| April 2010
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The Power of More than One
This edition of Southern Africa ChangeMakers highlights the power of partnership in the work of ending poverty forever.
From creating a platform for civil society to contribute to a national government anti-poverty strategy, to pioneering the first regional exchange programme for young people focused on civic participation, this edition is packed with inspiring news of recent events that herald a new way of working to end poverty in southern Africa.
On 9 December last year, Archbishop Njongo Ndungane said:
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“In my book of words, development is like a three-legged pot. One leg comprises the government, which creates an enabling environment for things to happen. The second leg is business, which provides resources for things to happen. The third leg is civil society, which has the grassroots understanding and know-how to make things happen.”
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He was speaking at South Africa's national anti-poverty strategy colloquium in Johannesburg, a Southern Africa Trust-facilitated event, which saw civil society organisations from across the country having a say in the South African government's proposed anti-poverty plans, before it becomes a national policy.
His words capture the spirit of the ‘power of more than one’ - a simple statement that conveys a powerful message: it is only through breaking down entrenched barriers and joining hands across borders, sectors, cultures, beliefs and age groups, that the work of each and every organisation can truly impact on poverty in southern Africa, for generations to come.
Other recent events with the same ethos at their core have taken place in the past three months and are heralding a new era and energy for collaboration in tackling poverty in southern Africa.
Whether it is the exciting launch of sayXchange, the new regional exchange initiative for young people, the introduction of the African Grantmakers' Network (that is already making the global donor community sit up and take notice), the launch of ChangeMudança magazine or the astounding interest shown in the Business for Development (B4D) Pathfinder - integrated partnership is the new name of the game.
On a more somber note, we profile the Trust's humanitarian support for two earthquake disasters: the Malawian earthquake ‘swarm’ (30 earthquakes in two months) and the world's worst humanitarian disaster – the Haiti earthquake.
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Southern Africa ChangeMakers is an e-newsletter for our donors, friends, partners and anyone concerned about overcoming poverty in southern Africa.
Please forward this newsletter to any of your colleagues or friends who want to see southern Africa transform into a vibrant, caring, and prosperous community.
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| Ashley Green-Thompson, the Trust's Grants Manager, at the launch of ChangeMudança magazine. |
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| The Trust has been supporting the creation of the new African Grantmakers' Network. |
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| The Trust has launched a new southern African youth exchange programme called sayXchange. |
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| Africa steps up to assist Haiti - with support from the Trust. |
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Outcomes of the anti-poverty strategy colloquium between the South African government and civil society organisations
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Government agreement to incorporate civil society comments into further revisions of the Anti-Poverty Strategy (APS). |
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Agreement on the broad brushstrokes contained in the proposals for the establishment of an ongoing engagement mechanism between civil society organisations and the government. The mechanism will enable and fast-track civil society co-ordination, information sharing and interaction with the APS. |
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Civil society organisations will be allocated a seat on the government's National Planning Commission. |
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The mandate of the current civil society task team members was extended and the composition of the task team should be reviewed to accommodate regional and sectoral representation. |
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A follow-up national civil society workshop (early in 2010) should be convened to finalise outstanding matters and consider new issues. |
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“It is clear that mobilising voices from all key stakeholders especially those affected by poverty is the first step to realising a truly nationally owned and citizen-driven anti-poverty strategy. The openness of Government to discuss the strategy extensively with civil society organisations and other stakeholders sets an example of how significant policy processes in South Africa should be handled. I think we all ought to give a round of applause to this partnership, as a mark of our appreciation of the immense potential that it has.”
Archbishop Njongo Ndungane, addressing the national colloquium in December.
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| Archbishop Ndungane with the Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe after the national anti-poverty strategy colloquium. |
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There is need for all sectors of the society to work together to overcome poverty.
Picture by Mail & Guardian |
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Barriers Broken: South Africa Listens to Civil Society
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Kgalema Motlanthe, South Africa's Deputy President, at the national anti-poverty strategy colloquium in December 2009.
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In mid-2009, the South African Presidency, under the office of Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, asked the Southern Africa Trust to facilitate the involvement of South Africa’s civil society in the process of drawing up a national anti-poverty strategy.
This resulted in the establishment of a national civil society task team during an initial dialogue between the government and civil society organisations at the Presidency. The civil society task team led consultations with civil society representatives in all nine provinces of South Africa during October 2009, culminating in a national anti-poverty strategy colloquium on 8 and 9 December.
The conference in December was a consolidation of local community anti-poverty hearings that were first held in 2008 as well as the provincial civil society consultations of 2009, whose outcomes were taken into the process of developing a draft anti-poverty strategy.
The primary aim was to develop a coordinated civil society response to the content of the government's proposed anti-poverty strategy and to propose a mechanism for ongoing future engagement between civil society organisations and the government.
More than 340 delegates representing 191 civil society organisations took part in the provincial consultations.
The national conference was attended by 130 delegates, including representatives of 48 civil society groups, 18 government departments, four provincial government departments, two political parties, and the National Development Agency.
Whilst several agreements were forged (see box on left) and despite the fact that civil society was viewed as a partner within the strategy, civil society representatives raised several concerns, including:
- The need for more participation and commitment from both national and provincial government departments to the anti-poverty strategy;
- The ‘blame game’ between government and civil society organisations must be resolved;
- The legislative and policy framework that informs the anti-poverty strategy was considered a weakness as it is not ‘poor-friendly’;
- The need to allow a wider sector of society, including organised business, labour and the poor themselves, to participate in the final design and implementation of the anti-poverty strategy;
- The anti-poverty strategy should not be viewed as the sole responsibility of the government (national, provincial and local) - a sense of shared responsibility with civil society is important, so that civil society organisations can be held equally accountable for the success of the strategy.
Nonetheless, the conference concluded with general agreement that the anti-poverty strategy provides an important opportunity for poverty reduction in the short term and poverty eradication in the long term. The inclusion of civil society in drafting the strategy was widely applauded, heralding an important first step towards engaging all interest groups and harnessing their strengths in the struggle to eradicate poverty in the country and the region.
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| The civil society anti-poverty strategy provincial workshop in Gauteng province on 16 October 2009. |
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With the Trust's support, Umhlaba Development Services recently enabled the South African national civil society task team on the national anti-poverty strategy to consult civil society organisations throughout the country about the anti-poverty strategy. Umhlaba was also the facilitating agency that helped prepare civil society organisations for their first ever roundtable conference with governments and donors from across the region, focused on poverty and development.
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| Civil society representatives from across the region preparing for the SADC poverty and development summit in Mauritius in 2008, with facilitation by Umhlaba Development Services. |
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Partner Links: Umhlaba Development Services
| Umhlaba aims to promote the effective delivery of development programmes and policy by supporting the plans and capacities of development institutions and organisations and the client communities they serve.
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The Southern Africa Trust has supported two projects through Umhlaba Development Services:
Promoting regional civil society organisation for advocacy:
The project sought to develop the capacity of non-governmental organisation (NGO) networks in southern Africa by engaging in impact-oriented campaigning and advocacy. A training workshop was also held in research and report writing. This has resulted in better working practices, better advocacy and campaign responses to government policies and practices, and increased accountability of network coordinating structures to other parts of the network. The project duration was five months, from September 2006 to January 2007, with support of US$96,280.
Establishing a regional civil society advocacy platform:
The project worked to build and consolidate a regional civil society advocacy platform for coordinated and informed civil society input to the SADC Poverty and Development Summit held in Mauritius in 2008. This was done by mobilising almost 1,000 civil society representatives from across the region to participate in the poverty and development conference (either through national or regional dialogues), and through developing the final civil society anti-poverty position paper. This led to increased engagement between civil society organisations and their governments by countries in the region that were represented at the conference, increased policy advocacy activities amongst civil society networks in the region, increased collaboration between civil society networks regionally after the conference, and the adoption of poverty-focused regional policy frameworks that were developed through civil society advocacy. It included the decision by the SADC summit to establish a regional poverty observatory for the SADC region. The project duration was three months, from March 2008 to May 2008, with support of US$80,000.
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The objectives of the African Grantmakers' Network are to:
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Serve as a platform for peer learning and good practice to enhance good standards and practices; |
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Ensure an amplification of local voices in development discourse and African perspectives in global platforms; |
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Reinforce the tradition of African philanthropy; |
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Advocate for long-term and sustainable mechanisms and resources, including investments and endowments for philanthropic institutions in Africa; |
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Serve as a reference point for Africans in the Diaspora and to affirm the identity of African philanthropic institutions; |
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Cultivate good relations with other civil society formations in Africa and increase networking for effective advocacy around the aid agenda and the legal environment, including the tax regime; and |
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Conduct pertinent research, capacity building and advocacy. |
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The founding AGN steering committee is:
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Bisi Adeleye Fayemi: Chair (African Women's Development Fund, Ghana) |
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Janet Mawiyoo: Co-Chair (Kenya Community Development Foundation) |
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Akwasi Aidoo: (TrustAfrica, Senegal) |
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Christine Delport: (Greater Rustenburg Community Foundation, South Africa) |
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Neville Gabriel: (Southern Africa Trust, South Africa) |
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Ezra Mbogori: (Akiba Uhaki Foundation, East Africa) |
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John Ulanga: (The Foundation for Civil Society, Tanzania) |
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The African Grantmakers' Network steering committee during its strategy meeting at the Southern Africa Trust office in Midrand.
For more information on the African Grantmakers Network, visit www.africangrantmakers.org |
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African Grantmakers Join Forces
“The African Grantmakers' Network will change the face of global philanthropy. And it will happen right here in Africa.”
Sarah Mukasa, Director of Programmes, African Women's Development Fund, at the founding meeting of the African Grantmakers' Network in Accra, Ghana, on 15 July 2009.
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Pictured at the founding meeting of the African Grantmakers' Network:
Bisi Adeleye Fayemi: Chair (African Women's Development Fund, Ghana), Janet Mawiyoo: Co-Chair (Kenya Community Development Foundation, Kenya), Akwasi Aidoo: (TrustAfrica, Senegal), Christine Delport: (Greater Rustenburg Community Foundation, South Africa), Neville Gabriel: (Southern Africa Trust, South Africa), Ezra Mbogori: (Akiba Uhaki Foundation, East Africa), John Ulanga: (The Foundation for Civil Society, Tanzania) - and other representatives of African grantmaking institutions.
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After years of careful planning, preparation, consultations and meetings, the African Grantmakers' Network (AGN) was launched in July 2009, at a meeting convened by the African Women's Development Fund, TrustAfrica and the Kenya Community Development Foundation and attended by key African grantmakers.
The intention was to bring African grantmaking foundations together to share and learn, develop the potential of philanthropic institutions in Africa, provide Africa with a base for leverage when engaging with other international philanthropic networks, and give African grantmakers a voice in the global context.
At the launch, TrustAfrica's Executive Director, Akwasi Aidoo, emphasised that the AGN's main function will be to “Change the narrative of Africa as helpless and hapless, tilt the balance of stories, and increase the visibility and knowledge of Africa.”
At the AGN's recent strategic thinking session held in February 2010 at the Southern Africa Trust's offices in Midrand, South Africa, the following principles were agreed to be critical:
- AGN represents a new focus, where we look to each other and form cohesive relationships, rather than competitive ones;
- Build a platform where we can tell our own stories of Africa;
- Provide shared and collective strategic leadership;
- Counter the fatigue at being convened to address other people’s agendas;
- AGN is a mechanism to influence the investment priorities of big northern donors;
- AGN should become the first port of call for any new initiatives on the continent - especially to break the concentration of resources to places that are easily accessible – and to shift northern hemisphere grantmakers’ and donors’ thinking;
- Develop key areas of philanthropic work and influence big donors;
- A place to discuss innovation, a place to redefine grantmaking terms and concepts, and to do things differently;
- A platform for dreaming - creating the long term perspective;
- Rationalisation and collaboration.
Contact Ashley Green-Thomson at the Southern Africa Trust for more information: agreen-thompson@southernafricatrust.org
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| Having agreed to gather at this historic summit of apex organisations in southern Africa that constitute a membership base of NGOs, labour and faith-based organisations, we should be committed to take forward the outcomes with equal commitment and strength - Abie Ditlhake, SADC CNGO. |
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| It has been our aim to continuously engage SADC... It is for this reason that SATUCC felt compelled to join hands with other organisations in championing a people driven integration – George Nkiwane, President of SATUCC.
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As a Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa (FOCISSA) representing National Christian Councils from 11 SADC countries, we join hands with other Apex organisations to create a platform that will better service the people of SADC – Canaan Phiri, President of FOCCISA.
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Working Towards an Alliance of Regional Civil Society Apex Organisations
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Presidents of the three regional civil society apex organisations, George Nkiwane of the Southern African Trade Union Coordination Council, Ted Nandolo of the Southern African Development Community Council of Non Governmental Organisations (SADC-CNGO) and Canaan Phiri of the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa (FOCCISA) at the tripartite summit.
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With the Trust's support, the Southern African Trade Union Coordinating Council (SATUCC), the Economic Justice Network (EJN) of the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa (FOCCISA), and the SADC Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (SADC-CNGO) held a regional summit of their member organisations from 15 countries in southern Africa to discuss the signing of a pact between the three major regional civil society apex networks for more coherent and coordinated engagement with each other and the inter-governmental organisations in the region. SATUCC has 14 member trade union federations from 12 countries in the region (representing more than 7 million workers across the region), EJN has 12 national member councils of churches from 12 countries in the region, and SADC-CNGO has 15 national member coalitions of non-governmental organisations from 15 countries in the region.
The tripartite summit of regional civil society apex organisations drafted a pact to be signed later this year, representing a major step in the development of the regional civil society organisational architecture in southern Africa.
The Trust has consistently been supporting the three networks collectively and individually to strengthen their cooperation for more effective engagement in pro-poor policy development across the region.
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Donations to the Trust are tax deductable!
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| Bank: |
Standard Bank |
| Account: |
Change4ever |
| Type: |
Current account |
| Acc/No: |
062794175 |
| Branch: |
Midrand (Code: 00 11 55) |
| Or give online at www.change4ever.org |
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Every cent raised through the Change4ever campaign goes directly to poverty eradication projects.
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The Southern Africa Trust's support for earthquake victims...
Malawi: R30,000 to Malawi's National Disaster Appeal fund, which included personal donations from Trust staff.
Haiti: R70,000 to community-based reconstruction efforts in Haiti, through the recently launched Africa for Haiti campaign. The donation was made up of R25,000 raised from public donations to the Trust's Change4ever fundraising campaign and R45,000 raised from personal contributions by the Trust’s staff and income earned directly by the Trust through the services it provides.
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“Even the little we have given shows the survivors of the earthquakes in Haiti and Malawi that we, as the peoples of the southern African region, care and stand in solidarity with them as they start to rebuild their communities. It's a natural international expression of our very own spirit of ubuntu.”
Neville Gabriel, Executive Director, Southern Africa Trust
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Haiti in ruins following the devastating earthquake. Click here to donate for its reconstruction.
Picture by Africa for Haiti |
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Support for Earthquake Victims
Whilst the world watched in horror at the widespread devastation and misery caused by the earthquake in Haiti in January, few realised that Malawi experienced 30 earthquakes during December, the largest measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale.
The earthquake ‘swarm’ in the northern province of Karonga - along the Great Rift Valley on the Tanzanian border - killed four people including a child and displaced an estimated 7,000 people.
About 1,000 houses were reported to have collapsed and a further 2,900 houses were said to have sustained damage of some sort.
According to the United Nations Malawi office, Karonga has a population of approximately 270,000. It is a poor, rural area, with residents dependent on subsistence agriculture and fish from the lake for food and their livelihoods.
The earthquakes prompted Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika to declare Karonga a disaster zone and appeal for international help. The Trust responded with a donation through its Change4ever campaign.
Africa for Haiti
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| The Africa for Haiti campaign was launched by a coalition of Africa-based international organisations under the leadership of Graça Machel, with the support of eminent Africans such as Archbishops Desmond Tutu, Njongo Ndungane, and Thabo Makgoba, and the owner of the Mail & Guardian newspaper, Trevor Ncube.
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The founding organisations in the coalition include the Southern Africa Trust, TrustAfrica, the African Monitor, the SA Red Cross Society and Civicus.
More than 200,000 Haitians died in the earthquake tragedy.
Haiti was established as a republic more than 200 years ago, when African slaves claimed their freedom from their French masters. Since then, Haiti has suffered under the burden of a national debt that arose from the French claim for reparations for the losses that the slave owners incurred when the former slaves claimed their freedom. This, amongst many other contemporary social, economic, and political problems, has resulted in Haiti being amongst the poorest countries in the world.
“It shares so many of the same problems as we have faced in Africa and looks to Africa for solidarity and identity, but has been hit harder than most by natural disasters in recent years - such as devastating hurricanes and the recent earthquake,” said Neville Gabriel, Executive Director of the Southern Africa Trust.
“The poor in Africa have been on the receiving end of much global support in the times that they needed it most. We can and must show that, despite not having much, we too can show solidarity and give support to others who suffer, no matter where in the world they are,” he said.
“The Southern Africa Trust has given more than $12.5 million to organisations working to end poverty in southern African countries. “The almost $9,500 that we have given to reconstruction in Haiti is a very small expression of our solidarity with those who are suffering in Haiti,” said Gabriel.
Songwriter Lionel Bastos has composed a song titled I’ll be there, and generously agreed to its use by the Africa for Haiti campaign. He will be working with the campaign to spread the word through his music. Listen to I'll be there at: http://www.africaforhaiti.com/Africa4Haiti-IllBeThere.mp3
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“With this programme, we want to build bridges between communities across the region, boost intercultural understanding, and help develop a shared southern African regional identity.”
Themba Mhlongo, Head of Programmes at the Southern Africa Trust
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Young people between the ages of 18 and 25 years old are eligible to apply to participate in the programme. Visit www.sayXchange.org for more details.
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| Graça Machel addressing young people and youth organisations during the sayXchange launch in Johannesburg. |
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| Vibrant participation during the sayXchange launch. |
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New Exchange Programme for Young People
SayXchange promotes regional integration and a southern African regional identity amongst young people through cross-border civic participation.
SayXchange an exciting new southern Africa cross-border youth exchange programme, was launched in February (by change4ever ambassadors Graça Machel and popular radio personality and singer, Unathi) in Johannesburg and later in the same month, in Maputo.
SayXchange was developed by the Southern Africa Trust, in collaboration with AFS Interculture South Africa, following the xenophobic attacks in South Africa during the first half of 2008.
Social issues such as poverty, poor education, high unemployment and HIV/AIDS are common factors across southern African countries. Unfortunately, projects aimed at tackling these issues operate mostly within national borders and often with a very local focus. As a result, there is little sharing of successes and failures across southern African countries and there is a lack of understanding about these similarities and differences that exist, amongst the citizens of the region.
“Mutual acceptance rather than tolerance is necessary to make us strong and enable us to share a common future and destiny in the region,” Machel said. The sayXchange programme nurtures a regional development perspective amongst future leaders by promoting civic participation amongst young people. It also aims to build bridges between communities and promote intercultural understanding amongst young people in southern Africa.
Machel recalled the xenophobic attacks in 2008 on migrants living in South Africa and said poverty and deprivation of basic needs can dehumanize even the nicest of people. “We should never push our people to a point where they have to struggle for survival,” she said.
SayXchange will promote people-based regional integration and a southern African regional identity amongst young people. It will help nurture the development of leaders in southern Africa who have a regional perspective, by encouraging youth engagement in civic affairs across borders.
Initially targeting young people from Mozambique and South Africa to do volunteer work in community-based non-profit organisations across the borders of the region, the first phase of the five-month exchange programme will start in July 2010 and will have a total of 20 participants (10 from each of the two participating countries). SayXchange will later roll out to include participation and exchanges between other African countries.
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New Publication Focuses Attention on Poverty
The Southern Africa Trust has partnered with the African Monitor to publish an exciting new quarterly magazine that shares innovative ways of overcoming poverty in the southern Africa region.
ChangeMudança magazine reviews policies, research, practical initiatives and programmes in the southern African region, and profiles individuals and groups that are driving pro-poor change in the southern Africa region.
“We have set out to package and present challenging ideas in an accessible and interesting way, so as to facilitate dialogue and provide an analytical framework with which to understand poverty in the region,” said the Southern Africa Trust and African Monitor in a joint statement at the launch of the first issue in October 2009.
The latest issue of the magazine looks at social integration issues in the southern African region with articles on child migrants, the informal financial transfer systems in the region, a country focus on Botswana, and an interview with the President of Malawi and chairperson of the African Union, Dr Bingu wa Mutharika (who received the Trust’s Drivers of Change award in 2009).
Using the latest in e-book technology, ChangeMudança is easily downloadable onto PC or laptop and is published four times a year.
To subscribe to ChangeMudança, visit www.southernafricatrust.org or www.africanmonitor.org
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| Prega Ramsamy, head of the B4D Pathfinder, sharing the concept with the Vice President of Botswana, Lt Gen. Mompati Merafhe. |
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B4D Pathfinder Gathers Momentum
Since its launch in October last year, the Business for Development (B4D) Pathfinder has rapidly gained the attention of regional businesses and national governments.
The B4D Pathfinder has already been introduced to the business associations, government, and civil society organisations in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Swaziland, Malawi, South Africa, and Mozambique. In all the countries visited, people expressed the need for a harmonious partnership between government, private sector and civil society, so that countries not only address poverty but also ensure sustainable longer term development in the region.
Read more at www.southernafricatrust.org/b4d
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| Botswana's Vice President Mompati Merafhe delivering his key note address at the launch of call for nominations for the 2010 Drivers of Change awards. |
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| The launch was attended by representatives of a wide range of different organisations and sectors from Botswana and the whole southern Africa region. |
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Call for Nominations of 2010 Drivers of Change Launched in Gaborone
The Trust, in partnership with the Mail & Guardian newspaper, launched the call for nominations for the 2010 Drivers of Change awards with the vice president of Botswana, Lt. Gen. Mompati Merafhe. At the launch, Vice President Merafhe said that he was particularly pleased to launch the call for nominations for the Drivers of Change awards because they have become the premiere regional awards for innovation in poverty and development work in southern Africa. He called especially on organisations and individuals from Botswana to nominate recipients for the awards, because Botswana and the Seychelles were the only two countries from which nominations had not been received in the past.
The Drivers of Change awards are given annually in 4 categories: civil society, government, business, and individual. Nominations are invited from individuals or organisations. The closing date for nominations is 30 July 2010. Go to the Drivers of Change awards section at www.southernafricatrust.org for more information or to submit nominations.
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Who's been visiting?
Graça Machel, Change4ever ambassador and globally renowned social justice activist
Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, Executive Director, African Women's Development Fund
John Ulanga, Executive Director, Foundation for Civil Society (Tanzania)
Kim Hamilton, Deputy Director, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Carol Welch, Programme Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Mzwakhe Sigudlha, President, Southern Africa Youth Movement
Chiku Malunga, Author and International Development Consultant (Malawi)
A group of 20 MBA students from Yale University on an international exposure visit to southern Africa
Alan Fowler, renowned development scholar and social justice activist
Charles Abani, Southern Africa Regional Director, Oxfam GB
50 young people from the Johannesburg area interested in applying as candidates for the inaugural sayXchange programme, for an induction to the programme
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Meet the Team
Shirley Moulder, Trustee
Shirley serves as a non-executive director of a number of social development organisations in southern Africa, having been involved in human rights and development work for more than thirty-five years. Based in South Africa, her professional experience includes engagement with governments, the private sector and international aid agencies as well as serving on a number of commissions for the Anglican Church in Southern African and the global Anglican Communion. She was recently appointed onto a Commission within the Anglican Church that is tasked with growing leadership potential within the church.
An immensely busy lady, Shirley's great passions in her spare time are reading and music. She describes her reading habits as ‘eclectic’, as she enjoys a wide genre of books and often reads three or more at a time. Shirley has just finished reading Jonathan Jansen's ‘Knowledge in the Blood’, which she says should be compulsory reading for all South Africans.
When it comes to her music tastes, Shirley also enjoys variety and quips that it includes choral, instrumental, folk and music by ‘dead white males’! She used to play classical guitar, too.
Looking ahead, Shirley wants to see the Southern Africa Trust growing and doing more and better work. She speaks of it with pride, describing it as, “An amazing organisation with phenomenal leadership.” She is passionate about seeing the beginning of the end of poverty in the southern Africa region and getting people to work together ... and strongly believes that this is already beginning to happen.
“It's delicious being alive in these interesting and challenging times,” says Shirley, adding that everyone who knows her also knows about her strong belief in angels. “It's the angels around me that give me the ability to dance with them.”
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Who we are and what we do:
Visit our award-winning and constantly updated website www.southernafricatrust.org for the latest information on what we’ve been up to.
Do you have an insightful comment or provocative statement to share? We value your feedback on Southern Africa ChangeMakers and our various campaigns and activities. Please send us your comments.
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Southern Africa Trust Contact Details
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Have you joined the Change4ever campaign?
If not, here are 8 very good reasons why you should:
- The Southern Africa Trust belongs to southern Africa - it's an independent, non-profit agency governed by trustees from southern Africa.
- We cannot continue to depend on overseas aid and the goodwill of people in other parts of the world to support efforts to overcome poverty in our part of the world - it's our collective responsibility as people of southern Africa to do this.
- The best way to overcome poverty is to address its underlying causes, not just its immediate symptoms - we work for lasting change, so you will be giving to a solution and not a problem.
- Overcoming poverty must be a collective effort - none of us have all the answers or all the resources to overcome poverty alone but by working together and pooling our support, we can make a bigger difference.
- We already have our core operational costs covered, so everything that you give will go to others who are working for lasting solutions to poverty.
- We manage finances in accordance with the strictest principles of good corporate governance, transparency, and accountability.
- We are now approved by SARS in terms of section 18A of the SA Income Tax Act. Your donation to the Trust is now tax deductable. Any donations given to the Trust are also exempt from donations tax and estate duty. Donate now!
- Poverty is everyone's business. Get involved!
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Comments and feedback
We value your feedback on Southern Africa ChangeMakers and our various campaigns and activities.
Please send your comments to communications@southernafricatrust.org |
The Southern Africa Trust appreciates the support it has received from:
Trustees: Dr Vusi Gumede (SA), Mr Denis Kadima (DRC), Rev Joseph Komakoma (Zambia), Dr Perks Ligoya (Malawi), Dr Reginald Matchaba-Hove (Zimbabwe), Ms Alice Mogwe (Botswana), Ms Paula Monjane (Mozambique), Ms Shirley Moulder (SA), Ms Lucy Muyoyeta (Zambia), Ms Riah Phiyega (SA), Dr Prakash Ratilal (Mozambique)
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