Projects in South Africa
Local Leadership
Working with Rotary Clubs in South Africa, The Townships Project focuses on Building Better Businesses in several ways.
We work with Rotary and other local organizations to develop programs, services and events for small business owners to find financing, marketing, mentoring, accounting, and other skills and networking opportunities. Where possible we provide access to government-accredited training so that businesses can qualify for government contracts, with a particular focus on those that benefit women and youth.
Examples of current projects include:
Early Childhood Development (ECD) Training
Studies have long proven the value of Early Childhood Development (ECD) in every child’s life. ECD is also foundational to building healthy communities. South African Rotarian Annemarie Mostert recognized an opportunity in the transformational potential of ECD. She also recognized it is crucial for ECD business owners to learn the skills to run a sustainable enterprise. This aligns with our goal of Building Better Businesses in South Africa.
In 2019, led by CEO Mostert, Sesego Foundation developed and ran an accredited ECD training program in Alexandra Township in Johannesburg. Graduates of this training are now entitled to ongoing government-funds per child. The result is sustainable day care businesses, benefitting the women owners. It also ensures that client children and their parents are not left without care due to ECD business failure.
In 2020, The Townships Project provided funds to Sesego’s program in Soweto.
From 2021 to 2023, we were founding funders for three subsequent programs in the Township of Mathibestat near Pretoria, two of them with support from the Charlottetown Rotary Club in Canada.
During 2024 we funded two ECD business training programs near Lanseria outside Johannesburg, again with support from Charlottetown Rotary. In January 2025 Martha Deacon attended the graduation of nearly 100 ECD business owners, representing about 50 children each.
The ECD program is a key focus of our work in South Africa.
Building Better Businesses
Building Better Businesses is at the heart of our mission. From 2018 to 2022 we held two in-person Symposiums and two hybrid live/online Symposiums in partnership with Rotary with a focus on benefitting women and youth in townships and rural areas. Speakers and sessions were focused on building the skills necessary for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses as they continue to be the key contributors to socio-economic development in South Africa.
Our work in this area continues through our partnerships with Kagiso Hub in Krugersdorp, south of Johannesburg, and Kgabo Cars in Soshunguve Township north of Pretoria.
Kagiso Hub is a project of Property Point, founded by Rotarian Shawn Theunissen and run by Desigan Chetty, its Head of Operations. It provides office space, business and transportation support and skills training to 15 plumbing, mechanics and electrical entrepreneurs. During 2025, The Townships Project is providing funding for the Kagiso Hub to gain South African government certification as an accredited trade skills provider.
Kgabo Cars was founded by Rotarian Dr. Isaac Bashomane in 2000. Recently, he was awarded an Honourary Doctorate by UNISA (University of South Africa) in recognition of his work providing training for mechanics in local townships, outside the formal technical university training system. Starting with a Grade 4 education, he gained his own certification and has focused on training learning-disadvantaged youth and women who otherwise would never gain access to accredited trade skills training. After many years, he persuaded the South African Department of Education to let his students take the exams without the usual formal education. All of Dr. Bashomane’s students passed with flying colours. He has trained more than 160 mechanics to date, and has recently been able to substantially expand the number of trainees through virtual learning software provided by The Townships Project.
Government-Accredited Skills Training
In 2023, we began a partnership with Property Point, supporting three female plumbing companies in Kagiso township, to upgrade their skills over a two-year training program.
In South Africa, SETA stands for Sector Education and Training Authority. SETAs focus on providing skills development and training to people employed or seeking employment in their sectors. SETAs are tasked with developing skills development plans in response to the skills needs in their sectors. Every industry and job in the country is covered by one of the 21 SETAs.
One of the functions of a SETA is to establish a learnership that has a structured learning programme and a practical work experience of a specified nature and duration. The learnership must lead to a qualification that is recognised by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).
The Townships Project works with its partners to provide SETA opportunities for small business owners, with a special focus on women and youth. Earning SETA certifications can qualify business owners for government contracts and other earnings opportunities
Community Conflict Mediation
2021 marked 100 years of Rotary in Africa. To celebrate, local clubs created an ambitious plan to train 100 mediators: The African Rotary Community Mediation (ARCoM) Project. Our charity provided foundational funding to train youth and women from marginalized communities in mediation. Training was provided by the Rotary Vocational Training Team (VTT) in partnership with the Africa Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) and Unisa’s Institute for Dispute Resolution in Africa (IDRA).
On 25 March 2023, 66 individuals graduated from the ARCoM program conducted in partnership with Mediators Beyond Borders International. As professional mediators, graduates can expect pay for the work that many were doing informally without pay. Several Canadian Rotarians and directors of The Townships Project attended the graduation in South Africa virtually.
In October 2023, an application was made to Rotary International to form a Peace Building and Conflict Prevention group to continue this work in Africa and internationally. The Townships Project has completed its financial commitment to this program, but is gratified that support for this initiative is being widely taken up in Rotary in Southern Africa.
