ALISA – launched in 2003 – strengthens the community by linking Fellows with similar interests through digital platforms and community projects. ALI’s purpose has always been to convene, nurture and inspire a growing network of influential, civic-minded, values-based leaders who are committed to the Good Society.
Over the past 20 year our Fellows responded with exceptional commitment to the challenges posed by our crisis in leadership during and after the years of state capture.
In the words of former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela: “South Africa needs selfless leadership and an end to impunity in its battle against maladministration and corruption.” ALI Fellows embody this solution.
FAST FACTS:
ALI Fellows in the Media played a significant role in exposing state capture and other Fellows are major funders of investigative journalism.
With regards to Business, Fellow Heather Sonn sums it up: “ALI Fellows played a central role in the call to action and the stand taken by Business Leadership against Corporate Corruption and State Capture and play a leadership role in driving purpose in business. ALI Fellows have also answered the call to serve on the Boards of Parastatals.”
ALI Fellows in the Arts positively influence African Values and act as cultural activists.
In total ALISA has hosted 25 Leadership Dialogues since 2016. These include high level discussions lead by prominent leaders like former president Kgalema Motlanthe, Zwelinzima Vavi, Justice Albie Sachs, Trevor Manuel, Prof Wiseman Nkuhlu and several ALI Fellows and Moderators on topics ranging from
– climate change to
– cryptocurrency,
– state capture,
– mental illness,
– Covid-19,
– the power crisis,
– national health,
– municipalities in crisis and more.
MAKING A REAL DIFFERENCE DURING LOCKDOWN
ALI Fellows found creative ways during COVID to deliver humanitarian aid:
MUNICIPALITIES
After some initial discussions with Fellows during the first days of lockdown in 2020, an open Dialogue led by Deputy Minister Parks Tau and Fellows Shiva Makotoko (Class XI: Tekano) and Tsakani Maluleke (Class VII: Dinatla) was held in anticipation of determining an intervention of some sort. Fellows set their first goal: to develop and test a blockchain/AI-driven procurement process (from budget to spend) with an “internal audit” function based at District level.
MTHUNZI
Soon after Lockdown the South African Council of Churches together with ALI-related organisations and individuals exploring food relief convened to share analysis and practice. An integrated software platform was built by volunteers who connected donors to defined recipients and delivered vouchers to them via mobile phones. These vouchers were useable at an extensive network of micro traders and major supermarkets. Within six weeks, the first version was operating. Within 10 weeks, a new legal entity was formed with its own board and coding practices. During weeks 9-12, R9m of Solidarity Fund money was distributed for relief purposes.
MENTAL WELLNESS
Fellow Nomfundo Mogapi (Class XII: Isilimela) and CEO at the Centre for Mental Wellness and Leadership did a study on the mental health impact of COVID19 on education. She was able to share her findings earlier this year.
During the course of the past 20 years Fellows have been involved in all levels of SOCIAL ACTION. We have seen staggering achievements, and here are just some examples (the list is much longer):
- Andy Kawa (Class VII: Mahube) drove the Constitutional Court to hand down groundbreaking judgement against gender based violence.
- Adi Enthoven (Class II: Kilimanjaro and former ALISA Chairman) stepped up to co-chair the government’s Solidarity Fund in order to facilitate humanitarian aid during Covid. In this he was accompanied by a number of ALI Fellows. The Fund was designed as a rapid response vehicle to mobilise South African resources to augment Government’s attempts to address fallout from the pandemic. More than R3bn in donations were received; how the money was spent is detailed on the fund’s website.
- Basani Maluleke (Class IX, Tariro), CEO of African Bank, made the cover of Forbes Africa magazine in 2019 as one of “three bankers who are shaping how banking will look in the next five years”.
- Several ALI fellows penned books. Native Merchants – The Building Of The Black Business Class In South Africa is Class II: Kilimanjaro Fellow, Phakamisa Ndzamela’s debut title. Dr Percy Mahlathi (Class V: Mayihlome) has recently published Learning to Care and Serve: Personal Narratives and Reflections, with great reviews.
- Dele Olojede (Class II: Kilimanjaro) convened the first Africa in the World ideas festival at Spier outside Stellenbosch, Western Cape in 2019.
- Desnei Leaf-Camp, a Class XIII Akani Fellow, is senior financial adviser at Xina Solar One. This solar power station has a 100 megawatt solar power capacity and they sell the solar energy they generate directly back to ESKOM. Xina Solar One’s efforts to support education in the four rural communities in its immediate vicinity, are truly commendable. They have a bursary programme (31 beneficiaries), as well as an internship programme (20 local youths completed the prorgramme and so far 8 were permanently placed).
- The CEO of GreenCape Mike Mulcahy (ALI Fellow Class XII: Isilimela) and his company, in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) launched the 2023 GreenPitch Challenge for innovators and entrepreneurs with economically viable green economy innovation business ideas.
- Roger Dickinson (Class II: Kilimanjaro) exercised great leadership in stepping up as part of a coordinating team to address the medium- and long-term fallouts from Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe; and in reaching out the network to support the efforts
- Janade du Plessis (Class XIII: Mahube) is the co-managing partner of Africa Launch Ventures and Five35 Ventures. His ventures are implementing serious initiatives to see exponential tech growth in South Africa.
- Oscar van Heerden (Class XI: Tekano) published several articles on the News24 platform provoking debate around an array of political issues.
- Ann Lamont (Class II: Kilimanjaro) launched the #NotOnOurWatch campaign to save the African penguin from extinction.
- Joshin Raghubar (Class IV: Kalipha) was announced as Laureate for the 2019 McNulty Awards. Joshin is a tech and social entrepreneur, using, the McNulty Foundation said, his “expertise, experience and networks to build and lead transformative social impact ventures” in South Africa.
- Bongiwe Mlangeni (Class XI: Tekano), head of the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), was at the forefront of championing Caster Semenya’s rights in front of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), who were seeking to impose new regulations on the classification of women athletes.
- Delphine Govender (Class XIII: Akani) and her team at the CFA Society South Africa made possible a specific in-person shadow initiative to create awareness of the investment industry among girl learners.
- Nozipho Tshabalala (Class XIII: Akani) convened and monitored sessions at Africa’s Food Systems Forum. The AGRF seeks explicitly to unleash the full potential of Africa’s millions of smallholder farmers and their families.
- Hugh Whalan (Class XI: Tekano) and PEG Africa, his West Africa-based pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar company, have raised a US$25m Series C funding round, taking its funding total to US$50m, and allowing it to cement its position as the leading provider of assets such as solar home systems to under-served households in West Africa.
- We applaud Fellow Garth Japhet (Class X:XSeed) and his team at Heartlines for their excellent initiative: the Fathers Matter campaign. Heartlines, the Centre for Values Promotion, produced a series of 6 short films that aired in 2022 on Saturday evenings at 8:30 on SABC2.
- Réjane Woodroffe (Class VII Dinatla), founder of Bulungula Incubator, won the British Council’s 2019 Social Impact Award. They said: “[Réjane’s work is directly improving the lives of 6 000 people within the immediate community, and thousands more through contributing to the South African government’s development interventions…”
- To prove the creditworthiness of schools, Ryan Harrison (Class XII: Isilimela) is setting out to raise an education finance fund to prove the business and impact case. He focuses on informal pre-school caregivers.
- Nicola Galombik (Class III, Seriti) and her colleague in Harambee Incubator, Maryana Iskander, won the coveted 2019 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. These Skoll awards are made annually to leaders who disrupt the status quo, transforming the social landscape and driving large-scale sustainable change. Importantly, the awards are not given as much for what has been achieved in the past, as in light of what the Skoll judges perceive the future potential for impact to be.
Social Reform Projects
Many social reform projects have sprouted from the different classes at ALI. Five of the prominent lasting social action programmes established by our Fellows include:
IMPACT STATISTICS: Bulungula Incubator
ALL of the learners have passed Matric at Bulungula College in 2022! This is the first time in the history of Elliotdale to achieve a 100% matric pass rate.
Bulungula College, a project of the Bulungula Incubator NPO under the leadership of ALI Fellow Rejane Woodroffe (CLASS VII Dinatla), opened its doors in 2019 to become the first secondary school in the Xhora Mouth Administrative Area on the Wild Coast of the former Transkei. Other Fellows involved are Lance Greyling (Class XI Tekano and Crystal Orderson (Class XIII Akani).
Community impact:
* 10,000 people directly benefit from the project
* The community’s children now receive:
-
- home-based care
- clinic services
- education
- early childhood development centres
- vocational training
- online learning
- access to basic services
* Youth programmes and income generation for their caregivers.
- These services are provided at a cost of R1,500 per person per year.
- Over 50,000 hot school meals for children 3-6 every year.
- Bulungula Community Radio reaches 78 surrounding villages
AREAS OF SUCCESS BEYOND THE INITIAL PROGRAMME:
- Collaboration on the development of national government policy for the provision of Early Childhood Development;
- A successful legal case that required government to provide rural ambulances;
- Documenting Bulungula’s online learning programme;
- And strengthening relationships with the Department of Health in order for the district’s Health Point to become an accredited fixed outreach site of Nkanya Clinic.
IMPACT: TEACH SA
Fellows Futhi Mtoba (CLASS II: KILIMANJARO) and Mothomang Diaho (CLASS II: KILIMANJARO) are the founding members of TEACH SA.
- Candidates from different fields of study become TEACH Ambassadors and spend two years in class at schools throughout the country to impart their learning.
- After their two years in the classroom, TEACH Ambassadors go on to work in a variety of fields.
- Ambassadors develop an advanced set of leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills.
- At the same time, they gain an understanding of educational inequity and its solutions that is foundational for a lifetime of advocacy and civic leadership.
- Each TEACH Ambassador is expected to identify a need in their school community and develop a project plan to address this need. This can bring lasting change to the schools where they work.
IMPACT STATISTICS: HARAMBEE
Fellow Sharmi Surianarain (CLASS XII: ISILIMELA) is Chief Impact Officer at Harambee. They tackle youth unemployment and has made significant inroads:
- 3.5 million work-seekers supported
- 930,000 opportunities enabled for work-seekers
- 936 employer partners
- R17,5 billion income for youth
MORE SUCCESS STORIES:
- Under the leadership of Fellow Sharmi Surianarain Harambee supported the Western Cape Government and helped place 1400 unemployed youth in job openings.
- Harambee partnered with the Department of Basic Education to help over 1.3 million young people to apply (data-free) for positions as assistants at more than 23,000 schools across South Africa – in just 21 days!
- Less than 5% of plumbers in South Africa are women. Harambee is working to change that by partnering with the Institute of Plumbers South Africa (IOPSA), BluLever Education and National Business Initiative (NBI) to unlock opportunities in the plumbing trade and pilot programmes with a focus on young women.
IMPACT STATISTICS: FUEL
Fellows help to feed 9 million needy children every day. The core of FUEL’s work – under the watchful eyes of Fellows Gary Campbell (CLASS IV: KALIPHA), Zanele Mochechela (CLASS XIII: AKANI) and Charles Luyckx (CLASS III: SERITI) – centres on supporting provincial NSNP teams to build simple Monitoring, Reporting and Response systems that enable the programme to hold itself accountable for quality service delivery to millions of children in need.
- The average allocation per learner per day is:
- R3.50 for primary school learners, and
- R4.25 for secondary school learners.
- This allocation is to cover the cost of the meal, the cooking fuel and the stipend paid to meal preparers at schools.
IMPACT: UBUNTU PATHWAYS
THERE IS NO SINGLE SOLUTION. IT TAKES EVERYTHING, EVERY DAY.
Whether it’s the mother living with HIV who is worried about her pregnancy or the teenager struggling in school, each person who walks through the doors of Ubuntu Pathways faces unique challenges. Co-founder and Fellow Jacob Lief (CLASS Mayihlome) and his team have developed a model that provides individualised support from cradle to career and they are very impactful in the township communities of Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape.
