May 2011: The director of MpfunekoCS during a visit to a primary school in Mapayeni, district of Gawula, assisting pupils to prepare their participation in a regional science contest .
March 9th 2011:
A delegation of ICCO will visit Pretoria to discuss then progress of
the project and to discuss the next phase of MpfunekoCS. Mr. Ate
Kooistra and Ms. Bulelwa Mshumpela will visit South Africa and on their
trip they will meet Jotte van Ierland, managing director of MpfunekoCS
in Pretoria.
January 2011: MpfunekoCS is now monthly receiving payments for the biogas. Although the number of famlies paying a monthly fee is still small, it shows the system is basically viable. Currently MpfunekoCS continues to identify families that are willing to pay for the biogas and that can pay at a regular basis .
December 2010: MpfunekoCS has now also tested flexible pipe connections for the digesters. They will repalce the galvanized iron pipes and will reduce erosion. It is also eadier to connect the digesters to the houses.
November 2010: Interest in biogas digesters is South Africa is increasing . MpfunekoCS has now constructed a digester in Pretoria for demonstration purposes. As soon as the license for the digester has been provided by the municipal authorities the digester can be started and will supply biogas tot a family in Pretoria.
September 2010: MpfunekoCS provides an internship to mr. Soenke Horn from Germany. During the internschip Soenke contributed to further developing the biogas project and he learned about the different phases of the project See his internship report.
September 2010: Article in journal The Sowetan
September 2010: Article in journal The Star
August 2010: MpfunekosCS has connected three new families to the biogas digesters. The families are living in a village near Gawula and are very happy with the new form of energy supply. The cooking is now taking place inside on a modern gas stove and the family members are no longer suffering from irritated eyes, due to smoke from wood fire.
August 2010: Article in journal Capricorn Voice
Summer 2010: The Dutch Development opganisation ICCO decided to support MpfunekoCS for the construction of a number of biogas digesters. IDS has been assisting during the phase of applying for the grant and we are very pleased that the joint initiative of MpfunekosCS and IDSfountdation has been successful.
16 September 2009: The biogas activities of Mpfuneko Community Support are news in South Africa. Over the last two weeks there have been reports on Mpfuneko's biogas project in a provincial newspaper (Sowetan), on the radio, and in Morning Live, a national television program.17 April 2008: IDS has been recognised as a organisation for the public benefit (ANBI-instelling) by the Dutch tax collector. This makes that gifts to IDS are deductable from Dutch income tax (conditions apply, see ‘How to make a donation?’).
22 March 2008: Mr. Martien Würdemann has been appointed as the chairman of IDS. Martien Würdemann has a long experience in the field of thermal waste treatment and energy technology. In his 20 years with Royal Haskoning he acted as a senior consultant, project manager and director for a wide variety of projects.
6 February 2008: IDS Fousndation Project of the month www.linkis.nl
5 January 2008: IDS starts fund rasing campaign for 2008 IDS signed an agreement with Wilde Ganzen (www.wildeganzen.nl) to raise funds. Under Dutch income tax regulations, gifts or donations to Wilde Ganzen are tax deductible. Wilde Ganzen will add 50% to the donated amount. In this way your donation will be more effective. Click here for more information.
20 December 2007: Donation HIVOS IDS has signed a contract with HIVOS for the construction of a biogas digester in Giyani. HIVOS is a Dutch NGO that, guided by humanist values, wants to contribute to a free, fair and sustainable world (www.hivos.nl). HIVOS will contribute €15.000 of the €50.000 needed for the pilot project.