Partners

& Projects

 

Project Themes

We try not to duplicate existing community initiatives when we incubate new projects. We also seek partners during the incubation period of two to three years and aim to grow entities that will sustain themselves and impact at scale.

The themes of our projects are:

  • Education
  • Health
  • Enterprise
  • The arts
  • Technology
  • Community life

The GST is a founding partner in Stellenbosch Unite, a broad platform for community outreach. Other Stellenbosch partners include Visit Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch Municipality, Stellenbosch University, Ranyaka and SCAN. In total, Stellenbosch Unite includes about fifty Stellenbosch-based community organisations.

Education

  • In 2004, we established an early learning centre and after-school care programmes.
  • In 2015, we established Vision Afrika Primary School in response to a critical shortage of school space for children in Kayamandi. (link to website) More than 1000 young learners from Kayamandi attend schools far away from the neighbourhood. Vision Afrika alone will not meet the need for primary and secondary schools in Stellenbosch. We, therefore, work with partners to seek solutions for the longer term.
  • In 2016, with Eduvate and Team4Tech, we established a technology laboratory in Kayamandi to support teachers in blended learning.

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Health

  • During Covid, we established clinics for testing, sifting, and support with StelCovid Action.
  • Recently, a team of Kayamandi nurses from state hospitals asked the Trust to help medically underserved communities. Together we have developed an innovative home-based family and community health project. We aim to help with immediate needs while also building data to inform long-term planning and care. (link to project proposal).
  • In 2023, we partnered with Unjani to establish a clinic in Kayamandi.

The Arts

 

At Amazink and the InZink amphitheatre residents can challenge and enrich themselves by participating in workshops, training and performances in music, theatre and poetry.

Enterprise

  • Through SEED, we support small enterprises. Over two decades, SEED has supported more than a thousand small enterprises in the Western Cape. 
  • Amazink, Kayamandi’s first daily sit-down eatery, became an iconic cultural space for theatre, music, and cultural events. 
  • SEED, Innovation Manufaktur (IM) and local partners implemented an electric cargo-bicycle project as part of a focus on sustainable development in South Africa.

Technology

  • In support of the Stellenbosch Corridor project, we have adapted and tested a low data version of the international My Citizen Profile for communities where data costs are challenging. It is an ongoing project to find urban life and small enterprise solutions. (link to project proposal)
  • We are the community partner in the Fibertime to provide digital access to all homes and enterprises in Kayamandi.

 

Community Life

  • In 2023, the GST established the Citizen Connect project and created a thousand temporary jobs as a strategic implementing partner in the IDC Social Employment Fund.
  • Unemployment as high as in South Africa is detrimental to community welfare. We create work in surprising places where a particular activity makes sense, contributes to community welfare, and may become a permanent income. The participants get basic income while improving their employability. At the same time, try to respond to needs with agility, proving that a particular position fills a need which individuals in a community or a local government and corporate sponsors may be willing to support over a longer period.
  • With the project, we want to develop models to support growth for organisations in the social solidarity economy, providing people with opportunities to live with dignity.
  • It is a vision of coalition building across communities and geographical areas.