Action Aid South Africa.
Action Aid South Africa.
Vision: Action Aid South Africa (AASA) has a clear vision of realising social justice through supporting the actions and power of people whose lives are most affected by inequality, injustice and oppression. AASA is committed. in supporting social movements of the poor, excluded and the marginalized, prioritizing our support for women-led feminist movements.
SUCCESS STORIES:
Helping girls in rural communities to gain access to sanitary towels
Christina comes from a family of 6, where here mom is the only breadwinner, earning way below the minimum wage. Her mom is unable to buy “luxuries” such as sanitary towels, forcing Christina to use socks or tissues instead
AASA, together with various partners, managed to raise funds to purchase and distribute over 1,500 sanitary towels to high school teenagers in the area.
Girls Clubs were also launched, teaching girls about how to handle menstruation in a healthy way. These projects are ensuring that girls do not miss school, as well as suffer confidence and health issues.
“It has not been easy to obtain all that is necessary for a young female like me to go about comfortably. Only my mother is the breadwinner and works for the school feeding scheme, so it becomes very difficult to meet all our family needs.”
In South Africa, an estimated 7 million girls between the age of 13 and 19 miss up to a week of school every month because of a lack of sanitary products.
Empowering girls with personal development
Empowering girls with personal development and relationship building skills in communities facing extreme poverty and violence.
Thandi* lives in a community where gangsterism, addiction, poverty, poor health, suicide, trauma, high unemployment, emotional and physical abuse, as well as hopelessness are becoming the norm. AASA works to address these issues through projects like I Define ME.
When Thandi* first joined our project, it transpired that she had been sexually assaulted in grade 2 and that she had been suppressing the memory and acting out violently as a result of the trauma.
Our facilitators immediately arranged counselling sessions for her, after which she has been doing much better. Her peers have even selected her as a group leader.
We currently work with 95 young girls, womxn and parents affected by gangsterism and violence in Cape communities on a weekly basis.
I am comfortable with my body and have found myself” Thandi*, 15.
No land is too small for these small-scale farmers
In South Africa, high levels of unemployment and a weakened economy has given rise to a growing informal sector and a connected increase in unacceptable working conditions and exploitation. Youth unemployment levels remain of great concern and that of gender equality in the Limpopo region. The high unemployment rate coupled with that of poor service delivery in the villages see many young people struggling to survive and lack motivation and there is a huge sense of hopelessness.Even though the conditions seem agonizing, five young people in Damani, Limpopo still have hope and dreams.
In the village of Damani, five young optimists that are also peanut farmers are not dispirited by the conditions they have in their village but saw an opportunity to become something.
The five youth started a peanut farm so that they can help both the village and their families.
The chief of the village donated a portion of his land to the ambitious five so that they can farm. The village was experiencing shortage of clean accessible water and that was a huge concern for the young farmers and their crops. Through the support of Xihlobo Xandivo a partner of Action Aid in the Limpopo Province the young farmers were provided with seeds and a tank of clean accessible water, the farmers had hope for their crops. The villagers also benefit from this water tank as they experience shortages of water in the community. The challenge has been getting sufficient water to water the plants because the tank is currently not enough to meet the demand of both community and the farmers. Nonetheless, the young farmers did not want to give up on their crops because they knew their importance. The farmers then decided to take turns watering their crops late at night so that villagers can use the tank during the day.
Even during a hot day in Limpopo and you could feel the unforgiving heat on your skin, the young farmers do not have a difficult time with being in the field with no caps or sun protective wear. Ploughing and removing weeds on their farm this is their everyday work.
Matangwa Avhavhudzane, 20 years old, is a young mother that is very passionate about farming and is one of the five peanut farmers. Prior the project, Lady another member of team lost her mother two years back and had to move to the Damani village to stay with her father who works piece jobs to feed the family. Her father could not fully support the family with the money he made. Lady would feel drained from the issues that they were facing at home. ‘I used to be quiet and isolated because there was nothing, I could do with the situation we faced at home, but the garden project helped me help my family and myself. It helped me come together with other youth and share experiences.’ Said Lady. She went on to add that if you take care of the land, the land would also take care of you.
The young farmers are very appreciative for the seeds and the tank from the Xohlobo Xandivo and ActionAid for the work that helped them change their lives, the lives of the villagers and their families. They are very grateful for the opportunity to go on training workshops in agrology as they learnt how to take care of their crops properly. The farmers sell their peanuts to the community through door to door and the money they make they save to expand their farm and create more jobs in the village. They also plant tomatoes and sell to villagers.
I Define Me - Stories
ActionAid South Africa and the Justice Desk together with partner organisations in Cape Town; the Joint Peace Forum and womxn for Change, hosted young mothers and girls in The Wilderness of Cape Town for the I DEFINE ME camp. These young womxn and girls were gathered for a purpose of curative space and isolation moment to get away from the demands of everyday life. Most of them are teenage mothers facing financial challenges and the transition into motherhood is a challenge for them.
The I DEFINE ME project focuses on young women between the ages of 15 and 21 who are affected by violence in their communities. The project aims to help lessen the anxiety and offer support in issues they faced within their daily lives- also enabling communities to learn how young womxn can contribute to creating alternatives in society which challenge the normalisation of violence.
The girls spent the night under the stars which is meant for them to reconnect with nature and start their restorative journey. The nights were a good time for the participants as they reflected on their lives and their journeys as individuals while they lay on their back watching the stars. They got the opportunity to share similar experiences and engage in meaningful conversations with their peers.
One of the participants of the camp was Nosipho* who is part of a family of 20 sharing one bedroom. Similar to Nosipho most womxn and girls face similar traumatic challenges in their homes.
The Wilderness, a farm that is owned by a former MK Errol April, was divided into two campsites one for the girls and the other for the facilitators. AA also supported this initiative with sleeping bags.
Future plans and events:
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Scheduled events for ActionAid:
1. Date any Time
Location: Your local area
Sponsorship target: Raise as much as you can
Set yourself the ultimate walking challenge and walk the equivalent distance of a world famous trek like Everest Base Camp, or Mount Kilimanjaro in one Month. Whichever you choose, your fundraising will help to end violence and fight poverty so that all women and girls, everywhere, can create the future they want.
·
Everest Base Camp Trek = Walk 130km
· Mount Kilimanjaro Trek = Walk 90km
2
Location: London
Registration Fee: £10 – £198
Sponsorship: target: £135 – £595
Part urban adventure, part countryside
escape, the Thames Path Challenge will take you from London’s Putney Bridge
along the towpaths towards leafy Henley-on-Thames
Choose from 25km, 50km or 100km – to walk,
jog or go big with an ultra-marathon. N matter how you tackle this challenge,
you’ll enjoy the history scenery including Windsor Castle and Runnymeade.
Visit the Thames Path Challenge website to
secure your place and select ActionAid as your chosen charity when registering.
3. Date: 14 May 2024
Location: Reading
Registration fee: £20 Euros
Sponsorship target: £300
Test your endurance and take on the Reading
Half Marathon
Take on this course to expand the highlights of the centre of Reading including the beautiful grounds of University campus and a unique finish by an Olympic stadium.
4. Date: multiple dates
Location: Nepal
Registration Fee: £499
Sponsorship target: £4,500
Join us for a trip you will never forget! Follow in the footsteps of Sir Edmudnd Hilary as you traverse through gorges, make your way through Sherpa villages, over jaw-dropping suspension bridges and through the Khumbu ice fall before arriving at Everest Base Camp. You'll even get the chance to marvel at the scenery below Kala Patthar!
Trips take place throughout the year.
ACTIONAID HIV/AIDS POLICY:
ActionAid's Online Reputation Management Strategy:
AASA’s programme approach is grounded in the Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) which is the core of ActionAid’s methodology for transformative change. Within this we have a commitment to the pillars of HRBA: empowerment, solidarity and campaigning. Although our understanding of what constitutes quality programming goes beyond these pillars, the following elements are visible in all our programming
Empowerment
Key to ActionAid’s approach is the act of placing people at the centre of their own struggles. This requires an investment in and patience with the process of developing self-confidence; political and strategic leadership; and capacity. All programmatic work needs to create spaces specifically for empowerment work as well as ensuring that all work implementation takes place in a participatory way ensuring that empowerment is used as a powerful goal in and of itself, and not merely as a means to other ends.
Solidarity
Grassroots movements and networks have the power to bring about resilient and transformative change in the communities in which they are located. However, amplifying this change requires us to build solidarity between those movements and networks at local, national and international levels. At a local level for example this may mean encouraging LGBTIQ groups to join workers struggles or vice versa. At the national and international level, it may mean developing spaces for sharing and learning between people waging the same struggles in different parts of the world.
Campaigning
AASA will seek to fight inequality, injustice and poverty by encouraging people-driven and people-cantered campaigns rooted in the communities we work, as well as by helping to connect people’s struggles nationally, regionally and internationally to achieve social justice and equality.
AASA will not only contribute to ActionAid International campaigns, but also build national level campaigns and support partners and LRPs to develop campaigns at the local level. In doing so, AASA aims to ensure that the intersections of all programmatic areas are brought to the forefront of campaign strategies so that the individual objectives of our programmatic areas find synergy both across programmes and at the local, national and global levels.
As part of our commitment to HRBA, our campaigns will ensure that both solidarity and empowerment are embedded in all campaign strategies. As such, we will act in solidarity with emerging movements and help empower communities, self-mobilised groups, social movements, staff and volunteers to build powerful and impactful campaigns that are driven and sustained by collective actions and people power.
Research
All AASA programmes should include a focus on research— not only to support the specific programmes, but to also make a contribution to the broader knowledge base on areas that we have expertise on. Together with our unique research signature which focusses on participatory and empowering research processes, our research helps build stronger campaigns, and builds credibility within the sector and amongst the people we work and engage with.
Integration
AASA works on a variety of issues at multiple levels, thus creating linkages between all our work is a priority. One facet is the mainstreaming of women’s rights and youth interests throughout all of our work. A second is building solidarity between issues and geographic areas. A third is to demonstrate clear coherence between the work taking place at local, national and international levels. This does not mean that the work is identical, since strategies and priorities may differ between programme areas, but instead means that there is a common thread to the work at all levels. This is to ensure we avoid a situation in which the LRPs and national programmes are implementing two distinct work streams. In addition, it is vital that Child Sponsorship, where applicable, and programmes implementation are integrated to the extent that the face of the child can clearly be seen in our work, and that children together their families can clearly articulate the impact of ActionAid interventions on their lives.
Politicisation of staff
Coherence between what we demand in the world and what we practice in our own lives is important to the way in which AASA wants to work. It is critical then that the programme units invest in inward looking projects that support the political development of staff and partners. For example, our feminist education programme that has been present for some years needs to be further institutionalised in the next strategic period. Using spaces like the morning buzz, critical society sessions and dedicated training weeks, we will ask each unit to develop staff capacity on our work and the values and politics that guide it.
INTEGRATED BRAND MARKETING PLAN:
We have to make sure our blog is active, and that people get information about ActionAid South Africa at least once on a weekly basis - our blog posts will as they become available, making it easy for anyone who is following our social media platforms to just click on a link and get directed to our blogsite.
We will also make sure that our YouTube channel always gets an update when an event is hosted, have live streams as well as video uploads that can be watched after the event is over.
Our social media pages will be active, engaging in topics that are currently trending and making those topics fit into our brand, we will also have our direct messages and commenting sections open so that we are able to communicate with our audience - providing them with almost immediate responses.
Everything that ActionAid South Africa engages in will be posted and shared all over our social media platforms and blog site, making sure that these platforms work hand in hand.
As ActionAid South Africa is an NGO, we will only use newspapers, radio and television broadcasting if there is a major event that we are covering, like the war in the Ukraine etc.
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