Community initiatives: creating lasting change
By Ms Itumeleng Langeni, MTO’s Chief Stakeholder Relations Officer
Forestry uses a renewable, natural resource which we, as a company, have a responsibility to look after and manage sustainably. For many years, sustainability has been packaged as a way of addressing the environmental impact human activity is having. Sustainable use of a resource has been seen as a way of reducing our environmental footprint and ensuring the long-term viability of the resource and its surrounding ecosystems. However, there is more to sustainability than just the environmental aspect of it. You also need to ensure the way you manage a resource is economically sustainable, that you are investing back into the system and those you depended on, as well as socially sustainable in that it benefits the wider community. Forestry in South Africa happens mostly in rural areas, and these are the areas where unemployment is often at its highest and services are most limited. These communities that neighbour forestry plantations, face some of the toughest challenges and as a company, we cannot divorce ourselves from this. We have a social responsibility to help these communities reach their potential, by providing them with opportunities and services. In turn, they stop seeing us as an outsider and begin seeing us as part of their community. It’s a mutually beneficial situation.
The community-based programmes run by the Forestry Sector today are a far cry from those of the past. In years gone by, we would sponsor projects like transport, football shirts or hand out branded clothing, much in the same vein as other big businesses and political parties. Things have changed because we started listening to the community and understanding their needs. Through speaking to people, we realised they were asking for a t-shirt not because they needed clothing or wanted to be associated with our company, but because they could sell it and raise money for food. Suddenly, the donation of t-shirts looks a little inconsequential when you realise the real challenge is food security and unemployment. Over the past decade, community initiatives have changed dramatically, with the emphasis now placed on making a lasting and sustainable economic and social impact that benefits current and future generations in that community. Entrepreneurism is also at the heart of all we do, we want to provide individuals with the entrepreneurial skills they need to start their businesses rather than rely on MTO. In this way, we are providing capacity within the community to provide their job security solutions.
A brilliant example of this process is our work in the Eastern Cape. Before we decided on any project, we had an external company go into the community and conduct a needs assessment to identify the areas where support was needed. We then looked at the areas where we, as MTO, could intervene and make a difference. Challenges were identified in three areas, namely the poor quality of learning in grades 3 -7, lack of affordable health care and poverty-driven malnutrition. Planning to address these challenges subsequently commenced.
In 2019, MTO embarked on a vegetable garden project, erecting 35 vegetable gardens in household backyards, communal spaces of schools, creches and healthcare facilities. We took 21 Community Champions, individuals involved in these projects and selected by their communities, to attend a three-month business training programme. While most of our graduates took what they had learnt back to their original gardens, applying it to increase productivity, one of the graduates from this programme wanted to take his training further. So we helped him fence and prepare land upon which he could farm and helped him to access the markets, on the premise he would help create jobs for his community. This year, he has started planting and has employed eight people, and is looking to expand his business to the production of cattle feed as there are a lot of livestock farms in the surrounding area that he could service. These are the kind of sustainable social initiatives we now focus on, where you help one individual reach their potential and in turn, they help many more. It has a knock-on effect, with others who have done the training seeing the opportunity this individual has taken and wanting to get on board. Since 2019, the number of vegetable gardens rose to 560 in 2020 and 600 this year, turning a vegetable garden pilot project into a fully-fledged food security programme that is providing nutritious food and equipping members of the community with the training and skills they need to start their small businesses and employ others in their community.
In terms of education, we have partnered with the Eastern Cape Department of Education and a Non-Profit Organisation, Edunova, and with them, we were able to identify where we could have the greatest impact. This case focusing on improving the quality of learning for Grade 3 to Grade 7 learners. Through EduNova, we started a project to empower teachers of these grades, from eight primary schools, by providing them with the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills they lacked. The teachers in turn use the skills in the classroom when they interact with the learners thus empowering learners to use technology and improve their performance. Since the beginning of the programme in 2019, 120 teachers have been trained and more than 1000 learners have benefited. We started in 2019 with the school management teams of eight primary schools. These were evaluated earlier this year and the positive impact this initiative has had has been dramatic. At the same time, we tapped into the YES programme and employed eight young people from the same communities, who had either just finished matric or come back from university, to support teachers and learners.
They helped in the classroom and at the afterschool homework club and after their year of employed work experience, four have found teaching based jobs and two are off to tertiary education. This year we have employed 45 young people, next year we hope it will be more still. We also want to make use of the techno-savvy youth to help close the technology gap between them and the older generation by improving the ICT literacy of their parents and neighbours.
Our health care initiative in this community is again based on partnership, this time with NPO “Unjani Clinics”, to produce a network of clinics through an enterprise development programme. Each clinic will be owned and run by a nurse recruited from the community, who will employ others in their community. The pilot clinic is based at our George Sawmill, as we were able to provide the land. The clinic, which started operating from the beginning of August, services our employees and those of neighbouring businesses, our contractors and the whole community and is something we want to replicate in other areas.
Our health care initiative in this community is again based on partnership, this time with NPO “Unjani Clinics”, to produce a network of clinics through an enterprise development programme. Each clinic will be owned and run by a nurse recruited from the community, who will employ others in their community. The pilot clinic is based at our George Sawmill, as we were able to provide the land. The clinic, which started operating from the beginning of August, services our employees and those of neighbouring businesses, our contractors and the whole community and is something we want to replicate in other areas.
Looking to the future, our vision for social development interventions are Eco-Villages. In these communities, housing is a huge issue and for those without a roof over their head, the other initiatives we are invested in makes little difference. Our ambition is to produce sustainable villages, based around modular housing that goes well beyond an affordable housing programme. We want to incorporate the initiatives discussed above, with each Eco-Village having a school, clinic and vegetable garden. We are planning to pilot the project at Longmore and need to partner with the relevant government departments and other key stakeholders to make this vision a reality. It is an ambitious programme but seeing the success of the individual programmes discussed it has huge potential.
Now and then I am asked, “what’s in it for you, as MTO?” My first response would be, we are playing our part in transforming the lives of our stakeholders. The joy, pride and emotion you experience when you see the impact these schemes are having on individuals, families and communities is a very powerful driver. From an industry perspective, these projects are about building relationships and co-existence. It is important that MTO becomes part of these communities and that these community projects bridge any gap that has ever existed between us and our communities. We have seen the impact this has had during the last fire season, it was no longer us and them, MTO is part of their community and the community rallied around to help. Their support on the ground was amazing and shows what an impact community engagement has. There are other benefits too, agroforestry projects like our groundnut project in White River, Mpumalanga, help add nutrients back into the soil, which benefits their crops and our trees. This aids our environmental sustainability targets and is brilliant food security and entrepreneurial initiative for the women in that community.
Ultimately, these initiatives are about positively impacting the communities we are part of. Through partnerships, we can make real differences and form better relationships with these communities. This l guess is the ultimate goal, to build relationships, form trust and make a difference in the lives of this generation and leave a legacy for the ones that follow.
Meet Ms Itumeleng Langeni, MTO’s Chief Stakeholder Relations Officer
As MTO’s Chief Stakeholder Relations Officer, Itumeleng interacts daily with forestry stakeholders on a diverse array of issues to find mutually beneficial solutions. Itumeleng’s extensive experience in communication and stakeholder engagement across a variety of sectors including pharmaceuticals, petroleum, fishing and media, has provided her with the skills and experience to flourish in her current role. A member of MTO and FSA Executive Committees, she also serves on the Eastern Cape Umbrella Fire Protection Association and is a member of the She Is Forestry POC.