National Khoi & San Council Workshop: Community Protocols Follow-Up

Natural Justice facilitated a Community Protocols Follow-Up Workshop, between 10-13^th March 2015, in Tokai, Cape Town, South Africa. The workshop was composed of various sessions including team building and leadership, and training regards benefit sharing agreements. Both these elements were identified as key elements of the National Khoi & San Councils (NKC) Community Protocol process.

Lesle Jansen, Cath Traynor & Emmanuel Sibanda (Natural Justice) were joined by Dr. Kabir Bavikatte and Dr. Roger Chennells lawyers specializing in beneficiation agreements and processes. The team building and leadership development sessions, took their point of inspiration from the Heroes Project approaches, and activities were outdoors in the surrounding forests which created a contemplative and reflective environment. Through individual work and group discussions NKC members considered their own roles and that of their organisation and they utilized different tools and approaches to analyse their current status and to strategize on ways forwards. These sessions provided an opportunity for members to clarify both their own roles, and the NKCs role in the Khoi-San struggle, and the process provided participants a fresh perspective on the NKC and how it shapes the implementation of the community protocol priorities.

The training on benefit sharing agreements was led by Dr. Bavikatte, and participants discussed recent developments in Access and Benefit Sharing, negotiation processes and strategies, and concluded with applying these learnings to the critical analysis of a current ABS agreement.

On the final day of the workshop the NKC held their own internal meeting. During the workshop NKC representatives also took the opportunity to attend a meeting of the National House of Traditional Leaders, held in Parliament in Cape Town, and addressed questions to President Jacob Zuma.