We’re not just building urban farms,
we’re building thriving communities.
Our innovative farming business model will not only help us increase local food security, it
will also help create better jobs, increase awareness around healthy food systems and more importantly, it will help close the gap between farmers and the people who eat their food.
Consulting farmers in Hammarsdale,
Amagalelo Farming.
RCL’s DoMore Foundation, in collaboration with Niya Consulting and the South African Chef’s Association tasked us to create digital content aimed at increasing awareness around local food security and to uplift local farmers in the process. Farmer, Mkhize Vusumuzi Sydney, explains his farming journey in a short video which was shared with over 7000 Chefs in South Africa.
DO MORE FOUNDATION AGRIHUB
At Use-It Waste Management site, Hammarsdale, KZN
Do More Foundation’s FIRST EVER AgriHub initiative with PEP BUCKMAN LABORATORIES LIMITED CHEP and USE-IT Hammarsdale. As project managers, we oversee 25 un-registered ECD centers in Hammarsdale, we then teach local schools how to use their land and gardens more effectively to grow fresh vegetables. In this holistic approach, practitioners, the children, and school gardeners all work together to ensure fresh, organic vegetables are available to the children.
The project will introduce a financial model in which parents will be able to purchase fresh surplus produce from the garden, which will enable the ECD centre to purchase seedlings, maintain the gardens, as well as purchase much-needed early learning resources.
Three growing tunnels were also recently erected at the Hammarsdale USE IT Site. By using this innovative model of growing, crops can be grown in almost half the time and using a fraction of the water when compared to traditional methods, giving rise to faster harvests with lower water costs.
ECD PROBONO GARDENS
The DoMore Agri Hub remains in contact with ECD’s who had previously been assisted in 2021 with garden beds and seedlings. This is to ensure that the schools have the ability to ask advice whenever needed and to keep track of how the gardens progress.
TOWNSHIP ECONOMY
GROWING SMALL BUSINESS
Like we need clothes, it’s clear entrepreneurship stimulates the whole agricultural industry.
The concept of township economy and startups has received increasing attention over the past years as Governments, Private enterprises, Universities, and communities have started to recognise the potential of integrating, structures, programs, and processes that foster entrepreneurship activities and can support innovation, productivity and employment growth.
Startups are most successful when they have access to the human, financial, and professional resources they need and operate in an institutional environment in which norms and policies encourage and safeguard startups. They flourish in the ecosystems in which multiple stakeholders play key synergistic roles, which often requires multi-stakeholder collaboration. Stakeholders may include among others: government agencies, universities, business associations, private sector organization With these reasons, Niya Consulting implements Enterprise Development to respond to the high level of unemployment on youth and women in Hammarsdale.
Due to the gaps in knowledge regarding what incubation and incubators are, processes of Incubation models available, establishment processes among others. The Programme was implemented with the incubation model in mind for long-term sustainability element in mind.
These toys are to be made available for purchase (generating income for the youth) AND will be donated to local ECD Centres in vulnerable communities in and around Hammersdale.
Most wooden toys on the market that are commercially/mass produced, are expensive and inaccessible to vulnerable communities. The specific range of wooden toys produced through this Enterprise Development programme are made far more affordable through a very special partnership, where we have secured the woodworking enterprise with their wooden timber offcuts from their manufacturing facility (completely free of charge). These “off-cuts” are in perfect condition and form the raw material for the woodworkers to put their magical hands to work and produce beautiful wooden toys.
These toys are to be made available for purchase (generating income for the youth) and
will be donated to local ECD Centres in vulnerable communities in and around Hammersdale. Through the new project, we will be aiming to provide opportunity, guidance, and training to 20 youth twice a week for 12 weeks on the design, manufacture, finish, packaging and marketing of wooden educational toys, including but not limited to using woodwork, hand-, needlework and painting techniques. To extent the enterprises, we will be working will doing a Programme that is inclusionary. It will candidates of differently able and able bodies.
They introduce children to numeracy and fine motor skills, because wooden blocks require dexterity, hand-eye coordination, and tons of fine-motor precision to stack and balance.
They also support important skills for learning math like pattern matching and recognition. Children can also use wooden toys to begin to represent concepts such as over, under, besides, up, and down. It enables the children to solve puzzles or create patterns using wooden toys. They also begin to visually see how items fit together; which also improves their hand-eye coordination.
The programme will have a positive impact on the lives of the women that will be set up as enterprise and indirectly impact their families and children. Woodwork provides many opportunities for physical development as the participants learn to handle tools with increasing control.
Our purpose is to create a sustainable world through positive social, environmental, and economic upliftment, now and for the generations to come!
We are passionate about supporting suitability in South Africa through the creation of local jobs and up-cycling and recycling of waste into products. We offer a wide range of unique and attractive projects.
We use plastic in every aspect of our daily lives. With the right technology, discarded plastics can be transformed into a high-value commodity to be used over and over again, saving precious resources.
UBONGWA COTTON DEVELOPMENT SERVICES AT JOZINI
In late 2020, the SAB Foundation was approached to examine the feasibility of cotton farming in the Jozini area of Kwa-Zulu Natal. After extensive consultations with various stakeholder groups, it was determined that cotton was the only viable crop for dry land in the region. Despite a decline in farming activity due to a recent drought and other challenges, the area had a history of cotton cultivation dating back to the 1970s, involving up to 3,000 smallholder farmers.
To assess the potential of revitalizing the cotton industry, Niya Consulting was commissioned to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study. The study revealed favorable conditions, including the availability of over 2,000 hectares of land for planting and a secure market for the produced cotton. Recognizing the opportunity, the SAB Foundation, in collaboration with local stakeholders and Cotton SA, took a holistic approach to rebuild the industry. Furthermore, the SAB Foundation entrusted Niya Consulting with project management responsibilities.
The project scope encompassed several key initiatives:
Upgrading management and financial practices at the local ginnery. Rehabilitating the ginnery's infrastructure to enable efficient processing of a larger cotton volume. Procuring seeds to guarantee a harvest in 2022 and implementing controls to ensure farmers' future access to seeds. To date, the SAB Foundation has invested over R6 million in the project, yielding notable impacts:
The number of farmers engaged in cotton cultivation increased from 117 in 2020 to 606 in 2021 and exceeded 1,000 in 2022/23. The repair work on the ginnery facilitated its operational efficiency, saving the jobs of 47 ginnery staff members and enabling faster and more cost-effective cotton processing in 2022/23. Staff and management at the ginnery received training to enhance their skills in maintaining the facility, achieving faster processing times, and improving financial management practices.
The effects of these interventions have been significant for the community. The revival of the cotton industry not only revitalized employment opportunities but also enhanced processing capabilities, leading to increased efficiency and reduced costs. Moreover, the training provided to the ginnery staff and management ensures the sustained maintenance of the facility and contributes to overall operational improvements.
The SAB Foundation's commitment to this project demonstrates its dedication to community development and economic empowerment. By leveraging the expertise of Niya Consulting and engaging with relevant stakeholders, the foundation has successfully laid the foundation for a thriving cotton industry in the Jozini area. This initiative has the potential to create sustainable livelihoods, drive local economic growth, and uplift the entire community.