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Tebogo Molefe
Tebogo Molefe

When Fulufhelani Mashapha’s name was called out in January as the top-performing matric pupil in Limpopo, Tebogo Molefe, corporate social investment (CSI) head at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) jumped for joy.

Mashapha went to school at Tshivhase Secondary School in Tshivhase village in Venda, one of the schools adopted by the IDC as part of its CSI programme.

What made this an exciting experience for Molefe was the fact that Mashapha obtained seven distinctions and scored 100% in physics, life sciences, geography and life orientation. Maths and science are at the centre of the IDC’s Whole School Development Programme.

Recalling this day brings a smile to Molefe’s face this week.

“We were so proud because here was a child who had benefited from one of our programmes. She was not just a top performer in Limpopo, but also among the top performers nationally,” she says.

Tshivhase Secondary School is one of 30 schools in South Africa that has been adopted by the IDC in partnership with Adopt-A-School Foundation.

The programme is a holistic and sustainable model of improving schools.

It addresses all the schools’ challenges - from infrastructure needs, to supporting the academic staff and improving the social environment in the schools incrementally over a sustained period of time.

The IDC built toilets and a block of classrooms for Tshivhase Secondary School, as well as renovating the science laboratory.

The financing institution also helped the school build a kitchen because food for the feeding scheme was being prepared out in the open.

While the Venda school was doing well in terms of academic performance before it was adopted by the IDC, the investment helped it achieve even better results, says Molefe.

One of the concrete ways that the IDC’s intervention is measured is in the improvement in matric results.

In 2014 the pupils’ pass rate at the adopted schools was 79%, last year it had improved to 82%.

Of their R39m CSI budget in the last financial year, 60% was allocated to education and training, while 30% was invested in sustainable livelihoods to aid poverty alleviation. All in all 39 000 people benfited, of those 28 132 were from the Whole School Development Programme.

The rest of the budget is allocated to projects for maximum impact in a variety of areas.

For example last year 50 students from poor backgrounds were put through a programme at Wits to prepare them to take studies in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) related fields, while the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital got a much needed R10m donation from them, and the IDC completed a pilot project to assist TVET colleges to develop a green skills curriculum in the Northern Cape.

Molefe says that CSI programmes need to not only make a demonstrable, positive developmental impact, but also they need to be relevant to the business that provides the support.

To that end the IDC also offers support in the area of sustainable livelihoods, focusing on young people and women.

These include projects such as the Emanuel Home-Sewing Project, which provides 15 young people with the skills to make a living through sewing, as well as an investment in the Big Fish School of Digital Filming, which encourages young filmmakers to use their skills to drive social justice, and 60 young people have benefited from the IDC’s investment in the Ifa Lethu Foundation’s creative industries training programme.

This programme teaches people in poverty-stricken areas the necessary entrepreneurial skills to start up their own ventures.

Molefe says that all these interventions bring joy to her and her team.

“Knowing that you have made a difference in improving the lives of the disadvantaged and marginalised communities is the best feeling anybody can experience.”

In terms of the CSI landscape in South Africa, Molefe believes South Africa needs a concerted effort from the private sector to bring positive change to the marginalised.

Molefe says at least R8 billion is spent by corporates on social investment, but the effect is hobbled because initiatives are often fragmented.

“Companies need to work together when it comes to social investment, instead of wanting to shine as individuals. They need to start using CSI initiatives as a way to better the lives of South Africans and not only as a branding and marketing exercise,” she says.

This series is reported by City Press and supported by the IDC.

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