To enhance and strengthen the understanding of social protection mechanisms among farm workers, dwellers and small-scale farmers.
To mobilise farm workers, dwellers and small-scale farmers who have formed collectives to develop and implement mechanisms to address poor/unsatisfactory socio-economic conditions (labour, land, tenure, housing, access to services and lack of market power) and unequal power relations in food value chains.
Programme Objective
The programme deals with two aspects of the agricultural labour market.
The first aspect deals with practical and day-today issues such as enforcing the minimum wage and other labour rights on farms, strengthening tenure security and improving housing and living conditions on farms and strengthening food sources and networks.
The second aspect is tied to changing power relations in the labour markets (and value chains) to enable poorly paid workers, the rural unemployed and weakened small-scale farmers to gain some leverage in a changing agrarian context.
This programme is linked closely with the Social Mobilisation programme as the formation of farm and area committees and small-scale farmers’ collectives provides the basis for united action, campaigns and lobbying and advocacy.
The major results achieved in this programme have been:
Sixty-three farm committees are engaging farmers, government structures around the right to food and dignified living and working conditions. Farm committees are monitored through various methods to assess their impact. Since their establishment, ninety-seven per cent of the farm committees that have negotiated with farmers have been able to make improvements to their living and working conditions.
One hundred and twenty-seven small-scale farmers are selling their produce in local markets (e.g urban centres, townships, pension points, farm stalls, auctions) and have enhanced their financial capacity.
Farm workers and dwellers and small-scale farmers have developed steps and processes for the campaign to engage various government departments, local municipalities, labour consultants and other agencies working with commercial farmers on agrarian transformation. This has been mainly through the development of Integrated Community Development Plans developed in 2012, which are being used for lobbying and advocacy with relevant stakeholders.
Get In Touch
(046) 622-5429
(046) 622-2617
admin@ecarp.org.za
4 Trollope Street, Grahamstown
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