The Limpopo LED Resource Centre has great potential for the Province.
The main object of the centre is to provide research and support, capacity building and publications on and for local economic development, through:
- providing research and support for policy initiatives in Limpopo Province and which enhance and develop the policies of national and provincial government in the local and municipal sphere;
- providing the provincial government and municipalities of Limpopo Province with the capacity to provide institutional support for local economic development in their areas of responsibility, through developing the Resource Centre to be a hub of training and capacity building on all aspects of local economic development in the Province, and a constant reference point on these issues for the municipalities and communities of the province;
- publishing research and documentation on the development of local economies and related questions, both in hard copy and electronic form and to be the publisher of a website on these issues which is at the centre of a network of provincial, national and international bodies in the public, private and tertiary education sectors. The network should particularly aim at the quality and content of LED modules and courses in the tertiary education sector in a bid to introduce elements harmonising these and elevating their content within a context of best national and international practices.
The Resource Centre intends developing, managing and implementing projects, which fall clearly within the scope of its main business and objectives, either on its own volition or under contract from public and private bodies, where the projects concerned are in keeping with the aims and objectives of the Resource Centre and can also be carried out in a technically, financially, socially and environmentally sustainable manner. The monitoring and evaluation of projects and programmes will also be undertaken using the same criteria, further developing the intellectual property accumulated during the life of the EU-funded Limpopo LED Programme.
The Resource Centre has obtained accreditation from LG SETA to carry out training for NQF levels 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6. This is a major step forward, and will ensure some important financing for the Centre. An MOU has also been signed with EDUPARK enabling the Resource Centre to have access to EDUPARK’s resources for the holding of these courses. The LGSETA work and the continuous capacity building of local government and municipal officials throughout the Province will form a key part of the activities of the Resource Centre. The enlargement of the Board of Directors to include the Provincial leadership of SALGA is an important element in identifying and developing the most useful courses on LED in the municipal environment. The Service Level Agreement signed with the Limpopo Department of Agriculture for the implementation and management of the LADA (Limpopo Agribusiness Development Alliance) Programme, greatly enhances the scope of the Resource Centre in the training and capacity building field, to expand and include the Agri-SETA as well as the LGSETA in its work.
Similar potential opportunities are being actively explored with regard to renewable energy, involving support for new businesses and research and development. A key element in these potential initiatives is the opportunities they offer for interaction with the University of Limpopo, which is one of the two main stakeholders in the Resource Centre itself. Already through the relationship with EDUPARK, and the presence of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor as a Director of the centre, the active involvement of the University of Limpopo and its Graduate School of Leadership is assured. It will be a high priority of the LED Resource Centre to involve the relevant university departments and the Graduate School in its work, particularly in the fields of research, publication, public administration and management and in other areas too, such as setting up a small business, cooperatives and a training incubator for renewable energy implementation in the province. The Resource Centre is strongly working on being selected for the management for these activities with the relevant funding coming from national and international sources.
The Resource Centre already has the results of very interesting studies ready for publication. Please find the completed publications link under the Policy & Research Unit section of this website.
The centre aims at developing it’s monitoring system and its software, to easily become another font of income, through being hired or sold to other bodies including government departments for the monitoring of their activities and projects.
The Resource Centre will remain a “small, lean and mean” organisation, concentrating on managing its projects well, getting them known and publicized.
