WIMSA’s principal role is to assist and coordinate San-led advocacy initiatives by supporting the development of representative San leadership structures. In the past, many San communities lacked such bodies and this made it difficult for them to communicate their needs and concerns to the relevant authorities
To improve advocacy capacity, WIMSA concentrates its efforts on building San Councils in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Angola. WIMSA has also helped communities to set up and run their own trusts, community-based organisations, traditional authorities (Namibia) and communal property associations (South Africa).
San CouncilsSan Councils are elected representative bodies that work to conduct important advocacy work on behalf of national San communities. Composed of members elected by local communities and San organisations, San councils bring together and strengthen existing leadership structures, putting communities in a better position to influence decision-making processes at different levels, and to link up with the international indigenous rights’ movement.
There are currently three San councils and efforts are being made to create a fourth.
- The South African San Council was established in 2001 and conists of of 10 members who are elected to represent ‡Khomani, !Xun and Khwe communities and their community based organisations. The Council has played a key role in ascertaining San intellectual property rights related to the use of the appetite suppressant hoodia and has conducted successful benefit sharing negotiations.
- The Namibian San Council was established in 2006 and is composed of 12 members representing the six organised San traditional authorities (Hai||om, !Kung, Ju|’hoansi, Khwe, Omaheke North and Omaheke South), and San community-based organizations.
- The Khwedom Council (Botswana San Council) was registered by the Botswana Government in April 2008, and held its first constituent assembly and election of duty bearers in November 2008. The council’s board consists of 10 members, with two elected representatives from each district with a sizable San population
- At present there is not yet an Angolan San Council, but WIMSA supports the development of representational structures from the bottom up, working in a number of pilot villages. However, WIMSA has made it priority to help Angolan San organise themselves. In 2007, an historic milestone was passed when the first national Angolan San Conference was held in Lubango.
San Councils and WIMSA’s internal structureSan Councils make up WIMSA’s core membership. Each Council is entitled to send three representatives to the WIMSA Board, which guides WIMSA’s work. The Board also acts as a regional San Council which can work to carry out regional and international advocacy work.
To ensure the coordination of national San development activities, WIMSA encourages linkages of each San Council to a national San support organisation. These are the South African San Institute (SASI) in South Africa, the Kuru Family of Organisations (KFO) in Botswana and WIMSA’s Namibia Support Unit in Namibia.
The whole WIMSA structure is overseen by a technical committee which advises the Board and secretariat on substantive matters of management, financial issues and organisational development.
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Our Work
