Monthly Archives: April 2010
" alt="Food gardens – CSI's ugly duckling soon to become the swan?" />Food gardens – CSI’s ugly duckling soon to become the swan?
30 April 2010
Designed expertly, managed efficiently and funded earnestly, food security projects in South Africa will lay the foundation of a prosperous nation for all.
Graeme Wilkinson is a senior CSI Practitioner at Tshikululu Social Investments specialising in sustainable livelihoods and community development.
South Africa’s government has committed itself to achieving eight Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and arguably the chief determinant among these is food security. That’s because human development is dependent on human health. And good health is dependent on good nutrition.
Yet, initiatives that seek to support marginalised and poor communities’ food security appear to be left to gather up the crumbs under the CSI funding table in South Africa. The lion’s share of CSI funding locally is channelled into Education, Health and HIV, and Social and Community Development, understandably. However, food security – as a class of development project – falls seventh on the list after Enterprise Development and the Environment.
" alt="Commemorating World Malaria Day 2010" />Commemorating World Malaria Day 2010
23 April 2010
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that malaria claims a child's life every thirty seconds.
Jasson Urbach is a director of the Health Policy Unit and of Africa Fighting Malaria.
April 25 is World Malaria Day. It is a day for everyone to learn more about this devastating disease, which has plagued humankind since the beginning of recorded history and continues to be a significant threat to over half the world’s population in 109 countries across the globe. Despite the fact that malaria is both preventable and curable, every year it kills almost 1 million people – mainly women and children in sub-Saharan Africa. It is a major cause of anaemia, low birth weight, premature birth, infant mortality and maternal deaths.
" alt="Strategic funding in maths education" />Strategic funding in maths education
15 April 2010
In an increasing culture of entitlement, opportunities for creating real improvements should go only to those that show determination, passion, commitment and good governance.
Sarah Morrison is a Client Relationship Manager at Tshikululu Social Investments.
We all know that the vast majority of South African children receive a very poor education in maths. They complete their schooling with a weak grasp of basic mathematical concepts, they cannot go on to study maths at university, they are unable to engage with the necessary mathematical concepts in technical subjects at FET Colleges, they struggle in their daily lives to confidently use basic maths tools. In short, they are limited in life choices, career choices and an endless array of decision-making processes because they do not know and cannot apply maths concepts
Wits offers R75,000 for name of fossil
13 April 2010
The University of the Witwatersrand is offering a prize of R75,000 to a South African child who can come up with a name for a 1.95 million-year-old fossil of a new hominid species unveiled in the Cradle of Humankind last week.
The university said that the pupil who submits the winning entry will receive R75,000 towards his/her education, while the school to which s/he belongs will receive a prize of R25,000, to be used for science education purposes, and a replica model of the child hominid fossil.
The fossil’s name must be no longer than 15 letters and it can be in any South African language.
Learners must submit a story or motivation or a poem (not longer than 150 words) in English on why the Sediba Child should be given the name proposed by the pupil.
The competition runs from April 11 to May 2, 2010.
It is open to South African children who must be 18 years or younger as at May 2, 2010. The pupil must be enrolled in a high school or primary school in South Africa.
Read more on Times Live.
" alt="CSI funders salute Professor Berger and WITS" />CSI funders salute Professor Berger and WITS
9 April 2010
Remarkably well preserved for a two-million-year-old fossil, this child's skull belongs to Australopithecus sediba, a previously unknown species of ape-like creature that may have been a direct ancestor of modern humans.
Yesterday’s official announcement of the discovery of Australopithecus sediba is exciting for South Africans and indeed for humanity. For a group of committed South African corporate social investors, the find is a culmination of years of dedicated funding to a remarkable organisation that succeeded in securing the future of paleoanthropology in our country.
The Anglo American Chairman’s Fund, along with the FirstRand Foundation and its Rand Merchant Bank Fund, have contributed to the Palaeontological Scientific Trust (PAST) and its various projects since that organisation’s establishment in 1994.
This funding has included support for research projects, the establishment of learner education programmes in primary and secondary schools, and the founding of the Institute of Human Evolution, the interdisciplinary and interfaculty initiative of the University of the Witwatersrand to which the now-justifiably famous Professor Lee Berger is affiliated.
Just a few years ago, the Sterkfontein research site faced closure, an eventuality that would have meant that Australopithecus sediba would still lay hidden and unknown to science. Thanks to PAST and its partners, Professor Berger and his colleagues face a somewhat different and interesting problem – what to name man’s distant ancestor.
In this, and in all the related work associated with the palaeontological treasures that these scientists uncover, their associated CSI funders salute them.
Read more about the find in local and international news:
- CNN
- Daily Mail (includes useful diagram illustrating how the find fits into the evolutionary chain)
- The Independent
- Independent Online
- Mail&Guardian
- National Geographic
- News24
- TIME
- Times LIVE
" alt="Leaving with grace - when grantmakers say goodbye" />Leaving with grace – when grantmakers say goodbye
8 April 2010
An explicit exit strategy can be an essential aspect of the relationship between the donor and the grantee.
Claire Hugo is a CSI practitioner at Tshikululu Social Investments.
Grantmakers almost inevitably find themselves having to exit funding relationships with NGO partners. Doing this carefully and with consideration for a project’s viability can become a process of benefit to both funder and grantee. Indeed, exit strategies are a touchy subject in the corporate social investment space, particularly as grantmakers wrestle with the need to develop exit strategies before a funding relationship even begins.
While acknowledging that the social development problems NGOs seek to resolve are complex and deep-rooted, needing a long-term vision and therefore a long-term commitment, it is also a reality that donors cannot fund an organisation into perpetuity. Thus, the inevitable exit needs to be planned for and adopted by both donor and grantee.
" alt="Celebrating World Health Day - local Urban Health Champions part two" />Celebrating World Health Day – local Urban Health Champions part two
7 April 2010
The Bigshoes Foundation
The Bigshoes Foundation offers training courses to lay child and youth care practitioners working both in children's homes and the community.
The theme of World Health Day 2010 is urbanization and health. Through the campaign “œ1000 cities – 1000 lives“œ, events are being organised worldwide, calling on cities to open up streets for health activities and stories of urban health champions are being gathered to illustrate what people are doing to improve health in their cities.
Tshikululu is commemorating World Health Day by profiling South African urban health champions – people and projects making a difference across the spectrum of this sector.
Bigshoes is all about medical interventions that assist orphaned and vulnerable children, especially those affected by HIV/AIDS. Interventions are made at specific “œpoints of vulnerability” in the life space of the child; these include abandonment, institutionalisation, terminal illness and disease. Interventions are made through medical care, training and advocacy. Currently based predominantly in Gauteng, the organisation has recently expanded its services nationally, with branches open in Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Western Cape.
Medical clinics and outreach
Free specialist paediatric services are provided for orphaned and vulnerable children, including:
- HIV testing;
- Age assessments;
- Medical reports for adoption; and
- Anti-retroviral treatment.
Children are seen at the Bigshoes clinic in Braamfontein and in the paediatric out-patient department at the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto. Three paediatric clinics are run each week at these locations, two in Braamfontein and one at Baragwanath. Bigshoes doctors also do house calls at four “œhigh need” children’s homes situated in Johannesburg: St. Francis Care Centre, Boksburg; The Love of Christ Ministries, Eikenhof; and Cotlands, Turfontein and Lambano, Wychwood. In addition, the doctors assist the homes in running medical outreach services for orphaned and vulnerable children living in the community.
Paediatric Palliative Care
The Bigshoes Foundation provides a palliative care consultative service for two hospitals: the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto and the Coronation hospital on the West Rand of Johannesburg. Additionally, the team of medical doctors also help to run a hospice in Soweto.
During the hospital visits, the doctors see children with non-curable conditions and advise on aspects of palliative care related to pain and other distressing symptoms, terminal care, ethical issues and psycho social problems. Advice is also offered for placements into children’s homes whenever necessary. A Bigshoes social work assistant collaborates with hospital social workers on cases involving social problems, conducts home visits and provides emotional support to parents of ill hospitalised children. She also does some bereavement counselling.
Local supporters of the Bigshoes Foundation currently include the Anglo American’s Chairman Fund, Momentum and the Discovery Foundation.
" alt="Celebrating World Health Day - local Urban Health Champions part one" />Celebrating World Health Day – local Urban Health Champions part one
African Children’s Feeding Scheme
The African Children's Feeding Scheme works tirelessly to improve the quality of life for those hardest hit – in particular orphans and vulnerable children, child-headed households and those in the care of elderly grandmothers.
The theme of World Health Day 2010 is urbanization and health. Through the campaign “œ1000 cities – 1000 lives“œ, events are being organised worldwide, calling on cities to open up streets for health activities and stories of urban health champions are being gathered to illustrate what people are doing to improve health in their cities.
Tshikululu is commemorating World Health Day by profiling South African urban health champions – people and projects making a difference across the spectrum of this sector.
Sister Rejoice Nkutha (left) is the epitome of an urban health champion. She has worked with her colleagues at the African Children’s Feeding Scheme (ACFS) since 1975 and is now the Executive Director of the organisation. The past decade has seen her leading an able team of dedicated health and nutrition workers serving the malnourished and underprivileged in poor urban communities throughout central Gauteng – the project operates throughout Soweto, Kagiso, Tshepisong in the West Rand, Alexandra, Thembisa, Kwa-Thema and Tsakane in the East Rand.
ACFS was founded in 1945, when the late Bishop Trevor Huddleston started soup kitchens in winter for hungry children in Alexandra and Soweto. Five years later, the first permanent feeding centre was established and the scheme was feeding 4 000 children daily.
Now, ACFS feeds 31 000 children a daily, and an additional 2 080 high school learners receive a hot meal at school daily. The organisation also runs a malnutrition rehab centre, provides support by way of primary health care and food parcels for indigent households as part of a formalised empowerment programme, champions organic home food gardening in urban communities and runs skills training courses for unemployed mothers.
ACFS is supported by the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund, the De Beers Fund and the Wesbank Fund, all managed by Tshikululu.
World Health Day 2010 – The challenge of urbanisation
7 April 2010 
Virtually all population growth over the next 30 years will be in urban areas, signaling that urbanisation is here to stay. It is associated with many health challenges related to water, environment, violence and injury, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their risk factors like tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol as well as the risks associated with disease outbreaks. Urbanisation is a challenge for several reasons.
- The urban poor suffer disproportionately from a wide range of diseases and other health problems, and include an increased risk for violence, chronic disease, and for some communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
- The major drivers, or social determinants, of health in urban settings are beyond the health sector, including physical infrastructure, access to social and health services, local governance, and the distribution of income and educational opportunities.
World Health Day 2010 will focus on urbanization and health. With the campaign “1000 cities – 1000 lives“, events will be organized worldwide calling on cities to open up streets for health activities. Stories of urban health champions will be gathered to illustrate what people are doing to improve health in their cities.
Tshikululu is commemorating World Health Day by profiling South African urban health champions – people and projects making a difference across the spectrum of this sector.
Read about the African Children’s Feeding Scheme here.
Read about the Bigshoes Foundation here.
Merchants of Modernity – business briefing and discussion
6 April 2010
21 April 2010 7:15 am to 9:30 am The perspectives and interests of those who live in rich, western countries dominate the current conversation about business and society. Activists, analysts and others – however well intentioned – do not grasp the realities of poverty and the hard choices of development outside the rich industrialised world. As a result, the debate about business, “˜responsibility’ and corporate involvement in development is distorted, with few voices from developing countries being heard and the positive legacy of business remaining unacknowledged.
Ann Bernstein, author of the recently published and much-acclaimed book The case for business in developing economies, urges business not to let such attacks stand unchallenged. It must find the confidence and strategic vision to stop apologising, develop its own public agenda, and start propagating the phenomenal benefits of competitive capitalism for the less developed countries of the world.
At the first Development Intelligence Series breakfast for 2010, Bernstein will be presenting a new approach, one that is required to cut through an increasingly flawed conversation, which has potentially dangerous consequences for the poor and for developing countries in particular.
Date: 21 April 2010
Venue: The Restaurant, Gordon Institute of Business Science, Melville Road, Illovo
Time: Breakfast is served at 07:15 and the briefing begins at 08:00
Cost: R250 per delegate, regrettably only accepted in cashPlease RSVP no later than 14 April 2010 to Dineo Lengane on 011 771 4249 or lenganed@gibs.co.za.
Click here for directions and a map to the GIBS campus
Ann Bernstein heads the Centre for Development and Enterprise, South Africa, the country’s leading policy centre for social and economic development. Supported by the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund, the Epoch and Optima Trusts, and the FirstRand Foundation, all managed by Tshikululu Social Investments, the CDE has a special focus on the role of business and its contribution to development.
Her new book, The Case for Business in Developing Economies was published by Penguin this year. She is a regular public speaker and has been published by newspapers around the country, often appearing on radio and television. Her many other publications and books include Migration and Refugee Policies (with M. Weiner, London, 1999), Business and Democracy: Cohabitation or Contradiction? (with P.L. Berger, London, 1998), and Policy Making in A New Democracy: South Africa’s Challenges for the 21st century (CDE,1999).
