Project Summary: Describe your contribution in one sentence

A multi-partner blended finance community-public-private-partnership model in the uMngeni catchment, with a vision of 1000s of young people doing work for the environmental common good, and participating in innovative learning pathways for their own personal and career growth. From source down to the sea, young people work with various partner organisations to clean, clear, educate, and bring change in their local communities. Along side these good works, they were trained to use citizen science tools to gather data on the state of their local rivers. Showcasing the power of ubuntu from a neighbourhood through to a society level - healthy rivers, healthy people.

What are the additional countries or territories of impact?

None

Challenge Focus: What topic does your project most directly relate to?

Creating inclusive pathways for people to contribute towards building a sustainable worldCreating structures of support for regenerative solutions to today's climate challenges

Website URL(s) or social media handles

https://www.facebook.com/ourwaterourpeople/ www.amanziethunobuntu.co.za

The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve?

“……restoration can no longer be considered as merely a cost item on an expenditure account of a company or government, but truly as an indispensable investment in the future of both people and the planet.” [1] 

It is increasingly evident that investment in restoration of critical water source areas, is a national imperative. This is not only to improve water security and biodiversity, but also to improve the livelihoods of the custodians of land and water resources, often marginalized rural and urban residents. It will also confer greater resilience to these residents as it relates to climate change.

The following key issues have been identified:

1. We are currently in a downward spiral where our governance and socio-economic systems are visiting systemic, structured and slow violence on poor, marginalized people and on natural systems.
2. Scaling up is required to achieve systemic change and meaningful impact. Pilot-studies are not enough.
3. Real collaboration across, between and within people, organisations and sectors is required for meaningful change. 
4. Learning pathways need to be embedded in work activities so that participants are capacitated to take their place in the economy.
5. 'Short-termism’ is limiting impact.

 

[1] Crookes D and Blignaut J. 2019. Investing in natural capital and national security: a comparative review of restoration projects in South Africa. Helion 5 e01765.

Your connection and commitment: How close are you to the problem and/or the community impacted?

Amanzi ethu Nobuntu spans the "communities impacted" . While partners are working on the ground at community level, Amanzi ethu is focussing on providing the links between those local communities and the community of practice at a regional and national level. It is by its essence a convener, a connector, keeping the players and decision makers who are removed from the problems more in touch with reality. 

Amanzi ethu Nobuntu was borne out of a dream to provide a resourcing hub for community level projects. Many stakeholders have the same vision, but struggle to resource their work sustainably. Government and civil society together led the start of a new model – a blended finance approach that puts community first: Community-public-private-partnership.

Utilising government funding to kick-start the model, Amanzi ethu Nobuntu convened multiple parties to implement Enviro Champ projects. Each partner sourced co-funding to make the programme viable.  Amanzi ethu Nobuntu provided training and capacity-building, tech support with a mobile app, payroll services and learning events. All partner organisations were trained in river health bio-monitoring, and over 600 young people gathered key water quality information from their areas. 

 

Through the citizen science that is used across our partners we are attempting to link communities impacted by water quality issues, providing common understanding, and a realisation that they are a part of a bigger unit - a catchment. And that activities upstream have an impact on those downstream. 

In essence, Amanzi ethu Nobuntu is not DIRECTLY involved at community level, as that is not its role. It is instead a convener, a connector, and a champion for scaling change across catchments in South Africa. 

 

 

Your approach: How are you enabling other people to identify as green changemakers? How are you influencing them to get involved in your initiative or care about the issue you are addressing?

This is the crux of it all! We are still in a process of learning how to do this best. Learning is central to the model, and in our last project we gathered Stories of Change from many Enviro Champs, where they expressed the lessons they learnt, and how their mindsets and actions had changed through their engagement in citizen science, and simple change projects in their communities. Part of our approach is that every person needs to engage beyond their job into community, introducing others to water quality and other environmental issues. 

Enviro Champs are to be viewed as future Change Makers right from day 1, and need to be taken on a learning journey through personal growth, Asset-based Community Development (ABCD) Training, Environmental Practices, and citizen science monitoring to be active citizens in their neighbourhoods.....developing into genuine changemakers exactly where they live. The Asset Based Community Development approach - helps people focus on what is STRONG, not what is wrong in their neighbourhoods. Through active engagement with various activities people start to see the resilience that is in their community already....even if it is hidden underneath a layer of poverty and dirt. It is a light that turns on inside, and ignites a volition for change in their own lives - I CAN do something good!

The next steps we are taking in partnership with UNICEF is the use of technology and blockchain rewards to incentivise young people to take action in their local communities. Through online training, and impact challenges, they will not only learn, but be incentivised to go out and make an impact through practical change projects in their neighbourhoods. This partnership with UNICEF and Yoma (see yoma.africa) is the next step to real change. 

Community involvement: How is your approach involving community participation, especially the historically marginalized groups?

The programme focusses primarily on historically marginalised groups - both urban townships, and rural communities. We engage unemployed youth, and older mentors,  in meaningful work where they live.  

These Enviro Champs are based in their neighbourhoods, finding appropriate solutions to real issues. These issues are directly related to local resilience to climate change issues. One such example is captured by the Minister of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment after floods in eThekwini in 2022: 

“On the night of 11 April  Mrs Thembisa Nomlala an Enviro Champ from the Quarry Road West Informal Settlement in the City of eThekwini, stood waste deep in flood waters clutching her little grandchild, while she worked to evacuate fellow residents . Using information from the Flood Early Warning System she and fellow Enviro Champs were able to save all but one life, as the Palmiet River washed away 450 homes in her community. Mrs Nomlala and her fellow Enviro Champs , have an important and powerful message for us: vulnerable communities do not have to be totally powerless in the face of Climate Change. Instead partnerships…play in important role in building climate resilience within vulnerable communities”. 

 Please see this short video that explains how communities are involved:  https://youtu.be/FIKNtOJrXqA

Your Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions already out there? How is your approach original and innovative? We are particularly interested in solutions that use regenerative approaches.

The concept of ‘social employment’ in South Africa requires imagination and transformative innovations, if the challenges are to be addressed.  South Africa has already an extensive social employment programme which is most well known as the EPWP programme, which is primarily state driven and mobilised to create employment opportunities.  We put forward an alternative, via the development of a Community-Public-Private Partnership (CPPP) model led by  Amanzi ethu Nobuntu. This model will mobilise green economy and civic action mechanisms that reach beyond the market only. It will develop the transformative innovation practice of work for the common good by mobilising state, community, education sector, and private sector partners in a drive to create decent work for the common good, while creating future’s focussed learning pathways for young people. 

While policies around citizen engagement exist with good intentions, there is a clear need for transformation innovation approaches to realise their objectives. Transformative innovation requires government, science, industry and civil society partnerships, and focussed on grand challenges that extend to multiple scales exceeding geographical, sectoral, technological and disciplinary boundaries.  Amanzi ethu Nobuntu focusses on 5 interrelated transformation innovations

 

• INNOVATION 1:  A community-public-private partnership (CPPP) model for creating and supporting work for the common good 
• INNOVATION 2: Creating, unlocking and defining work for the common good for young people
• INNOVATION 3:  #datafree, mobile, accredited ‘Learn for the Future’ programme
• INNOVATION 4:  Citizen science and civic action tools development – ICT innovations
• INNOVATION 5: Communication with and engagement of the whole of society through multiple media

Founding Story: Share a story about the "Aha!" moment that led the founder(s) to get started or the story of how you saw the potential for this to succeed.

Sitting in a review workshop with a team of partners in the catchment, it was clear that despite 5 years of work, nothing much had changed on the ground. Lots of talk. And pockets of separate actions. Despite being a part of a partnership, everyone was happily continuing in their silos, and then getting surprised when someone else presented a similar project. In addition to this, there was so much struggle to keep going financially. Stop-start, bang or bust. The room was full of frustration. But no one was DOING ANYTHING TO CHANGE THAT! When I looked at all the money that was represented in the room.....I realised that if we had all put it into one pot, and then decided together how best to use it for maximum impact, maybe we would be in a different position. 

This began a process of figuring out what, and how to fix this disjointed approach to catchment management....and ended up in the establishment of a non-profit company with the sole purpose of resourcing and convening all the partners for better impact. 

The idea flies in the face of each organisation trying to build their own empire (brand), but synergy is all about 1+1= millions...and surely we can get others to buy into that vision! 

I am just one of a team of dedicated people who are determined to build something new. Together we hold each others hands up and keep going despite many barriers and frustrations. 

Impact: How has your project made a difference so far? How is it contributing to a zero-carbon world- where every person thrives, and nobody gets left behind?

We created over 600 jobs, and upskilled each of these young people; cleared invasive alien plants, reported 100s of sewer leaks and water leaks and illegal dumpsites; knocked on doors and talked to people about the issues in their areas, and potential solutions; collected over 7000 bags of solid waste from rivers and illegal dump sites; recorded over 400 river health assessments using citizen science; prevented erosion, stopped plastic from entering the ocean....the list goes on. 

We captured dozens of "stories of change" from Enviro Champs, here is an example:

"The programme made a huge difference on the team members and their families. 90% of them have never worked before. After the team’s first full-month payment, Thabiso Bhengu expressed what he called an ‘unexplainable feeling’ when he received a cellphone message reporting money has been deposited into his account. The knowledge that there will be another message the following month if he wakes up and goes to work again, gave him a greater will to carry on and do better. Pam Mjoli mentioned that she is now contributing to the needs of her household. She continued and said for the first time in her life she is drawing up a budget. Team members know that the programme will last for a short while, but even so, it has a huge positive financial impact in their lives".

What’s Next: What are your ideas for taking your project to the next level?

We have proved concept now, and have government key players on our team of champions to take this idea forward, not only in our catchment, but hopefully across South Africa. We have developed a detailed business plan for the next 5 years, as well as a short proposal for seed funding. We secured a meeting with the Development Bank of Southern Africa in May 2023, and hope to have them on board for the seed funding. 

The plan is to find a anchor source of funding for a period of at least 5 years, that can be used to leverage other funding. We need significant funding to work at scale across the catchment and truly make a visible impact towards catchment restoration, water security, climate resilience, and sustainable livelihoods. 

We really need to establish Amanzi ethu Nobuntu as a trusted, respected resourcing hub across all stakeholders in the catchment. Not a panacea for all problems, but a powerful ally in leveraging funds, human capacity, knowledge and learning for everyone from the woman in the street, to struggling organisations. 

We are also working with Rhodes University and UNICEF to develop the online learning pathways curriculum and process. This will be tested from August 2023-Jan 24 with 500 Enviro Champs. This is another key regenerative solution for reaching people at scale - beyond even South African borders. 

Your team: What is the current composition of your team (types of roles, qualifications, full-time vs. part-time, board members, etc.), and how do you plan to evolve the team’s composition as the project grows?

The team at present is a volunteer base. We have 5 directors, and 16 partner organisations. 

Amanzi Ethu is incubated by an established NPC, the Duzi-uMngeni Conservation Trust (DUCT), and the stakeholders the uMngeni Ecological Infrastructure Partnership (UEIP). The general manager of DUCT is a co-chair of the UEIP. 

Although Amanzi ethu Nobuntu is now a registered legal entity in its own right, it is spearheaded by a voluntary board of directors from members of the UEIP.  

For the duration of the Enviro Champs programme in 2022, DUCT hired a team to make up the Amanzi ethu programme management hub, and this hub ran the programme, as a team separate to DUCT. 

The next step is to secure funding for the NPC to have a small core team to champion the vision. However, it must be clear, that it is never the vision for Amanzi ethu to be a big organisation, it is rather a small, powerful resource hub capacitating and facilitating the growth of the member/partner organisations in the catchment. 

Operational Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure operational sustainability.

We have a 5-year business plan to take the entity to operational sustainability. We are still in the process of finding funding for this plan. In essence, there is a need for a small core team to focus on the establishment of the business, and its partner network, and secure a blended finance base from which to operate. 

Within these 5 years, we hope to secure a 10-15 year Public-private-partnership contract for natural resources management, providing for long term work, and deep impact across the catchment. 

Beyond that, Amanzi ethu Nobuntu is pioneering a policy shift to support the inclusion of restoration activities in water tariffs - what is termed payment for ecosystem services. This is then self-funding.  This is the ultimate goal, but we have a long way to go before people and businesses recognise the value of Enviro Champs and the role they play in improving climate resilience for all of society.

We are working on this not only at this catchment level, but a team is lobbying with the Presidency and the Department of Science and Innovation to set up a national structure to support this, and similar partnerships across the country. 

This is in effect one of the core innovations that Amanzi ethu Nobuntu is spearheading - how do we develop operational sustainability for community-based catchment management projects across the country?

VIDEO: Please share the link to a 1-minute YouTube video that answers the following “I identify as a Green Changemaker because...”. Ensure that your video does not exceed 60 seconds

https://youtu.be/onViPbJTWqA

Impact Model: While reviewing applications, we identified a need to better understand the impact models for the innovations that applied. How would you describe the activities you engage in and what outcomes and long-term impact do they lead to?

Activities:

• Develop online Enviro Champ course
• Incentivise work for the common good through blockchain technology
• Remove illegal dump sites
• Take miniSASS samples
• Report water and sewer leaks
• Manage invasive alien plants
• create school eco clubs
• Develop food gardens
• Create and maintain green spaces
• Sort and recycle materials
• Beneficiate non-recyclable materials

Stakeholders

• SANBI - Lead lobbyist
• Department of Water and Sanitation - regulatory body
• UEIP working group; Department of Science and Innovation; Presidential Employment Stimulus lead;
• Members of Amanzi ethu Nobuntu;
• GroundTruth, Rhodes University, Unicef, DUCT
• Enviro Champs

Outcomes

• Revision of water pricing, inclusion of a bulk tariff or similar mechanism for ecological infrastructure
• Work doesn’t stop/start; there is a measurable, positive impact on the natural enviroment (reduced invasive species, improved water quantity; reduced solid waste in the natural environ) and society (able to support people along career paths, improve house hold level financial security; stability)
• Ground level people and projects connected with decision makers and leaders; well-supported NGOs, growing in their work and capacity; public understanding of water quality status; multiple sources of funding;
• Access to environmental practices and citizen science courses anywhere
• A set of verified river health data for SA.
• Cleaner, nicer place to live
• Data to make decisions; Data that shows when there is a change that needs to be actioned.
• Reduced water and sewer leaks
• Resilient streams, clear culverts, reduced flood damages
• Children connected to their local natural environment
• More food available all year around, at lower costs
• Attractive, greener neighbourhoods
• Less virgin material needed for new production
• Reduced littering and dumping

 

Audience: Who are you most directly impacting through your work? Who is the target beneficiary? Please specify if the population you are reaching is underserved due to any of the following characteristics?

Age - Youth Socio-Economic Class Geography Work Status

If you chose the "Other" option, please specify

 

How are you activating green changemakers?

Building Understanding: communicating complex science, data and / or systems theory surrounding climate change in an accessible way, tailored to the specific audience and context Creating a community: bringing together peers to share learnings, reinforce behaviours, and develop positive social norms; hosting gatherings where people see their work as part of a bigger whole Building enabling structures: using contracts, financial mechanisms, and other tools to facilitate and encourage action Engaging emotions: Communicating climate change in a way that resonates with individuals’ specific situations to trigger an emotional engagement

If you chose the "Other" option, please specify

 

Organization Type: Which organization type best describes how your work or initiative has been organized or registered?

Nonprofit/NGO

Tell us briefly about how you have and/ or would like to engage partners or other changemakers to enhance your approach:

Engagement is the core of what we do. We are continually building a community of practice of people who share the vision. These are some of the efforts:

• Twice a year, as chairperson of the uMngeni Ecologicical Infrastructure Partnership, I share the progress of Amanzi ethu Nobuntu, and encourage others to get involved. 
• We are invited to share lessons at other catchment partnerships
• We share our documents, business plan, Memorandum of Incorporation etc with other change makers so that they can spring board off what we have already done
• We are currently working with a small group of post graduate students who are doing an evaluation of our work so far. They are engaging with all the partners, as wel as with Enviro Champs to find out what value was created, what challenges they faced, and what could be done better. 
• We have been invited to participate with the decision makers in government to plan for the budgets for social employment programmes for the next 3 years
• We have seconded our best young graduates to a municipality to role out an Enviro Champ programme across 25 wards, hopefully activiating change makers across the city

We still need to:

• Identify key partners in the finance and business world to help us build a sustainable model
• Work longer term with local Enviro Champs in community to really understand what ignites their hearts and minds to move from workers to Change Makers. 

Annual budget: Hint: What is the cost for your current operations every year (or most recent year)? This is expenditure for your project or organization. The reference currency is the U.S. dollar.

$1mil - $5mil

Winning Impact Potential: How would winning the Green Changemakers Challenge impact and leverage your work?

The winners of the Green Changemakers Challenge get 3 benefits - some funding, a link to HSBC support, and a peer community. Each of these contribute to leveraging our work.

The funds will provide some much needed support to our core team to keep lobbying, writing funding proposals, and building the business case. To have some funds that are not "project specific against key deliverables" is very useful. 

The HSBC mentoring could specifically help us to understand the language, and viewpoint of a bank. As environmentalists, we really struggle to breach the gap with the finance world, and we are so convinced are arguments and value proposition is amazing, and yet we have not been able to lock down investment - we are asked about returns, business case, financial models, and we are talking past each other.  Bringing the language of climate resilience at community level, payment for ecosystem services, and the banking sector is definitely a key link to leveraging our work.  There is so much more that we could gain in the skills matching, and selecting only one option below is difficult.  We definitely need assistance in developing a marketing strategy, and developing the Brand. We also need to monitor impact more effectively. 

Peer learning - fresh eyes from other change makers, and learning from other countries can only help, and perhaps our ideas can work in other countries too. 

Skills Matching: If you win, you may have the opportunity to be matched with HSBC employees for skill-based mentorship. If matched, which of the following skills would you be most interested in receiving?

Marketing Strategy