Ubuntu Pathways

1.     COVID-19 Recovery:  As the pandemic continues to wreak havoc in South Africa, we will address the grave health and economic realities. Through 2022, we will expand and enhance our Early Childhood Development, Primary School, and Job Skills Training, as well as our on-site Clinic services, providing our community with the holistic support it needs to rebuild from the pandemic. We will also offer food security to offset COVID’s devastating economic effects. Finally, we will bolster frontline staff benefits and wellness initiatives to avoid burnout and boost morale.

2.     Expand Ubuntu School: Looking beyond the pandemic, we must promote long-term, sustainable change. The poor education system in Gqeberha’s townships is an impediment to progress. In 2018, Ubuntu launched an independent primary school, which is now providing our Early Childhood Development graduates in Grades R-4 with continued, high-quality education in a safe environment. Our goal is to add a new grade level each year, ultimately completing a Grade R-12 academic institution.

3.     Expand Ubuntu Advisory: Ubuntu Pathways has a successful 21-year track record. Expanding the Ubuntu Advisory—our formalized consulting initiative—would allow us to transfer best practices to other organizations, and in doing so, amplify Ubuntu’s impact on the development sector.

Growing up in Ixopo, in KwaZulu Natal, we understood hardship. When we needed water, we got it from the river. When we needed heat, we gathered wood and built a fire. I wanted to improve these conditions and went to work in public service. I rose up through the levels of municipal government and eventually joined the National Institute for Economic Policy. These experiences taught me the importance of systems and procedure, but the bureaucracy was frustrating. The work was too removed from those we aimed to serve. 

When I saw an opening at Ubuntu, I recognized an opportunity for change. The organization embodied a new sense of hope. I was inspired by the idea of a community coming together to overcome the disadvantages imposed on them. It felt like something bigger than an organization—it felt like a movement. As I progressed from bookkeeper to CFO to Managing Director, I fused my background in systems development with the grassroots passion of the Ubuntu community. The result, the Ubuntu Model, is a transformative blueprint for change. I aim to continuously deepen the Model’s impact in Gqeberha’s townships, and to spread its transferrable best practices to vulnerable communities around the world.

Nearly 800 million people globally live on less than $1.25 per day, with education, healthcare, and other critical services inaccessible. For populations in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, which account for 80% of those living in extreme poverty, progress has been especially uneven. South Africa remains the world’s most unequal country. The top 10% of the population holds over 71% of total wealth while the bottom 60% of the population holds just 7%. Of the 25.2% of the country who live below the poverty line, 64.2% are black and just 1% is white.

The Gqeberha’s townships, the community of 400,000 where Ubuntu is headquartered, serve as a microcosm of entrenched disparities. These remnants of Apartheid are home to some of the most impoverished communities in the country. Following the last South African census, a section of these settlements was determined to be the worst place to live in South Africa. Due to the absence of basic safety, services and opportunities, families face deeply rooted barriers to living healthy, stable lives. Faced with such long-standing and multifaceted challenges, Ubuntu has developed a comprehensive pathway of health, education, and household stability services to guide children out of poverty, from cradle to career.

At Ubuntu we know that poverty is layered and contextualized. Any singular attempt to break the vicious cycle of inequality (by building a school or distributing emergency food aid, for instance) will not sustainably eradicate extreme disparities. Thus, Ubuntu developed a holistic pathway that takes children and families from vulnerability to stability and success. While one-off interventions may bring temporary change, our sustained, multi-dimensional programs fundamentally transform children’s trajectories.

We have codified these beliefs in the Ubuntu Model, and the results have been transformative. Ubuntu mothers have a 100% success rate of mothers giving birth to HIV-negative babies. Ubuntu clients living with HIV adhere to their treatment plans at a rate of 92%, compared to 57% in the townships. Over the past year, 81% of non-university youth secured rewarding employment through our Job Skills Training program. An independent study conducted by McKinsey & Company found that every $1 invested in an Ubuntu child will yield $8.70 in earnings over their lifetime. Not only are Ubuntu graduates more likely to find employment, but they also contribute roughly $195,000 to South African society in taxes over the course of their lives; their non-Ubuntu peers will each cost South African taxpayers $9,000.

Ubuntu is breaking the cycle of poverty by providing South Africa’s most vulnerable children with what all children deserve––everything, every day:

1.     Health: The Ubuntu Clinic provides HIV/TB support, including testing, treatment, and Elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission services; sexual and reproductive health services; and primary and preventative care for all ages. 

2.     Education: Ubuntu provides workshops for caregivers during a child’s first one thousand days of life. Children 2-5 enter our Early Childhood Development (ECD) program. ECD graduates then enter the Ubuntu Primary School. We aim to expand the school to bridge the gap to university. Our Job Skills Training (JST) program offers vocational training and placement support to non-university-tracked youth ages 18-28.

3.     Household Stability: The health and educational strides that children and caregivers make at the Ubuntu Centre have to be reinforced by a stable home environment. Thus, our case workers provide home assessments, counselling sessions, and case management plans.

4.     COVID-19 Recovery: With the onset of COVID-19, we have augmented our programming to include food security services and PPE distribution. Soon, we will become a vaccine center for our region.

5.     Ubuntu Advisory: The Advisory creates intensive mentorship opportunities for other actors in the development field.