How long will we be at the next site? Typically, a short-term tenancy for an NGO is about 3-4 years. This is exceedingly difficult in several ways.

All the sites we have looked at require substantial investment of time and money to ready them for usage. Current examples include construction of demountable buildings, building of a road and even the undertaking of major civil works.

• We cannot invest substantial funds into a project, only to leave immediately or shortly after. We need to amortise the investment.
• When we are undergoing construction, we have to reduce, at times even stop, the services we run. This means that, for this period, we help fewer people. We want to be at full operational level for as long as possible.
• To do this repeatedly, with a series of 3 or 4 year leases, is of course not viable. That is why the length of tenancy is of critical importance as we consider any site that needs major construction.

Thus, the reconstruction needed, together with the complexity of our operations, makes length of tenure a major challenge for us. We long for an allocation of land which will be far longer than these very short leases. That way, we could invest wisely, but once, and use that facility for many years.