• We explore industry benchmarks in corporate social investment (CSI) spend and how this impacts on national social economic development (SED).
• We guide you on how best you can increase the sustainability of your CSI programme.
• We consider the importance of establishing partnerships – a hot topic at the CSI Matters conference.
• Finally, we share some valuable development lessons from Africa via Dr Pandelani Mathoma, GM of Old Mutual Corporate Affairs guest speaker at the conference.

We hope you enjoy our newsletter and are able to leave with new insights and inspiration. You’re welcome to make contact via email should you have any questions, if you would like to further discuss topics highlighted in our newsletter or require more information on our services!

Read the newsletter by clicking here!

Warm Greetings from our Team!
Creative Consulting & Development Works

A new day is dawning in Mozambique.
After nearly many years of civil unrest, the small nation on South Eastern coast of Africa is starting to rebuild. The promise of limitless possibilities beams from the smiles of school children running to new or partially built schools. Unfortunately, these smiles often turn to tears as financial backers of many development projects are failing to meet their commitments. As the global financial crisis strikes panic in the hearts of funding institutions, money initially earmarked to help develop post war Mozambique has all but dried up. In response to the growing number of commissioned development projects losing financial backing, Celio Mondlane of Fundacao Joaquim Chissano and Minister of Education Dr. Zeferino Martins, have turned to social media to encourage wide spread investment in their county’s future as well as showcasing its success stories. Educate Mozambique is the blog platform where anybody can learn about and support education initiatives all over Mozambique. It is essentially a way of crowd sourcing new

Flag of Mozambique

 avenues of funding, empowering individuals with information about ways they can contribute. Now, instead of waiting for a massive check that may never come from a bank that no longer considers “charity” a priority, any number of concerned individuals from anywhere in the world can give a little bit of money or time to make a big difference in the lives of children in Mozambique.

Visit the site learn to more about how you can support Educate Mozambique!

A soup kitchen makes a difference to people living in disadvantaged areas. Photo: Hands of Love

Mthatha is amongst the areas that contribute to the poverty and crime rate in the Eastern Cape. Many people in this town experience the pressures of life to such an extent that they feel there is no way out other than to live on the streets.

Mthatha has gotten a bad reputation for its social ills, but Mthatha youth have stood up to do what is right for their area and established Hands Of Love (H.A.L.O), an organisation that helps to change the living conditions of people in this community.

Initiated in 2009, Hands Of Love is a non-profit organisation that is aimed at reaching out to lost souls and disadvantaged fellow citizens of Mthatha. First called Mthatha Social Outreach, it was started by youth of Mthatha who want to give back to their communities and home town. The aim of this organisation is to show love to people who need it, and to make their lives worthwhile.

Clothes are distributed to the needy. Photo: Hands of Love

The people behind this organisation are inspired by the Bible, which says:  “when we were lost the Lord did not judge, but showed us love and drew us closer to him.” They find it in their hearts to try and re-shape the lives of people living on the streets.

The organisation distributes groceries and clothes to low-income communities and children’s homes. They also spend time with children from orphanages, having fun and following the example of Christ.

The sponsor of this organisation, Sinethemba Dywili, said they serve soup, give out clothes and take food parcels to low-income communities like Phola Park and Tiphini.

Sinethemba Dywili is one of Creative Consulting & Development Works‘ friends on Facebook and when he informed us of the good work that this organisation was doing, we were happy to showcase it on our blog. If you are involved in any other worthwhile projects, please let us know, by leaving a comment below.

]]> http://www.developmentworks.co.za/blog/hands-of-love-halo-gives-hope-to-the-homeless/feed/ 3 http://www.developmentworks.co.za/blog/hear-it-straight-from-the-real-football-fans/ http://www.developmentworks.co.za/blog/hear-it-straight-from-the-real-football-fans/#comments Tue, 29 Jun 2010 09:13:43 +0000 admin http://www.developmentworks.co.za/blog/?p=493

South African soccer fans. Photo: Media Club South Africa

If you want to know straight from the fans how they are feeling about the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Winkball.com is an interesting site to look at. You can even record your own match report and stand a chance to win £1000.00.

Winkball is a user-friendly website that enables communication through video. All you need is a computer with internet and a webcam. The ball-shape of a webcamera that you can attach to your computer was probably part of the idea behind the website’s name, while “wink” refers to the personal nature of video communication, where you can see a person’s facial expressions, winks and smiles.

You Tube is all about uploading and watching videos and Skype enables live chatting via a webcam. While Winkball also has live chatting capabilities, one can pre-record a video message and then send it out to friends and family, almost like an email. Alternatively you can post it as an entry on your video blog. You can also create a video wall on a certain topic and people can upload videos of their opinion on the subject.

Most recently, UK-based Winkball has sent out reporters to South Africa to record the opinions of soccer fans on the ground. You might see a Winkball journalist walking around with a little recording devise and they might ask you who you are supporting, etc. These comments get posted onto the Winkball website, so that they can “communicate happiness”. They have already spoken to thousands of die-hard fans.

Here are some comments from fans found on the streets of Johannesburg about the match that was played between Brazil and Chile last night.

You can also make a video of yourself giving a match report of one of the games and become a “star reporter”.  Winkball is giving away £1000.00 for the best match report every week.

Creative Consulting & Development Works is also very aware of the impact of videos, that is why we have been sharing videos with you in our blog posts since the start of the World Cup. If you missed any, click here, scroll down and enjoy.

It seems that South Africans are still very proud of their team and they are ready to enjoy the rest of the World Cup hosted right here in our beautiful country. Creative Consulting & Development Works shares these sentiments. Before last night’s game we joined the Facebook group “WE STILL SUPPORT YOU BAFANA BAFANA”. The creator of the group, William Gets, changed the group’s name to “BAFANA BAFANA VICTORY 2014″ this morning. It is now up to the youth who are inspired by this World Cup in Africa to work hard and do us proud at in four years time.

Watch the Zoopy video below on what South Africans had to say at the Fan Fest in Cape Town after the game last night.