* BULLETIN : 2

June 24, 2004.

Biting Off More Than We Can Chew?

All of us were deeply shocked this month when Jockin was admitted to hospital with serious complications arising from blood sugar and heart disorders. Thankfully he is now recovering. His illness comes as a warning signal to all of us – but especially to Jockin himself.

Although there is no direct correlation, it is clear that Jockin’s punishing travel schedule has contributed to his ill health. It is ironic that coordinators of shackdwellers organizations face health risks that are associated with global travel.

Jockin certainly has the most impossible travel schedule but Joel, Rose, Sheela, Patrick and Somsook are not far behind. In early June for example Joel slept in thirteen different cities in as many nights and Rose traveled back-to-back from Uganda to Ghana to Philippines.

Without easy and affordable travel SDI would not have come into being, but we have struggled to adapt to its possibilities and challenges. In this respect adaptation to travel and digital communication mirrors our successes and failures when it comes to dealing with globalization in general. On the one hand we have coordinators who are compromising their health with excessive travel and on the other hand we have new initiatives that need nurturing and supervision if they are going to advance to scale.

Joel, Sheela and Bunita have discussed these issues informally and some aspects of the problem have been raised at board level – specifically the extent to which agendas for replication are set outside the SDI network itself. However it is clear that the Board and the coordinators will have to give serious attention to different ways to deal with the pressures that come with supporting and growing an international alliance.

Activities Involving Affiliates

At this very moment a large contingent of Asian and African affiliates is in Manila participating in a gender conference that is being run by the Asian Development Bank. They will also interact with the Filipino Federation. Reports will be drafted in the days ahead. (Reports are also due on recently concluded exchanges to Ghana, Uganda, and Brasil as well as a report on the SA teams visit to India. Summaries will appear in the next bulletin).

The Namibia and Zimbabwe NGO directors are in South Africa this week to meet with a northern donor and work with the Secretariat on the preparation of a meeting for all Africa affiliates – probably around an enumeration process in Cape Town or Johannesburg.

Next week Pamoja Trust in Kenya is holding a three-day strategic planning meeting.

In South Africa the Coalition of the Urban Poor is planning for a national summit to be held in early July in Johannesburg. It will include a session in which the participating people’s organizations will draft their own housing policy.

The Ghana savings groups are preparing for an enumeration as a response to a threatened eviction.

The South Africans and Kenyans will return to Uganda in the second half of July to check on toilet construction, the finalization of the transfer of land from the city to the people for house construction and to consolidate support systems for the emerging Federation.

The South Africans will begin to plan a follow up exchange to Indonesia and the Secretariat is re-scheduling a visit to Brasil to be followed by a short exposure to savings groups in Bolivia.

SDI CALENDAR JUNE 28 to JULY 15.

June 28 – 30 – Pamoja Trust Kenya holds strategic planning meeting.

July 9 – 11 - SA Federation plays lead role in summit for the Coalition of the Urban Poor.

July 14 onwards – SA and Kenya to Uganda.

July 15. Provisional date for completion go SDI CD-Rom.

More activities to be consolidated next week.