GRRI: Gathering funding, resources the step
Cooperation and a shared dream to “build back better” are key ingredients as the Garden Route recovers from the destruction caused by wildfires that tore through the region in June this year.
That was the message from Dr Hildegarde Fast, chairperson of the Garden Route Rebuild steering committee, which is coordinating the Garden Route Rebuild Initiative (GRRI) during the latter’s most recent meetings, on 13 and 14 November.
Fast has been temporarily deployed in the position, by Western Cape premier Helen Zille.
Zille established the GRRI in July to coordinate the many relief and rebuild initiatives that sprang up almost overnight in the wake of the fires.
Its steering committee – which meets weekly – includes provincial representatives, the Eden District, Knysna and Bitou municipalities, NGOs and major private donors.
During the latest meeting, workstreams to develop a long-term strategy and a shared vision for the renewal and rebuilding of the Garden Route’s economy were discussed, how to coordinate all resources and efforts to achieve maximum impact, and to monitor the progress of the GRRI’s seven workstreams.
Each workstream is responsible for the implementation of interventions specific to its area of concern, while a project management office – which reports to the Eden, Knysna, and Bitou municipal managers – has been established to support and monitor the short and long-term projects.
The first six workstreams are as follows: humanitarian assistance, reconstruction, environmental management, business support, infrastructure rehabilitation, and skills development.
The seventh workstream, the gathering of funding and resources – which makes up part of the second phase of the GRRI – has now begun.
“From July to September we focused on short-term interventions to address areas of crisis like the risk of mudslides, dealing with the disposal of asbestos, and the need for a planning framework,” said Fast.
“We’ve now secured bridging funding for environmental projects, completed our asbestos surveys and air quality surveys in both Knysna and Bitou, finalised various needs analyses, set up our project management office, and so on – and we’ve begun a process of acquiring information and ideas from businesses and members of the public, which means we’re now well on the way to defining our shared vision for the future of the Garden Route,” she said.
GRRI achievements 8 November 2017
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Source: Kynsna Plett Herald News