A distinction can be made between:

• Skills development (individuals)
• Organization Development (entities)
• Community development (e.g. public engagement)

Making this distinction helps to explain how a “project management” role emerges for C4L.

Skills Development

Since downsizing, C4L has adopted a new approach.  It nominates accredited trainers to deliver training to leaners, thereby reducing its own role to training administration.  This includes recruitment of learners, monitoring project roll-out, mentoring learners during their practicums period, and hosting graduation ceremonies.

C4L recognized that government policy favours public colleges when it comes to accredited training.  So it adapted accordingly.  That was our main reason for down-sizing our campus and taking on this Project Management role.

The importance of coaching, mentoring and accompaniement as training techniques should not be under-estimated.  Especially when it comes to practicums in the mix of a work/study “learnership”.  So C4L mentors can still have a hands-on role in the overall enterprise.

Organization Development

A good example of Leadership training is when we work with the Boards of nonprofits and cooperatives. We work with a functioning team (namely the governance Board), and the results strengthen its organization or entity.  Key issues like Vision and Strategy cannot be formulated by individuals, they are “corporate” functions.  Usually such training is “non-accredited” because it is not delivered to one individual.

As a Project Manager, C4L can assume certain roles such as OD and mentoring, while outsourcing the accredited classroom instruction to partner training providers.

Although we work in civil society, the poor functioning of SOE Boards is one reason that “state capture” has allowed about R100 billion to be lost to the Treasury.  It is equally important in nonprofits and cooperatives that their governance structures function well.

Community Development

In this way, C4L remains anchored in a community development role which is typical of nonprofits working mainly in development.  This devolves much of the “skills development” to local providers, which are duly qualified.

Project Management is a kind of coordination role, steering the diverse actors and stakeholders and providing monitoring, reporting and evaluation. 

This is C4L’s “natural habitat”.  We sometimes call it public-private partnership because the Client or Donor may be from the public sector and training providers can be from either public or private sector.  C4L is from the voluntary nonprofit sector often called Civil Society.  In such a Joint Venture, it is important to agree who is the Lead Agency and that is the very “project management” role that C4L frequently assumes. For this we naturally earn a PM fee.

We welcome you to get in contact with us to discuss how we can assist you with your project management needs.