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A Rapid Impact Project is a small infrastructure project which is implemented in the period of 3-5 months. These projects require limited technical input, which should encourage complete project cycle management at the community level.
The ICBSP has completed the preparation phase and there is a need to have a clear point of demarcation between the stage of preparation and the new stage of implementation. This is based primarily on the feedback from the community organisers’ reports that highlight:
· The heightened sense of anxiety within the community as a cause of the intensity of the preparation work that was conducted
· The need to see things being done in the community
· A need to test the readiness of the community before large-scale project implementation is conducted.
These recommendations are timely as there is indeed a desire to frontload the project’s implementation in order to maximise the possibilities of positive impacts.
Rapid Impact Projects (RIPs) are aimed at creating an opportunity to test the capacity of the communities and highlight the possible bottlenecks for the implementation of higher levels of investments that are proposed.
The use of RIPs is an opportunity to directly relate the practical training that will be offered to the Communities by the Social Development Commission (SDC) to the implementation of tangible projects within the communities. This use of theoretical principles with practical implementation has been advanced as a viable option for pedagogy and is proffered as a “best practice” for the capacity development in Community Based Organisations
(CBOs).
In order to heighten the slope of the learning curve with respect to acceptance and trust by the community for the new Community Liaison Officers (CLOs), RIPS will allow:
· New CLOs to interact with the community and be seen as doers
· CLO’s to interact and know key players in the community
· New CLO’s to be able to interact with older CLO’s and thereby facilitate the transition process that may be difficult in some communities.
The Rapid Impact Project is supported by the community and is imperative to the investments that are to be made as a part of the Inner City Basic Services for the Poor Project (ICBSP). We hope to build social capital that is lacking in the community by focusing on the youth.
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