The Southern Africa Trust is a regional organisation that supports citizen engagement by generating relevant knowledge to inform policy discussions. It facilitates partnerships between policymakers, civil society and private sector groups for joint action to advance the pro-poor development agenda.

It also mobilises and builds agency among the poor, marginalised and vulnerable groups for their voices to be heard in policy dialogue and the ability to hold governments to account. The Southern Africa Trust programme covers the following areas: climate change and natural resource management, gender justice, youth, economic recovery and Covid-19.

With support from Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, SA Trust is working with community foundations in Southern Africa. These are grantmaking public charities that are dedicated to improving the lives of people in defined local geographical areas. With a spike in poverty levels, unemployment, and loss of income due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the role of community foundation has gained more significance in identifying and solving community problems.

In South Africa, SA Trust is working with Community Development Foundation Western Cape (CDF-WC), Initiative for Community Advancement (ICA), Cederberg Social Development Foundation (CSDF), Namkawa Ontwikkeling (NAMKO) and Uthungulu Community Foundation (UCF).

CDF manages to keep their doors open

The Community Development Foundation (CDF) Western Cape is looking forward to a sustainable future after forging a partnership with the Southern Africa Trust.

Executive Director of CDF Western Cape Freda Philander said the foundation, which has the vision “to ensure that ordinary people living in the Western Cape are provided the opportunity to identify their potential, set appropriate goals and achieve extraordinary dreams”, managed to keep its doors open amid the donor funding crisis that came with the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020. A grant from SA Trust came in the nick of time, as international donors were withdrawing funds from community development organisation at the height of the pandemic.

“In South Africa a lockdown was announced in March 2020, and that is when all the donor support was either cancelled, or they exited. Fundraising initiatives were also either aborted or postponed due to lockdown, so there was a possibility that CDF would close in September 2020. SA Trust came in as a partner and gave us a much-needed grant of R300 000, which was made in two tranches. SA Trust helped us with institutional strengthening and put us back on track,” said Philander.

CDF Western Cape works with 13 other local community-based organisations (CBOs) in Delft, Hanover Park, Heideveld, Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha, Seawinds and Atlantis, which in turn reaped positive spinoffs from SA Trust’s grant.

By keeping its doors open, CDF was able to provide grants to local community partners, which went towards feeding schemes in the communities during the Covid-19 pandemic. This opened avenues to the local CBOs to raise funds and forge partnerships for sustainability with other donors.

“In Delft, Masithembele Enrichment Centre joined Food Forward, which provides them with monthly food contributions that reach 80 families. They continue to feed about 4 000 children and adults per month from contributions received through local community giving,” Philander said.

“The Alcardo Andrews Foundation in Hanover Park forged further partnerships and managed to feed 8 900 people in the morning and 1 151 in the evening with warm meals. Due to the Covid-19 relief grant made by CDF Western Cape, the Children Resource Centre was able to attract the attention of some donors that gave them more funding, which allowed them to feed 60 children in 11 areas in the Western Cape for three days per week,” she said.

The charitable foundation’s aim is to continue to support communities while taking care not to strip them of their agency. “It’s about demonstrating the strength and power of, by and for the community. It was and still is the trust relationships built over many years, which continue carrying the foundation through crises,” she said.

Philander added that CDF envisaged an ongoing partnership and collaboration with SA Trust, in the form of “focused and meaningful dialogues on social justice and the alleviation of poverty, horizontal philanthropy, peer training and support”.

Namakwa community fell into hard times

Southern Africa Trust has helped several non-profit organisations (NPOs) in the Northern and Western Cape to navigate the unprecedented difficulties that came with Covid-19, with positive spinoffs for dozens of local communities.

SA Trust has assisted local NPOs involved in community development with capacity building in addition to financial support. Namakwa Ontwikkeling (NAMKO) — a community outreach foundation in Okiep — was on the verge of closing down after 28 years of supporting local communities.

The Southern Africa Trust invites applications for grants to commission research, convene stakeholder or policy dialogues and build capacity to strengthen alliances and coalitions to advance climate justice and accountable natural resource governance in southern Africa. The Trust supports civil society organisations and marginalised groups through building regional networks and promoting interconnections to fight poverty and inequality in the region. Organisations from grassroot levels, movements, civil society groups, alliances and coalitions focusing on climate justice and natural resource governance in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa and Malawi may apply. Applications close at midnight CAT on 4^th February 2022. For any queries, please contact grants@southernafricatrust.org. To read the full concept note, click here.

The Southern Africa multi-stakeholder regional dialogue has today opened in Johannesburg, South Africa with a call for governments to devise ways of mitigating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the marginalized. Opening the meeting, Southern Africa Trust programme coordinator on economic policy development programmes Shamiso Chigorimbo said the meeting aims to discuss the potential long-term effects of Covid-19 on the key economic activities, discuss key policy issues in relation to the recovery among others.

Chigorimbo: Finds ways to mitigate impact of Covid-19

Making his presentation, Gabriel Pollen from the University of Zambia cited the need for governments to increase funding towards social protection initiatives to mitigate challenges faced by the poor community exacerbated by the pandemic. Pollen further called for the need to formulate coordinated policies particularly on trade and the transport sector to ensure the continuation of cross-border trade even during a pandemic. 

Southern Africa People’s Solidarity Network regional coordinating committee member, Joy Mabenge, called on SADC member states to increase funding in the health sector and adhere to the Abuja declaration where leaders pledged to commit 15 percent of the national budget to the health sector. About 30 representatives from various sectors and organizations from Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and beyond are attending the two-day conference taking place under the theme” ‘Are we building back better towards an economic recovery?’