By Motlakamang Mohlokoane and ‘Mamafa Machere
MASERU
On the 27th March 2023, five small different projects had been awarded their requested funds and signed their agreement contracts with Transformation Resource Centre (TRC).
TRC is a non-governmental organization which promotes and protects human rights, good governance and participatory development in Lesotho. TRC runs a project called Sea-Le-Methati which provides funding to small organizations or projects to boost them up financially so that they may reach their goals in the communities they live it. The projects are funded according to their requested amounts.
Organizations which signed agreements and were awarded funds by TRC are; Survivors of Lesotho Dams (SOLD) which will be in Mokhotlong, PGC Academy, and they will be working in all 10 districts, Shepherd Watch from Nazareth, Machache. Academic Forum for Development of Lesotho (AFDL) from Thetsane West and Network for Solidarity Empowerment and Transformation for All (NewSETA) from Maputsoe.
The selection criteria followed before awarding was based purely on the presentation the applicant companies gave to the TRC team, indicated Mr. Tsikoane speaking on behalf of TRC Management.
“You must be proud of yourselves that you have only been selected because of your skills and presentations.” He spoke.
He went on to say, last year they managed to fund only three organizations, this year the number has increased to five, and hopefully before May this year, they will have managed to fund other 5 more organization.
“This money is a donation, it is not expected to be paid back unless it has been misused for personal gain, or any other reason other than what it was intended for. Those aided organizations can expect another donation from us on condition that they achieve the things they stipulated in their presentations.” Said Mr.Tsikoane.
Mr. Mothusi a representative of Survivors of Lesotho Dams (SOLD) spoke on behalf of all nominees and expressed their gratitude to TRC and conveyed how lucky they felt to be the chosen ones. He assured and promised TRC that they will use the funds on intended projects and not anywhere else outside the projects. He urged other presentatives that they work exceptionally well in such a way that they are trusted for bigger things in future.
“We feel privileged to be the chosen ones amongst the others and are extremely proud of the effort we put in to make sure we met all requirements requested by TRC, through their Sea-Le-Methati project. We pledge to put the funds to good use”, said Mr. Mothusi.
The contracts clearly stipulate that they need to be operational for six months. Operations commence from the day they signed their agreement contracts until the end of September 2023. During these months TRC will be monitoring their progress and at the end of the six months stipulated they will be expected to provide a detailed report.