Ms. Nozabelo Ruth Bhengu is a Development Practitioner with over 37 years of experience in community development training and facilitation.  She is currently Executive Director at the Institute for Cooperatives and Community Economic Development; Chairperson of the National Development Agency Board (NDA) under the Department of Social Development in South Africa.

She understands policies and programmes designed to reduce poverty and uplift underdeveloped communities. She has 17 years’ experience, as a former Member of Parliament, where she held positions of Member and Chairperson of the following Portfolio Committees:  Small Business Development, Transport, Provincial and Local Government and Sports & Recreation. Ms Bhengu has also worked as Deputy Mayor of Ugu District and Chairperson of Portfolio Committee on Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development.  

In addition, she also has 15 years’ experience as a member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, where she is still serving in the Economic Transformation Committee. She strongly believes in the decolonisation of the mindset and the economy to address issues of inequality, uneven levels of development and poverty in South Africa.

Ms Bhengu is the developer of the Cooperatives Based Community Economic Development Model which gave birth to ICCED in 2016.  As a development activist, she is able to train the trainers, participants and facilitate development projects.

She holds certificates in Development Economics and Political Economy from University of the Western Cape, Cooperatives Development and Change Management from the Coady International Institute of St Francis Xavier, University of Canada,  Community Development and Facilitation from Ubuntu Development Institute and Political Economy of South Africa (University of Cape Town’s Centre for Higher Education Development: Continuing Education), amongst others.