Our Projects

Access to water

Since only one in four households in the benefit area have stand access to water and almost two-thirds of households are obliged to supply their own water, the Trust allocated funding to two initiatives to address this situation: drilling of boreholes in the community to provide easier access to water, and implementation of a novel water storage and ultrafiltration system under the soccer pitch of a local school. The GreenSource system has the capacity to provide high-quality potable water for 200 households.

Emergency response to the COVID pandemic

As part of the national call to action, the Trust made available food parcels to 1 000 homes, provided funding for urgent access to water, and supported local healthcare facilities with Personal Protective Equipment. At the time, the Trust was already funding FAMSA who intensified their work on gender-based violence (GBV), which had become an acute problem as a result of the national lockdowns.

Coding a better future

With the Fourth Industrial Revolution well under way, the skills that are in demand in the job market are shifting. Coding and programming skills offer robust opportunities to access growing industries both locally and globally. The Trust thus invested in an exploratory initiative that taught 225 youth from various communities in the benefit area coding and programming skills. Unfortunately, this initiative was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted participation and continuity of the learning opportunity. Going forward, the initiative is expected to form part of future interventions that offer better access to online resources and opportunities.

Open access community Wi-Fi and new opportunities

Over the last thirty years, the internet has grown to become a vital resource for modern living, and rural communities are no different. It is estimated that South Africa has 48 million internet users, driven largely through mobile device use. However, the national debate on internet access has highlighted that the cost of data is prohibitive to unlocking the internet’s educational and commercial opportunities. The success in other rural communities who have been granted open access Wi-Fi, prompted the Trust to help establish access points and new learning opportunities such as access no-cost low-cost programmes offered by Microsoft, IBM, Google, Meta, Vodacom Foundation, and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges hampered implementation of this initiative, but a recovery and optimisation plan is being implemented.

Improving the foundation in mathematics

In response to the deep concern around the performance of school children in mathematics, the Trust invested in programmes that support teachers, learners, and their families to improve learning outcomes in this subject. Numerous studies have demonstrated the impact that poor subject knowledge and inadequate maths teaching has on children from poor communities. Bearing this in mind, the Trust has been supporting the COUNT programme in 16 schools within the benefit area to help improve overall performance in mathematics. The programme will reach 5 120 foundation phase learners

Early learning and childhood development

The Trust has invested significant effort in building the capacity of the communities it serves to support early learning and development for children under the age of six so that, over time, all children within the benefit area are actively stimulated through home-based learning and at least two years of formal early childhood development (ECD). This will prepare them for the challenges of transitioning into Grade RR. Our primary focus has been to help improve ECD infrastructure and train ECD educators in line with the requirements of the South African Council for Educators (SACE). To date, infrastructure support for 12 ECD centres is planned while 67 ECD educators have already been trained.

Addressing substance abuse

Rural communities are often disproportionally affected by substance abuse due to poor regulatory control, poor policing, and ease of access to substances. Substance abuse is strongly linked to GBV and IPV as well as to youth who are in conflict with the law. As part of the FAMSA initiative, prevention and early action programmes were introduced to the benefit area.

Growing income from agricultural ventures

The Trust learnt this lesson first hand through its first investment to support commercial farming in the benefit area. Although on paper the Boer Goat project had all the hallmarks of success, many factors on both the production and off-set side heavily influenced the success of the project. Ultimately, only one of the ten farmers supported was able to create a viable business. Having learnt this lesson, the Trust took a step back and, in its subsequent project, decided to first determine who could benefit from commercial farming in the area and what type of farming would be best suited to the land available. The Trust then helped 83 farmers to build their farming and business skills to lay the foundation for a successful venture. Going forward in 2024, the Trust will explore how to leverage the agri-food chain to increase off-farm employment, especially as an opportunity for youth.

Creating new pathways for youth

The Trust’s community profile illustrates the challenges that youth face in transitioning from school to post-school education and employment. As mentioned on page 13, this situation is known as NEET (Not in Employment, Education and Training), and is an indicator that reflects the number of youth at risk of being socially excluded, and who are therefore vulnerable to experiencing poverty and inequality. Although this is a truly complex and difficult-to-solve problem, certain critical components can be addressed, for example, by increasing the number of pathways through which to obtain in-demand qualifications in the job market, as well by providing viable opportunities for self-employment. The Trust is actively supporting initiatives that help create these new pathways.

Addressing gender and intimate partner violence

South Africa has extremely high levels of GBV and intimate partner violence (IPV). Research among school children has shown that one in three girls have already been subjected to IPV by age 15, and that over time these incidents will become more violent and likely to result in death. Consequently, the Trust provided funding to assist FAMSA Limpopo in providing a range of primary prevention and support services aimed at reducing the incidence of GBV and IPV in the community and assisting those who have been affected.

Building capacity

During the reporting period, the Trust supported various initiatives to help strengthen key community assets. To build the capacity of local community organisations, 40 people from 20 local organisations were trained in governance, management, leadership, planning, monitoring, and evaluation. The Trust also assisted with various infrastructure projects including three school administration blocks, 12 classrooms, three school ablution facilities and a satellite traffic station at three schools: Ntoampe Technical High, Makgopa Primary, and Majoe a Kgoro Primary.