We have had an exhilarating start to 2022! We kicked off with our Board and Management strategy session in February, which brought us full circle back to February 2018’s Strategic Planning where we determined to continue to pursue our interest in Public Employment Programmes and further contribute to demonstrating the benefits of public employment and deepening the impact of the social value of work. We wanted to ensure our programmes, new and old, truly represent Seriti’s vision and value proposition, and this year we were able to present happily to our Board that we are back in social employment! It was the loss of the Community Work Programme in April 2018, and the resolute feeling to uphold the integrity of Public Employment Programmes, that prompted our court case against CoGTA that we won in September 2019. This was about an irregular procurement process, which side-lined important criteria of functionality over other technical deficiencies, going unresolved due to failed communications.
The episode forced Seriti to diversify into other areas, to be able to pay the costs of our legal battle for upholding proper procurement processes – and indirectly showed our respect for where public funds come from; and involved not least of all our team spirit to save Seriti, that helped us survive!
Over Seriti’s four-year reinvention journey to the present, we have grown and strengthened organisationally. We are looking forward to being back in the public employment space after a short four years, with keen interest! It presents a great opportunity to implement the many lessons previously learnt in our 10 years of experience in public employment and to take forward our partnership, ECD and agriculture programmes. Through the Social Employment Fund (SEF) and the National Youth Service (NYS), Seriti, together with our social partners, can create 6000 work opportunities across South Africa. These activities will be directed to opportunities in our programmes and through our Seriti Partner network.
These social employment opportunities will be placed through three of our programmes. First, in SEF through the Work.Learn.Grow programme of building food security resilience and supporting small-scale farmers at the community level in 3 provinces – Mpumalanga, North West and Limpopo. Second, in NYS our parental/caregiver support programme, aRe Bapaleng, that equips caregivers of children aged 0-8 with the resources to facilitate quality early childhood development in marginalised communities for the sake of the next generation. Third, across programmes through our network of stakeholders and social partners developed using our collaborative model, based on Seriti’s legacy participatory methods and community consultation practices. This, combined with our desire to strengthen CSOs, NPOs, and CBOs with training opportunities and cooperative project implementation exemplifies the scope of our Seriti PARTNER programme. In a new era, but equipped with new skills, Seriti embarks on demonstrating the value of integrating development work and projects with social employment to better align outcomes for enhanced sustainability.
Our work in agriculture has blossomed! In addition to our work in regenerative agriculture – connecting the community farmer to sustainability practice, mentorship, and training; provision of agricultural production inputs; and market opportunities for networking, we will support fledgling small-scale farmers. Now, the Work.Learn.Grow team is geared to support the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development to implement the DALRRD’s Economic Development Trade and Marketing programme (EDTM) in George (Thembalethu), in the Western Cape. Performing assessments of existing small-scale farmers and providing business planning support, we will facilitate government resourcing to emergent agriculture. The main objective of our first assignment is to support the growth and development of subsistence producers and develop business plans, in consultation with communities and DALRRD, across 986 hectares of arable land.
We are also delighted to serve for another 3 years on the Land Rights Management Facility (LRMF) panel providing mediation services for labour tenants, farm dwellers, Communal Property Associations (CPAs), and restitution claimants. Operational functionality is an important concern for CPAs, and mediating disputes, especially regarding the management of lands settled through restitution, and representative diligence in the delivery of benefits to claimants, is critical. This work promotes productive use of land and supports the objectives of Land Reform by stimulating socioeconomic benefits for land claimants.
There has never been a more opportune time for all South Africans to throw their weight behind government and private sector initiatives to stimulate the economy! Among the lessons the pandemic has provided, which Seriti also managed to weather over our recent journey, is the need for comprehensive and holistic development. The social involves the economic! Seriti’s Township Economic Development work area, or our TED programme, is a natural progression of Seriti’s impact agenda. Our strategy is to support the increased vibrancy, dynamism, and inclusivity of township economies! The new work entails supporting small businesses and promoting enterprising entrepreneurship to increase trade both within the community and with external markets providing resilient and decent jobs and livelihoods.
In the peri-urban and rural context, Seriti Institute is advocating for economic inclusion for the vulnerable, climate resilience in community farming, gender equality by targeting women, and quality early childhood development for children in under-resourced communities with our support for caregivers. Whether it is through our socioeconomic relief work in food security or granting recovery funds to businesses affected by the July 2021 Unrest, Seriti’s Community Response programme underpins all our programmes. Taking up the challenge we aspire to stimulate enterprise development in the township, natural resources and social economies, to support emergent entrepreneurs! Our collaborative implementation and multi-programme learning, across all our projects, will continue to help Seriti innovate and play a coordinating role in the development sector.
Amid the demanding nature of development work and the hustle and bustle of our collaborative, engaging and fun offices, we welcome our new team members to Seriti’s already diverse team of individuals with their own skills and personalities. We are excited to introduce our new staff members: Puseletso Mofokeng appointed as aRe Bapaleng Programme Lead (PEPs); Nhlopiseng Masiza as Programme Coordinator: aRe Bapaleng; Angelina Makwela and Siphesihle Qange as Programme Officers for Work.Learn.Grow; Dorcus Komane and Dimpho Moseta as Junior Finance Officers; and Vusi Zwane as the Programme Lead for Township Economies.
With such an accelerating pace of change in Seriti’s workload, we take courage in the meaning of our brand. There is a strong need for flexibility and responsiveness, and we are grateful to all our staff and social partners, who together with Seriti, pursue a society with more opportunities to alleviate poverty and inequality.
By Juanita Pardesi, CEO – Seriti Institute
