LED Programme: Thina Sinako

Thina Sinako is a five-year programme which began in 2005 and is financed by the European Union amounting to €30 million. The programme is a partnership between the EU and four participating departments which include the Office of the Premier, Treasury, Housing, Local Government and Traditional Affairs, and Economic Development and Environmental Affairs. The Thina Sinako Provincial LED Support Programme aims to stimulate innovation in how LED is promoted, facilitated and supported. The Thina Sinako Programmme rests on three key pillarswhich are grant funds for practice-driven demonstration of LED innovation and learning, institutional development and capacity building for long term LED efficiency and sustainability and learning and networking to create awareness and sharing of experiences and best practices.

The Thina Sinako provides financial support through three funds.

1. The Local Government Support Fund (LGSF) supports municipalities to create an enabling environment for enterprise establishment and growth hrough initiatives that align with the PGDS as well as national policy. Furthermore the programme aims to improve systems for economic governance and strategic management and improve capacity in local government to understand and manage LED initiatives.
2. The Local Competitiveness Fund (LCF) has been designed to help local role players to capitalise on the opportunities identified in the PGDP and the emerging Provincial Industrial Development Strategy. The key principle of the LCF is to support market-led development to ensure the creation of sustainable employment within vibrant local economies. In particular, the focus is on supporting the development of LED initiatives that use the competitiveness of the area of the Eastern Cape within which they are located.
3. The Financial Innovation Fund is divided into two Windows. The first provides support to small and medium enterprises that are part of partnership groups supported under the LCF. The second Window of the Fund is a standard grant fund, that targets financial service providers in South Africa to support the development of innovative lending and borrowing products, processes or services. This part of the FIF is intended to contribute to the implementation of the Financial Sector Charter, by improving access to finance by categories of people who have historically been excluded from such access, improving efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of financial services, and promoting the use of the competitive advantage of areas where such advantage has not yet been tapped.