SANParks Selects NMMU Business School for Training Biodiversity Social Projects Division

George, 19 April 2013 – Training and education for fifteen delegates from SANparks is well underway at the George and Southern Cape office of NMMU Business School and reached its mid-year mark this month.

SANparks, the body responsible for managing South Africa’s national parks which covers around three per cent of the country’s total area, selected NMMU Business School to present a one year Project Management specialist programme. The programme is presented to employees such as project managers, field assistants, mappers and social development coordinators that form part of the SANparks Biodiversity Social Projects division.

The project is jointly coordinated by SANparks Training and Social Development in Pretoria and NMMU Business School George and Southern Cape.

“The purpose of the training is for SANparks to capacitate field project managers with the competencies for practical project management within the SANparks Biodiversity Social Projects,” says Elsa Myburgh of NMMU Business School.

“The programme methodology is practical. It takes a problem solving approach to knowledge transfer. Delegates will be empowered to specialise in the areas of Financial Management, Organisational Behaviour and the full project life cycle including Project Initiation, Tools and Techniques, Project Planning and Project Control.”

SANparks aims to roll out the programme to other areas of the parks, to capacitate project managers and assistants across the country to deliver on the objectives of the Biodiverstiy Social Projects of SANparks. The programme started in November 2012 and will end in October 2013.

South African National Parks (SANParks) is the body responsible for managing South Africa's national parks. Formed in 1926, SANParks currently manages 19 parks consisting of 3,700,000 hectares (37,000 km2), about 3% of the total area of South Africa.