Last week, I attended an interesting and insightful documentary at the Labia courtesy of FairTrade and While You Were Sleeping.

It shed light on the fair trade industry and the massive coffee conglomerates. It was a bit of a shell shock to see, in total, how much the coffee industry produces, yet the coffee farmers, the actual producers of this freshly roasted, aromatic coffee, receive so little. Cooperatives have been formed to better resolve this issue as often, the middle man (traders, buyers, brokers) force themselves into these trading relationships and take a large percentage of the money being transferred to and fro. The cooperatives allows for more transparency as it’s an organized body that allows you to purchase straight from the farmer.

One of the things that struck a chord with me is how the economy produces what the consumer wants. I’m also at fault, but if I were to demand for this ONE type of coffee, eventually, the supplier would have to supply it. He/she wants what I want. So, ultimately (and fortunately) it’s in the hands of the consumer.

Okay, looking at this area, I found that there is one fair-trade coffee roaster in South Africa (Bean There). So, we have little to choose from, but with enough demand, the supply will get bigger and bigger. So, long story short – just ask, and ye shall receive!

I realized (even more so) how instrumental trade/exporting was in the economic development of a community. From the documentary, I learned a staggering fact.

Africa, as a continent, comprises of 1% of the total global market. Increasing this involvement by 1 point (to 2%) would increase in-country revenue by 70 billion USD (5X the amount of annual foreign aid).

So not only does it pump more money (rightfully acquired and earned by locals), but it provides more jobs, and increases vocational, sustainable skills. It wins on all levels.

Though the documentary is a bit outdated, it’s extremely insightful. I’d watch it from a birds-eye view, and relate it more to the overall fair-trade market, rather than just the coffee industry, because essentially, the same theory and criticisms could be applied to tea, cotton, and wine, just to name a few.

The name is Black Gold, check it out, and let us know your thoughts!

Watch trailer here:

blackgold

Some of the report’s troubling findings include:

• 64%, or 11.9million, of the country’s 18.6million children live in poverty. Many of them are Aids orphans – about 5.5million people have HIV/Aids in South Africa, more than in any other country

• Only 54% of the HIV-positive children who should be on antiretroviral treatment are receiving it;

• More than 270 babies and their mothers die after birth on average a day, mainly due to HIV/Aids, and the maternal mortality rate has increased by 80% since 1990;

• 582000 children who should be attending high school are not – 28% don’t have the money for fees and 15% because “education is useless”;

• Of 56500 children who were victims of violent crime in 2009-2010, 27417 were raped or molested. Of those, 29% were aged between 0 and 10.

Read the full article below:

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The Times: Young,hungry,helpless

http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/article986417.ece/Young-hungry-helpless

UN,USA

Indeed, the South African public, civil society organisations, and opposition parties will be preparing themselves to see whether the president will speak to their respective issues, and whether many of the promises made in previous state of the nation addresses will be revisited by way of feedback on his government’s progress.

As such, many of these interest groups will come in great numbers to witness President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address in Parliament’s National Assembly Chamber on the 10 February 2011.

The aim of this address is to give a depiction of what the government has achieved since the last State of the Nation address, and to set the course for President Jacob Zuma’s administration for the upcoming year.

Indeed, President Zuma has already given a hint of what to expect in his upcoming address, especially when one considers the recent events that have led to his speech on the 10 of February. Key to these events have been the African National Congress’ (ANC) “January 8” address, which this year was held at the Peter Mokhaba Stadium in Polokwane and the recent Cabinet Lekgotla.

The focus at both events was charting the progress and strides the ANC-government had made, and the challenges it still faces, but also to chart the way forward in addressing these challenges, which is predominantly what occurred at this year’s Cabinet Lekgotla.

In his January 8 statement, President Zuma stressed the following themes as areas of focus: Job Creation, Health, Education, Rural Development & Land Reforms.

He said, job creation will be the priority in 2011 through meaningful economic transformation. “We have a crisis of high unemployment in our country. It is only by enabling our people to free themselves from poverty, by providing decent and sustainable jobs and opportunities to become entrepreneurs that we will really bring about a better life for all.”

The big question is, what measures is he going to undertake in order to fullfill his promise or where will these jobs comes from?

According to Business Day, government’s new economic strategy and new growth path estimates the 250 000 new jobs in agriculture, 140 000 in mining and beneficiation, 225 000 in tourism, 50 000 in business services and 30 0000 in the green economy by 2020, with many possible jobs in the sector increasing to 400 000 by 2030.

“Infrastructure development could create 250 000 jobs, while employment in the public service would rise 10%.”

It is said that, the ANC also wants to create 100 000 new jobs in the “knowledge” economy and 260 000 in the social economy.

However, this proposal still doesn’t give detailed information on how is his administration going create these jobs. At his address, is he going to give the steps or his plans of creating such jobs?

A female engineer works at the Volkswagen South Africa plant in Uitenhage. Very few women have been given the chance to possess such high level skills. Photo: Media Club South Africa

Many training programmes exist in South Africa with the aim of empowering women, but most women are still not gaining the marketable professional skills they are meant to from these initiatives.

The Sowetan reports that it was found in a study commissioned by Policy Analysis and Capacity Enhancement and the Human Sciences Research Council (Republic of South Africa), “that women, particularly those from the rural areas, were still not benefiting from training programmes aimed to empower women”.  In other words, although 51% of South Africa’s population is female, the progress of development in South Africa is not yet fully inclusive and has been effectively reinforcing the predatory patriarchy of the old South Africa.

Public awareness campaigns on high level skills training for women should be improved. Photo: Media Club South Africa

In the light of these disappointing findings, Baleka Mbete, the national convener of the Progressive Women’s Movement of South Africa, challenges the purveyors of development and the skills revolution to concentrate on gender inclusive standards and to commit to supporting women to gain the skills necessary to break into traditionally exclusive fields that are key to economic development such as engineering and finance.

Although women are involved in political decision making, their depressingly low rates of involvement in high level skills-based training shows that there is a gap in communication between those who implement the skills training programmes and the female public.

Some suggestions offered to close this gap are to increase gender sensitive legislative spending, to improve the implementation of public awareness campaigns for high level skills training, and to commission a mentorship programme for school girls, so as to encourage participation in scarce skills training programmes and enrolment in applicable university degree programmes.

Panelists discuss challenges facing youth at NGO Week. Photo: Development Works

Young people are facing many challenges in today’s society. In some cases, especially where unemployment is concerned, these challenges are so great that they cannot take active part in and contribute to their families and the community at large.

More than 30 people, from various organisations, gathered at Salt River Community Hall on 22 September, during the South African National NGO Coalition‘s NGO Week, to find innovative solutions to issues concerning youth.

Among the panelists was Gerald Jacobs from Mamelani Projects, Sifiso Jezile from My Life Foundation, Paul Hooper from Western Cape Street Children’s Forum, Nokwanda Luthuli from the Western Cape Department of Labour and Alicia Mlokoti from the National Youth Development Agency. Many organisations working with children and other interested parties made up the audience. The discussion was open to all to participate and was facilitated by Mamelani Projects

The aim of the discussion was to share experiences, raise awareness and identify lessons learnt from successful interventions that are being implemented by local organisations.

Issues raised

A young woman tests water quality at Alrode Brewery. Youth need the proper skills and support to find such employment. Photo: Chris Kirchhoff via Media Club South Africa

The panelists gave an overview of the challenges facing today’s youth, especially unemployment. They focused specifically on youth coming from children’s homes and the criminal justice system. They introduced their organisations, shared their challenges and how they overcame these.

Jacobs said that youth do not have support through business training. Even the practical process of getting a job is a challenge on its own. Youth do not have money to copy and fax their CVs or for transport to go to their interviews. According to Jacobs, mentoring needs to be made available to youth.

Hooper said that street children are a “society thrown away”. They know what they want, but they do not know how to even begin to achieve it. They need proper support and care.

A member of the audience, Rachel Khatlane from Feet of Mercy, said that an inter-connectedness is needed between different organisations dealing with the same issues: “Resources are not accessible to communities, the youth is losing hope and structural support, such as therapy, is needed,” she said.

It was agreed that youth coming out of the criminal justice system need someone to empower them, skills development and education.

Project Lungisela

Mamelani Projects try to help youth to find employment. Photo: Hannelie Coetzee via Media Club South Africa

Mamelani Projects runs a programme called Project Lungisela that supports youth in children’s homes, who have to leave these institutions when they reach the age of eighteen. These youth have often missed a lot of schooling, because they lived on the streets for some time. When they leave the home, their chances of finding a job is thus limited.

Project Lungisela aims to equip these individuals to face the challenges of leaving institutional care. Mamelani works with the youth for a two year period before they leave the home and continue to support them thereafter. The programme consists of weekly lifeskills workshops geared at personal development. The youth are assisted to obtain the necessary skills to find employment in their area of interest and they are given work experience through internships. Mamelani also helps them to find safe and secure living arrangements after leaving the home.

Our Support

Creative Consulting & Development Works worked with this inspirational organisation when we facilitated a strategic planning workshop for them in 2007. We hope to go on supporting them as we did at their fundraising breakfast that we blogged about at the end of last year.

Many other interesting discussions and workshops took place during SANGOCO’s NGO week, covering topics such as education, xenophobia, health, media, violence and much more. Creative Consulting & Development Works found the ones that we attended very interesting and informative.

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