Black Sash: Advocacy & Training

The Black Sash Advocacy and Training Project implemented training and assistance in the areas of debt, micro-lending, consumer issues, and financial services in 2002 in Knysna, Western Cape  This programme targets the members of low socio-economic standing in response to an increase in clients seeking advice and counsel on consumer debt related problems.  The project has a duel strategy with initial stages comprised of working with people who are indebted, over 80% of income per annum, and in addition working with governmental departments to lobby and advocate for change and good practice models in the micro lending and credit sectors. The services provided to individuals struggling with debt, are offered at no cost to the clients, as the people who seek their advice are in dire financial distress and cannot afford legal advice.

The influx of clients into Black Slash offices burdened by debt illustrated that the carefully gained economic rights of marginal and poor people, as well as the assistance given to the poor by government through grants and other poverty relief programmes, were being eroded by unscrupulous business practices.  In order to limit or halt unfair business practices affecting disadvantaged portions of the community Black Sash created the following objectives:

• Ensure that consumers have access to justice;

• Ensure consumers have advice on consumer issues;

• Ensure advice is available before debt is incurred;

• Mediate disputes between consumers and credit grantors;

• Ensure that consumers are not victims of reckless lending and reckless selling;

• Report moneylenders who victimise consumers to the Micro Finance Regulatory Council (MFRC);

• Report credit grantors who victimise consumers to the Consumer Protector Office for investigation;

To impact legislation and be effective as a lobbying body, partnerships were formed with the Financial Services Campaigns Coalition, the National Debt Relief Programme, the Provincial Consumer Office, the Credit Law Review, the Debt Law Review Campaign and the Micro Finance Regulatory Council and the Department of Trade and Industry.

The result of these partnerships was the drafting of new legislation, and the development of a training programme for advice offices who have to deal with heavily indebted clients. Although the project originally focused on people coming to their offices, they have realised that the enormity of the problem required a multi-faceted approach to debt relief.  In response to that realisation, Black Sash has started attending the civil courts, addressing employers in large organisations, talking on the radio and using written media to tell people about their rights and assist where they are able.

Innovation

The Black Sash Advocacy and Training Project is the only programme in South Africa specifically addressing issues of the heavily indebted, over 80% of annual wage, and other consumers experiencing financial exploitation.  The Black Sash uses their lobbying and advocacy skills to address the problems people burdened by debt encounter.  The project has been so successful in recruiting indebted people from court proceedings in order to provide legal advice, that a number of legal practitioners (including lawyers and judges) often refer clients to The Black Sash before their court date.  Training courses are also offered as a means to pass these skills on to other paralegal offices in South Africa, example: In the beginning of June 2005, the project was asked by, and ran, a workshop for COSATU in the Western Cape on Debt Management for all their shop stewards.

Effectiveness

A database of people who access their services for debt-related problems is kept.  In 2004 over 1000 clients visited their offices and assistance was given to them by way of financial management and budgeting training. Training was rendered to all seven Black Sash Advice Offices across the country, and at least seven other advice offices, impacting a much broader audience. Moreover, the advocacy work focuses and operates at the level where policy is decided and this has a much more long-term effect and impact on the protection of people’s economic rights.

Poverty Impact

By empowering poor people to know their rights and also to be aware of unscrupulous and unfair business practices, people have more control over their lives and make them less vulnerable to abusive practices by business people. This increases their sense of worth and enables them to pass this newfound knowledge onto their contemporaries.

Sustainability

The total cost of running the project is R1 007 779, per annum. The National Lottery Board contributed 42%, while foreign donors contributed 58% of the budget.  Since signing an agreement with the Western Cape Consumer Protector in 2004, the project is rendering an advisory service in Plettenberg Bay for which they receive a nominal fee.

Replication

The model can be replicated in other settings, and the value of what it teaches others cannot be overstated. The project is ongoing, and while the market is flooded with unscrupulous moneylenders and business credit practices, the demand for the services rendered by the project will remain. The project has been replicated in Grahamstown, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Pietermaritzburg, Gauteng, and Cape Town.

Partnerships

• National Department of Trade and Industry
• Provincial Department of Economic Development and Tourism
• Karoo Human Rights Centre
• COSATU
• Financial Services Campaigns Coalition
• National Debt Relief Programme
• Provincial Consumer Office
• Credit Law Review
• Debt Law Review Campaign
• Micro Finance Regulatory Council

Visit www.blacksash.org.za for more information