HCI FOUNDATION

ENVIRONMENT

Environment

Our Environmental Programme supports initiatives which enable communities to develop resources, infrastructure, and education programmes which raise awareness regarding the importance of natural resources for building sustainability at a community level. We do this through our sustainable food security initiative, improved access to water, and environmental education.

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Engaging young learners early on in environmental literacy have a positive lifelong implication on their relationship with nature. Being environmental literate helps one understand the impact of his/her actions on the environment. We cannot talk about a thriving South Africa for everyone if we do not educate the future generation about the environment.

HCI Foundation work with partner organisations to implement ongoing environmental education programmes that empower teachers, learners, and communities to be self-aware about what we can all do to protect and sustain our environment. Without a healthy environment, there is no safe future that we can all celebrate.

We support an Environmental Education Programme that integrates everyday lived experiences and indigenous knowledge with the school curriculum to make learning more meaningful and accessible. We believe using learners’ lived experiences with the environment improves their content knowledge of learning areas that are environmentally related.

ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER

Access to sufficient water is one of the necessities of life and a constitutional right. However, many rural communities compete with livestock in accessing water from open sources, and these run dry in droughts. Furthermore, women have to walk far and on difficult terrain to fetch water, and diseases spread from contaminated water. Communities are also unable to grow their own food. These are hardly conditions for thriving individuals or communities.

HCI Foundation believes that access to drinkable and safe water will improve the living conditions of many marginalised rural communities, with knock-on effects on school attendance, health and economic viability.

It is for the abovementioned reasons that HCI Foundation supports initiatives that bring clean water to marginalised rural communities in South Africa. We invest in the establishment of solar-powered borehole systems. Such installations include a solar-powered water pump, a 10-metre and 3-metre water tower, 10 to 15 water stations (taps) throughout the village, and a remote monitoring system. The monitor enables real-time tracking on mobile devices of the amount of water pumped and provides alerts should a malfunction occur.

The HCI Foundation will continue working with strategic partners that have
innovative ways to improve access to clean water, leading to communities realising its potential.

HCI FOUNDATION SUSTAINABLE FOOD SECURITY INITIATIVE

As the devastating impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on the communities we serve became clear, the HCI Foundation worked on a fundraising campaign in partnership with eMedia and 269 partner NGOs to provide much-needed food relief. Sixty-five thousand households and an estimated 260 000 individuals in extreme need were reached due to this campaign.

Whilst this intervention undoubtedly helped to fill a gap in the short term, we realised that a more sustainable initiative was necessary. The level of hunger in our society confirmed the urgent need for us to find ways to support communities to grow food on a small to medium scale.

Food Relief Campaign
Thanda Food Garden

As a result, HCI Foundation has begun working with a limited group of partner organisations in the food security field who can help us understand the issues at stake and who will be our implementation partners in this project.

This strategic vision forms the basis of a new pivotal programme in HCI Foundation for the next three years. We are currently in the implementation phase of our Sustainable Food Security Programme with five implementing partners in three provinces. This is an exciting growth area for the Foundation.

This initiative intends to support and encourage communities to become food secure and farmers to become self-reliant.

The design of this model is influenced by HCI Foundation’s vision of contributing toward empowered and thriving communities that are self-reliant. This is Vukuzenzele – get up and do it yourself – an active approach to community development.

Experienced farmers and community members demonstrating an interest in farming are invited to participate in working on community gardens.

The components of HCI FOUNDATION
Sustainable Food Security Model

success INDICATORS
for the initiative