Welcome to Prodder, the most comprehensive online directory about NGOs and development organisations in South Africa. Information and knowledge have become critical determinants of development and the driving forces behind economic progress in today's competitive world. Access to credible information is a strategic prerequisite for the success of development projects and processes. It empowers decision-making and enables action across a wide range of development issues. Prodder is an integral part of the SANGONeT NGO and Development Information Portal, the gateway to the NGO sector in South Africa. To visit the portal,click here.

The aim of Prodder is to provide specific information about the organisations and institutions involved in our country's development. The focus and scope of Prodder’s activities are making an important contribution towards SANGONeT’s vision and mission of facilitating access to information, raising awareness of important issues affecting the development agenda, enhancing the reach and impact of development activists, and linking people and organisations through the use of ICTs in Southern Africa. To list and/or update information about your organisation, please complete the Prodder Input Sheet.

History

In the past twenty years the Southern African region has experienced unprecedented political and socio-economic changes. Although these changes provide a framework for improving the lives of millions of people, the state of development in the region continues to reflect a problematic scenario. Many development challenges remain, both in addressing the legacy of the region's past and in consolidating the progress of recent times. At the same time, issues such as the impact of HIV/AIDS and the drought of recent years have added additional challenges to the region’s future development prospects. In response to this situation, development roleplayers acknowledge that the availability of, and access to, information reflecting the activities of the region's development roleplayers, and the development issues confronting the region, are crucial to enhance and support the development process in Southern Africa. At the same time as a number of trade union, civic and church activists joined forces with progressive computer experts in 1987 to establish WorkNet (the forerunner to SANGONeT), the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) established the Programme for Development Research (Prodder) with the mission to provide an appropriate, comprehensive and dynamic Southern African development information and communication service to people and organisations involved in the regional development process. Although the parastatal (Prodder) and civil society (Worknet/SANGONeT) environments experienced very different internal challenges and opportunities in the late 1980s as South Africa embarked on a process of political change and transformation, PRODDER and SANGONeT’s paths often crossed and were destined to move closer together in time.

Between 1987 and 2001, Prodder published 10 comprehensive directories which highlighted the activities of thousands of development organisations active in the Southern African region. The Prodder: South/Southern African Development Directory series made an important contribution to the development debate in Southern Africa by concentrating on both the development issues confronting the region and development organisations contributing to the region's development efforts. The Prodder Directory established itself as the most comprehensive development publication of its kind on any geographical region in Africa, and became a much sought-after reference tool on the Southern African development situation. Each edition catalogued a piece of history as the Southern African region moved from an era of conflict and confrontation to peace and potential prosperity. In addition to these directories, Prodder also compiled a range of other complementary development information services:

• Directories/Databases - Directory of South African Women’s Organisations in 1995, The Youth Book in 1997, South African Training and Capacity-Building Providers in 1998, and the Database of Business Development Organisations in Southern Africa in 1999;
• Prodder Newsletter - this quarterly development newsletter focused on a specific development issue with each edition (e.g. NGOs and Development, Environment and Population, Small Business Development, etc);
• e-Prodder Newsletter and e-Civicus - these weekly electronic development newsletters covered various information categories (e.g. news, vacancies, conferences, research, publications, etc) and were distributed to thousands of subscribers throughout Southern African and the rest of the world;
• Prodder Development Forum - this quarterly development discussion forum provided opportunities for development practitioners to discuss the development issues which were covered in the Prodder Newsletter.

Collectively, all these Prodder initiatives provided the Southern African development community with a comprehensive development information service. They directly and indirectly contributed to the process of facilitating networking, cooperation and interaction between development roleplayers throughout Southern Africa. However, given various strategic and institutional changes at the HSRC, a decision was taken in 2001 to discontinue Prodder and all the mentioned development information initiatives. This decision resulted in a major information gap in the Southern African development sector, with thousands of organisations not having the benefit of accessing and utilising information crucial to their work which was previously provided by Prodder.

Prodder and SANGONeT

The closure of Prodder coincided with an increasing emphasis at SANGONeT since the late 1990s on developing electronic information products and services in support of the Southern African NGO sector. Given this new strategic SANGONeT objective, and acknowledging Prodder’s historical role and achievements, SANGONeT and the HSRC entered into negotiations about the transfer of Prodder to SANGONeT. Capitalising on the potential of the Internet, both at the individual and broader NGO community level, is an ongoing challenge that SANGONeT has set for itself in an effort to bring South African NGOs into the online environment. This situation defines the raison d’être for the role and contribution of an organisation such as SANGONeT in support of the NGO sector in South Africa. In July 2005, SANGONeT reintroduced Prodder (www.prodder.org.za) as an Internet-based information service in line with the SANGONeT strategic objective to strengthen the work of the local NGO sector through various ICT interventions. Prodder also forms an integral part of the SANGONeT NGO and Development Portal (www.sangonet.org.za), the most comprehensive information resource about the NGO and development sector in South Africa. Given the Internet’s ever-expanding role as an electronic clearinghouse of information, as well as the strategic and dynamic nature of NGO information, Prodder and the SANGONeT NGO Portal present the NGO sector and other stakeholders with an opportunity to transmit and receive information with increased efficiency, speed and reduced cost. SANGONeT envisions the evolution of an increasingly efficient NGO “marketplace” in South Africa where information about the activities and operations of NGOs is readily accessible and actively utilised by decision-makers throughout the sector; funding agencies identify and compare NGOs, monitor their performances and give with greater confidence; NGOs pursue more effective operating practices, embrace greater accountability, and enjoy lower fundraising costs; and society benefits from a more efficient, generous, and well-targeted allocation of resources to the NGO sector. Moreover, given the global reach of the Internet, local NGOs should be active participants in global discussions and debates - and more importantly, influencing the global development agenda. Indeed, the Internet heralds a strategic opportunity for the future of NGOs as it provides an efficient way to channel information about their activities and engage with constituencies, including donors, government, the private sector, general public and community partners.

Prodder - The Book

SANGONeT has no tradition of disseminating information in print format. However, given the historical ICT constraints still experienced by many South African NGOs, and public demand for directory information in print format, SANGONeT published a new directory in November 2007. The introduction of Prodder - NGOs and Development in South Africa 2008 coincided with the twentieth anniversary of both SANGONeT and Prodder. These two initiatives have been at the forefront of providing NGOs and other development stakeholders in Southern Africa with strategic development information resources over the past two decades. The publication complements SANGONeT’s online approach to disseminating NGO and development information and exposes a wider audience to our work. It adds a new dimension to our information services and represents an important step in expanding the focus and scope of our work. In addition to covering directory information about more than 2 000 organisations, the book also includes information about trends and developments in the South Africa NGO sector, highlights of the past year’s SANGONeT NGO Portal stories and the main findings from the “State of ICTs in the South African NGO Sector” research project. In line with SANGONeT’s core focus on the role of ICTs in support of the NGO sector, a key feature of the book is the directory section which only covers organisations with their own websites. As a result, SANGONeT is using the book (offline medium) to raise awareness about NGOs’ online information resources. The focus on NGOs with websites will also contribute to our plans for the 2008 South African NGO Website Awards, as well as various new activities aimed at raising the online presence and activities of the NGO sector. As in the past, the ultimate objective of the Prodder Directory is to disseminate information about organisations and institutions involved in our country's development and raise awareness about their work. It provides a reference point for donors and other stakeholders that want to engage with the NGO sector, and maps the scope and scale of NGO activities throughout South Africa. To order the book, click here.

Way Forward

As in the past twenty years, thee work of Prodder and SANGONeT will continue to support the local and regional development process through credible and comprehensive information resources. To improve and expand Prodder and SANGONeT’s information services in general, please forward your comments and feedback to - prodder@sangonet.org.za.