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Agency ProfileLutheran Development Services (LDS)ENN, 2006L to R: Bjorn Brandberg, Meketane Mazibuko, Euni Motsa,and Nhlanhla Motsa (picture taken in complete darkness!)Name ....................... Lutheran DevelopmentServices (LDS)Address ................... P. O. Box 388, Mbabane,SwazilandTel ........................... +268 404-5262/404-3122fax ........................... +268 404-3870Email ....................... lds@realnet.co.szFormed .................... 1994Director ................... Bjorn BrandbergNumber of staff ....... 42Main office ............... Ka Schiele, Mbabane,Swaziland, with a fieldoffic in NdzevaneAnnual Turnover ...... 4.5 million Emalangeni(approx 750,000 US dollars)By Marie McGrath, ENNA n ENN trip to Swaziland offeredthe opportunity to profile one of the localNGOs, Lutheran Development Services (LDS),working there. Thanks to a very accommodatingteam who gathered together at only anhour’s notice, I spent a couple of hours talkingwith four of the organisations’ key staff. TheDirector of LDS, Bjorn Brandberg, joined theorganisation in 2004, replacing the retiringdirector, Pamela Magitt. As an architect and aSanitation Advisor, he first began working inAfrica in 1976. Many years were spent doingconsultancy work in the region with the WorldBank/UNDP/UN Habitat. The desire to workwith his own team was one of the reasons forjoining LDS. Meketane Mazibuko, Gender andAdvocacy Co-ordinator, and Euni Motsa, HIV& AIDS Coordinator, joined LDS as food distributionpersonnel in 1995. Halfway through theinterview we were joined by Nhlanhla Motsa,the LDS Emergencies Project Manager, whobegan working with LDS in 1995. While I wasimpressed with how each had worked theirway up the organisation into key roles, I wasparticularly taken with Euni’s openness in sharinghow 2002 was a particularly challenging yearfor her, where her appointment as HIV/AIDSCo-ordinator coincided with her learning of herown HIV positive status. While it has not beeneasy, the support and “gentle nudges” of herLDS colleagues has meant that she now headsup the HIV/AIDS section and is an inspirationalexample of positive living with HIV/AIDS.Bjorn began by explaining how LDSemerged from a trend within the LutheranWorld Federation (LWF) to shift from LWFowned NGOs to localised NGOs. LDS is thedevelopment arm of the Evangelical LutheranChurch in Southern Africa Eastern Diocese. It isan autonomous NGO governed by a Board ofDirectors whose chairperson is the bishop. LDSwas formed in 1994 and is one of the firstlocalised NGOs that is church owned.Geographically it covers Swaziland and part ofMpumalanga Province, South Africa. In practice,activities are concentrated in the droughtpronelowveld region of Swaziland, the areawhere there is the greatest need.Given the high prevalence of HIV inSwaziland (42.6% at antenatal clinic screening),I asked Bjorn how significantly HIV/AIDSinfluenced their work. He responded thatHIV/AIDS infiltrates, “even dominates” prettymuch every aspect of their programming. Oneway or another, most of their activities are motivated,are influenced or viewed from aHIV/AIDS standpoint. This is helped througha LDS team that is dedicated to HIV/AIDS programming.While now an integrated projectwithin LDS, this was not always the case. “WhenI first started with LDS”, says Bjorn, “HIV/AIDSwas a separate sector, actually located in a separateoffice to the rest of the LDS team. In anattempt to pull HIV activities of the churchtogether, the HIV/AIDS team had been locatedin one unit”. Meketane and Euni add how,despite the original good intentions, this hadactually marginalised the group so integrationwas not very obvious, though they themselvescouldn’t see this. “So I had to take them by theear, and drag them in”, smiles Bjorn.“Literally”, laughs Meketane, “every day hewould come in and ask, ‘when are you joiningus in the LDS main offices?’ and finally one dayhe came and said, ‘you are moving in now,today’ and so we did. It was only when wemoved in that we realised how segregated wehad been. Since then, the HIV/AIDS team havefelt very much part of the LDS family.”“The next step is to drag the Lutheranchurch in as well”, says Bjorn. “We have a commonvision and goal and are doing everythingbut work together”. He explains how the LDSnetwork is much smaller than that of the churchand, if they were to join forces, would form thebiggest most powerful network. Extendingtheir activities equally to all areas would reallystretch their resources and dilute their efforts –something that working with the church networkwould help overcome. Recent developmentshave been encouraging. Fuelled by somelobbying by LDS – described as “ putting thecat amongst the pigeons”, by Bjorn – greaterinstitutional pressure is now coming from theHQ of the LWF in Geneva and from the Nordiccountries (who are the big funders for church-es) to work with organisations like themselves.So while this collaboration is not as good asthey’d like, Bjorn feels the “wind is now blowingin the right direction”.Three quarters of LDS’s work is emergencies-relatedprogramming, with sustainabilityand community involvement at the core ofwhat they do. “Our mission statement says itall”, says Bjorn, “in that we work so that ‘thepoorest of the poor develop quality of lifethrough acquisition of knowledge and skills forself-reliance and sustainability in enhancingtheir livelihoods’”. But he adds that “preachingthis is one thing, practising is quite another - wehave high ideas about helping people to takecharge of their own futures, but these can be tootough to implement on the ground”. The teamgo on to detail some of the income generatingactivities (IGAs) they have been involved in,such as a beadwork project for people livingwith HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in a day care centrein Bethal whose products are sold within SouthAfrica. Other IGAs involve agriculture, poultryfarming, and they are developing plans forsome gardening projects. The hope is that withminimal input, IGAs can develop and reducedependency on aid. Bjorn reaffirms that thechallenge is to achieve this in areas of acuteneed where people have very limited capacityto help themselves, like in the lowveld region.Despite their origins and links with theLutheran church, LDS sources no funding fromthe local church community. “While we preachself sustainability, we then live as beggars ourselves”says Bjorn as he describes their fundingsources. LDS gets most of its funding throughthe LWF and their core donors are Bread for theWorld, Church of Sweden mission, Finn ChurchAid and Action by Churches Together (ACT).They also get funding from WFP, UNICEF, theNational Disaster Task Force (NDTF) andUNAIDS as implementing partners. At thesame time, they are trying generate fundsthrough income generating projects that offerthe freedom to use the proceeds and profits asthey see fit. One initiative underway involvessetting up a medical psychologist in a clinic in24