United Way South Africa’s point of departure is the national development plan 2030, which identifies major areas of focus towards addressing the challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. More specifically, poor education, the burden of disease and enterprise development align directly with United Way’s intended areas of intervention.
Criselda Kananda, MC for the launch of United Way South Africa.
The organisation aims to unite and connect all sectors of society – individuals, businesses, non-profit organisations and government – to create long-term positive social change. The NPO advances the common good and creates opportunities for a better life for all by focusing on education, income and health, which are the building blocks for a good quality of life.
Amon Maluleke, currently chairman of a co-op farm in Bertrams, Johannesburg, learned business management and technical farming skills through United Way South Africa’s urban farming project. “Farming has long been a passion for me, and through collaborative partnerships with United Way South Africa, the City of Johannesburg, Deloitte and others, I am equipped to make a sustainable difference in other peoples’ lives,” Maluleke comments.
Over 100 children from Childline received school bags, stationery and other requisites for a full school year through a separate education project, explained beneficiary, Khosi Mazibuko, at the launch.
Chairman of UWSA, Thabang Tawarima, said: “United Way South Africa is here to provide opportunities that will have a positive impact on people’s lives.
Introduced by the MC for the evening, popular Metro FM talk show host, Criselda Kananda, the Chairman of UWSA, Thabang Tawarima, said: “United Way South Africa is here to provide opportunities that will have a positive impact on people’s lives. Through strategic collaboration between all stakeholders, we provide a collective approach to community impact. We have plans to develop and enhance knowledge, skills and experiences of disadvantaged youth within the targeted communities, to improve their chances of being employable or growing their entrepreneurial ventures. This will be achieved by partnering with strategic players in the market to connect deprived unemployed South Africans to sustainable economic opportunities, thereby increasing the health literacy and access to primary health care for indigent South Africans. We already have projects running with several of our partner companies which bear testament to this,” said Tawarima.
Pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly, handed over a $500 000 gift from past CEO, Dr John Lechleiter, Sarah Lechleiter and the Lilly Foundation to UWSA at the launch. Keynote speaker, the well-known SAfm talk show host and founder of Champion South Africa, Ashraf Garda, stressed the importance of creating public/private partnerships by collaborating effectively around critical community issues to ensure maximum social impact that provides lasting changes within individuals and societies.
The organisation’s business model is underpinned by strategic collaboration between all stakeholders in communities. This collective approach to community impact allows the organisation to leverage, aggregate, and to support, and also expands common development programmes for disadvantaged South Africans. Collective community impact will bring about long-term sustainable change in South Africa in the areas of education, income stability and health.
The local organisation enjoys a solid volunteer board comprising leadership and expertise from several prominent corporates including: Accelerate Performance, Coca-Cola, Cummins, Deloitte, Eli Lilly, Fluor, IBM, McCann World Group, YBK Consulting and 3M.
For more information go to www.unitedway.org.za
