Impact Through Partnership – Impact Report webinar launch Opening and Welcome Address
Mmabatho Maboya
22 October 2020
Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Morning
Welcome to the launch of Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation’s 15-year Impact Report. We are pleased to have you here and we are looking forward to stimulating engagements throughout today’s programme.
This event has been long coming…I’d like to spend a few minutes to share with you our journey to this exciting day.
Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation had its beginnings in 2004 as Shanduka Foundation, as a corporate foundation of Shanduka Group. In 2015 we the Foundation changed its name to Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation and became an independent foundation.
This change was significant to our growth, sustainability and continuity of our founding vision, as well as the smooth transition from a corporate to an independent foundation. The Foundation has remained anchored by its founding values and principles.
These have been enhanced by working with our partners and beneficiaries to co-create solutions that address socio-economic challenges. Our founding mandate is to improve education and to support small black businesses. Because education and small business development are the most direct means of improving the quality of life for South Africa’s people and are key to developing an inclusive and empowered society.
We advance our mandate through tried and tested programme models that are implemented by our partner entities.
Adopt-a-School, through its Whole School Development model, fills an important gap in the provision of quality schooling. Through Adopt-a-School, we are, since 2017, piloting the Thari programme through Adopt-a-School.
Thari provides psychosocial support for vulnerable children and women, Safe Parks, and multisector stakeholder forums of local organisations and professional services to address social and safety challenges in school communities.
KST is a collaboration between Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation, Kagiso Trust and First Rand Empowerment Foundation. KST implements its District Whole School Development programme in partnership with Free State Department of Education.
This partnership is a highly successful example of Impact through Partnership. We will hear more of KST today as our programme devotes specific attention to it.
The Cyril Ramaphosa Education Trust, CRET, is a higher education bursary scheme that offers holistic wrap-around support and youth development.
And Black Umbrellas is the Foundation’s entrepreneur and small businesses development partner entity. Black Umbrellas incubates and accelerates the growth and sustainability of 100% Black-owned small businesses.
When the Foundation was established, it committed to spend R100 million over 10 years to education and small business development. But by February this year, the Foundation had contributed R402 million and leveraged over R1.2 billion through its partner entities to implement its programmes. We have had a positive and transformative impact on very many individual lives, rippling change far and wide and into the future.
This would not have been possible without committed and effective partnership.
Partnership – with Government; the private sector; civil society organisations, NGOs and specialist service providers; institutions of learning; communities, and individuals – has made our work possible, sustainable, meaningful, scalable and replicable.
So, in 2019, the Foundation marked its 15th anniversary. It was important for us to mark the occasion by celebrating our journey and sustained track record of our work.
Among the many activities we undertook to mark our 15th anniversary, we commissioned an external review of our impact to society, and appointed the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute to conduct the review.
Today we are pleased to share that report with you and to reflect on some of its findings, because among you are many who walked our 15-year journey with us and who have contributed in no small measure to the impact we have had in improving lives.
The process was challenging because we had to scope and plan a review of a complex organisation, with its partner entities, some of which were established way ahead of CRF.
Today’s programme is dedicated to this work and I believe that we’ll come out stronger with more insights that will contribute how we view ourselves, and how we can learn and share with others the lessons we have learnt.
Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Board, Executive and staff of Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation, thank you. Thank you for traversing the 15 year journey with us, because without you, we would not be able to tell the comprehensive story of Impact through Partnership.
I’m wishing you an enjoyable session and a nagging longing to read the impact report. We are grateful of your attendance and we are looking forward to your contributions and insights over the next two hours.
Thank you.