NICRO Annual Report 2003-2004

SORAYA SOLOMON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

A decade after South Africa's first democratic elections our country has flourished into a leading player on the African continent. The post apartheid era has brought greater financial stability, economic development, a booming tourism industry and worldwide credibility. Despite our proud achievements as a nation united, crime continues to fragment communities, spotlight inequalities and impact seriously on our progress towards achieving a democracy that serves all its citizens.

Given our country's alarming crime rate, high recidivism patterns, and the debilitating consequences of crime on our people and the economy, NICRO's vision of a safer South Africa in which crime and violence no longer govern is more relevant than ever. In our quest to build and strengthen a democratic society by reducing and preventing crime, and undertaking innovative people centred development initiatives, the organisation commenced with a vigorous change process this past year. The first stage of this process focussed on strengthening the internal capacity of the organisation, and the development and implementation of a human resource system geared towards monitoring and improving staff achievements as well as operational areas in need of attention.

The state's programme to ensure that its personnel are well remunerated has resulted in particular challenges for the non-governmental sector. NICRO, like many similar organisations, has recognised the dire need to address its high staff turnover, as staff are increasingly drawn from us into the employ of state departments and other more lucrative fields of endeavour.

In order for the organisation to meet the growing demand for its services, strengthen service delivery, retain high calibre staff and ensure its long-term sustainability, NICRO must of necessity bolster both its human and financial resources in an increasingly competitive environment. To this end we have restructured and expanded the Fundraising, Marketing and Media Department, which is now fully staffed and functioning optimally. We are also in the process of developing and implementing an assertive strategy to diversify NICRO's funding base, explore innovative income generation opportunities and secure the necessary funding to ensure that the work of the organisation is successfully sustained.

This annual report highlights our achievements within our nine provincial structures and at NICRO's National Office this past year. None of these fine accomplishments would have been possible without our volunteers, staff and benefactors. We therefore pay tribute to the remarkable men, women and young people who selflessly give their time, energy and inspiration without expecting anything in return.

The highly significant contribution that this organisation continues to make towards the creation of a safer South Africa is equally dependant on the ongoing support of our government; South African corporate concerns, trusts and foundations; several foreign missions and grant makers; as well as support from our individual donors. NICRO and the communities we serve thank the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, a relatively new funder whose grants now form a substantial percentage of our income, as well as each and every other funder for their generosity and the confidence they show so tangibly in our work. We remain deeply and ever grateful to them all.

Last, but not least, I would like to pay tribute to NICRO's staff. It is the commitment, determination, enthusiasm and energetic support of our staff that, over the years, has ensured the success and fine achievements of the organisation. I thank you for your pivotal contributions to the organisation, our stakeholders and clients.

Soraya
Solomon
Executive Director

Nicro National Executive
President:	Mr P Maduna	Limpopo:	Mr C Dipela
National Chairperson:	Mr D Molapo	Mpumalanga:	Mr SH Gwebu
Member for Finance:	Mr R Klotz	Northern Cape:	Mr R Morris
Eastern Cape:	Ms E Yerolemou	NorthWest:	Rev K Molete
Free State:	Mr N van Niekerk	Western Cape:	Mr M Mutlane
Gauteng:	Mr V Smith	Co-opted member:	Adv P Gamble
KwaZulu-Natal:	Mr W Petersen	Co-opted member:	Mr G Gajjar

CELIA DAWSON NATIONAL DIRECTOR: PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT

Following a strategic decision taken in November 2003 to revisit the structure and institutional configuration of NICRO's National Office, two portfolios - provincial development and programme development - were separated. These two functions have subsequently been allocated to the Deputy Executive Director and the Director of Programme Development respectively. The latter position was filled by Celia Dawson in February 2004.

This restructuring process has created the opportunity for more focussed attention to be afforded to one of NICRO's pivotal activities - programme design and development. Some of the key performance areas of this portfolio include the investigation of appropriate programmatic responses to social needs as determined by NICRO's mission; consideration of the impact of existing programmes and on social development; and the design, modeling and implementation of innovative, creative interventions that will ensure that NICRO successfully achieves its vision and mission.

The re-establishment of this function, which constituted a separate division prior to 2000, comes at a fortuitous time in the organisation's organic evolvement as NICRO repositions itself to ensure its sustainability, value and impact in a rapidly changing environment.

NICRO's strategic review has indicated that it is required of the organisation to adopt a more focused and visible crime prevention strategy. Investigation shows that this is best achieved by putting into practice the social crime prevention approach, which both recognises and acknowledges offender reintegration as a legitimate and effective crime prevention strategy. NICRO's offender reintegration services will, therefore, be repositioned as one of the organisation's core services.

Our main focus this year will be on developing a new programmatic focus in line with the repositioning goal of NICRO, and specifically to give direction to the introduction and development of social crime prevention programmes. Our main concern is stemming the spiraling crime rate and criminal activity with its attendant violent nature and impunity.

The diagram that follows encapsulates the probable framework for NICRO's services and highlights the following approach:

• That we stay true to our vision of building a democracy through crime prevention and people-centred development initiatives;
• That we do this through adopting a holistic perspective on crime prevention, recognising that to reduce crime involves focussing not only on primary prevention (social crime prevention) but also on secondary prevention (offender reintegration), given the very high recidivism and re-offending rates in South Africa;
• That we re-affirm our belief that offender reintegration is a legitimate and essential crime prevention strategy;
• That our interventions will be developmental in nature, providing sufficient opportunity to engage in community initiatives;
• That the victim's needs are recognised, and included in direct victim-perpetrator programmes, such as Family Group Conferences (FGCs) and Victim Offender Mediation (VOM) interventions, which will be incorporated into offender reintegration services.