing consultant has worked in adult and youth basic and further education and skills development since 1993. Jan was the project manager of a literacy and numeracy skills development programme for rural unemployed women and youth between 1993 and 1995. She was the Director of a community development centre offering non-formal education and skills development for local communities between 1997 and 1999. It was at this time that she qualified as an adult educationalist. She has engaged in many adult and youth development education, training and development activities since 1999.
Schools and Learning:
- From 2000, the consultancy developed in the field of formal schools education as well, at the primary and secondary levels, engaging in a diverse range of programmes addressing the training and development of educators, school governing bodies, education management staff, as well as provincial education professional staff.
- Assignments completed related to study skills for educators and learners, the planning and management of school and community libraries, provincial policy creation for school libraries, resource-based outcomes based education, and the development of schools as centres of community life.
- Jan also designed and developed academic learning and teaching materials on the topic of Schools, Communities and Transformation with the School of Education at the University of Fort Hare. Most recently, she completed an evaluation study and strategy review for the Sunday Times ReadRight Project in June 2006.