At least 200 different leaders from 12 villages of Ward 1 in the Makhado Municipality under the Vuwani Region gathered at Ha-Manavhela Village to discuss issues around service delivery.

The event that lasted the whole day took place last Sunday and it was organized by the Makhado Municipality in collaboration with the University of Venda. It was aimed at discussing the state of the nation and national budget speech with community institutions within the ward, so as to enable an appropriate implementation of development initiatives. "Aligning ward development initiatives with national imperatives," was the theme of the event.

Prof Joseph Francis, the leader of the project, from the Centre for Rural Development at the University of Venda, said the aim of the project was amplifying communities’ voices and nurturing effective leadership for sustainable development. He said that the university shared the municipality´s vision of improving and advancing service delivery through maximum public participation.

Francis said that maximum public participation could be attained through inter-village, inter-ward and inter-school competitions. He further told the people that this could go a long way towards unleashing talents and potential possessed by members of the community for direct and indirect benefit of all people. He said that the project had kicked off in 2006 and was now operating in four regions of the Makhado Municipality which are Vuwani, Waterval, Makhado and Dzanani, and were centered in wards 1, 17, 20, 29 and 37.