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Organisation Profile Grassroots is a non-profit accredited organisation located in Cape Town and works throughout the Western Cape Province in the field of Early Childhood Development.
Grassroots Education Trust was established in 1972 under the Chairmanship of Achmat Davids. The policy declaration was “that Grassroots was to be an entirely non-racial body and was to serve all children in greater Cape Town”. Its first project was called Project HELP (Home Early Learning Programme) which made provision for training mothers and their children in their homes. This was done through the employment of home educators who were then trained to teach mothers how to interact with their children and to show mothers that purposeful play could be used to inculcate learning skills in their children.
This was followed by the development of a support programme for centre based educare. This programme was based on the following policy directives: “that Grassroots shall assist and community groups who have the use of a venue to establish a pre-school facility: that such groups shall be representative of the community and shall enter into a contractual arrangement with Grassroots; that Grassroots provide them with equipment and technical know-how to establish their school and shall train them until they are capable to run the school themselves”.
The Adventure Bus programme began with the creation of the Trust. The funding that started the organisation came from 1 cent per week from each member of the Garment Workers Union and the Tramways and Omnibus Workers Union, the Western Province Furniture Union, and NUWCAW.
Grassroots has gone through many changes since its inception. During the 1980s Grassroots was a large national organisation of over 100 staff working throughout the country. As a result of the changed political and economic climate since 1994, Grassroots has repositioned and rationalised itself to create the stable but contained organisation of 13 permanent staff and employing the services of contract workers and volunteers.
Grassroots is 34 years old and is governed by a Board of Trustees. Grassroots is situated in Rylands, a suburb in Athlone in a building with the following facilities:

• Workshop facilitation (hall which accommodates 150 people)
• Resource Centre
• Library
• Office Space (13 offices)
• Shop
• Reception area

What does Grassroots do:
Focus
Grassroots took a decision to concentrate on the 0- 5 year old age cohort. This decision was taken in light of:

• the status of children
• the focus of government Early Childhood Development policy and delivery on 6 year olds
• the focus of many sister NGOs on 6 year olds as a result of government tender processes which concentrate on this cohort
• the difficulty of delivery of government services to 0-5 year olds..
• the fact that only 16 % of 0-6s are in some form of Early Childhood Development provision.

Approach
Grassroots decided to consolidate its holistic approach. To create safe and secure environments for our children we need to:

• involve all stakeholders/members of a community if such an environment is to be possible. Community may mean a particular community – based pre-school, a geographically-based community defined by municipal boundaries, a group of farms, a church community, and so on.
• work more closely with parents as parents are the primary caregivers of their children and their safety and security directly impacts on that of their children
• ensure a partnership relationship to enable medium to long-term independence
• ensure that each approach is flexible and contextually adapted to the particular circumstances of a particular community
• form partnerships with Small Micro and Medium Enterprise (SMME) training and support organisations in order to introduce income generating projects alongside ECD sites.

Action
Pre 1994, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), generally, were anti-apartheid organisations, worked in relative secrecy and worked as major delivery organisations stepping into the place of non – existent government services for the disenfranchised and disadvantaged. Given the new political dispensation in South Africa, NGOs have had to adapt and change their mode of operation. It has to be the responsibility of the government, and not of NGOs, to provide basic services to its poor and marginalised citizens. Many NGOs see their role in relationship to government as a supportive one, particularly with regard to the development and implementation of new policies.
In the light of the above, Grassroots has decided to orient its work towards

• Piloting innovative strategies, that can be replicated in other parts of the country, for the inclusion of the poorest of the poor into ECD provision.
• Concentrate on piloting training strategies and curricula aimed at the improvement of the quality of provision in existing and future sites
• Advocating for and assisting with the improvement of delivery of existing government services
• Advocating for the extension of government services to 0-5 year olds in the light of their continued neglect.

For more information visit grassroots.org.za

How Does StreetSmart Work?
StreetSmart South Africa works along the same lines as it does in the United Kingdom, San Francisco and Australia. It is registered as a Non-Profit Organisation and a Public Benefit Organisation which functions as a conduit fundraising body, distributing raised funds to selected beneficiaries. The current beneficiaries in South Africa are organisations that work with street children and children who are vulnerable and at risk of becoming street children.
A board of Directors coordinates StreetSmart.
StreetSmart raises money via participating restaurants, and distributes this money directly to organisations with the experience and facilities to help vulnerable children. Participating restaurants display a StreetSmart card on the table informing patrons that a voluntary R5.00 donation will be added to their bill. They will have the option to give more than R5.00 (or not give at all). The initiative runs throughout the year and not just at holiday times.
Every cent raised in the restaurants goes to the selected beneficiaries in each city, town or area. All StreetSmart’s operational costs are taken care of by corporate sponsorships.
StreetSmart’s goal is to be part of the process of social normalisation.
The long-term vision is to develop a StreetSmart South Africa, with key restaurants in all major centres embracing the StreetSmart campaign.
At present StreetSmart South Africa is only operating in Cape Town, Franschhoek, Stellenbosch and Somerset West.
For more information visit streetsmartsa.org.za

Buckets of Love Campaign 2013
Make Christmas special this year. Support Catholic Welfare and Development’s annual “Buckets of Love” campaign and feed a family this Christmas. Each plastic bucket is filled with 13 non-perishable nutritious food items and this is distributed to poor families in and around Cape Town before Christmas. This year the target is set at 8,000 buckets for 8,000 families. We would like to encourage listeners to support the campaign and ensure that every poor family has a Christmas meal this year! The cost of a bucket of love is only R130. Donations can also be made in lieu of Christmas gifts and we will supply you with a Christmas card in return.
About Buckets of Love
It’s a simple plastic bucket, filled with 13 basic food items. And for families who are grateful for one meal a day, it’s nothing short of a God-send. A bucket contains:

• 1 kg rice
• 1 tin meat balls
• 500g sugar
• 1 packet biscuits
• 1kg mielie meal
• 1 packet tea
• 1 packet samp and beans
• 1 packet sweets
• 1 box soya mince
• 1 tin pilchards
• 1 tin mixed vegetables
• 1 jar peanut butter
• 1 tin corned meat 1 ton of love

It’s not only families in Cape Town that benefit from Buckets of Love. We cast our net of caring into rural areas and farmlands far from the city and also reach poor communities on the West Coast.
About Catholic Welfare Development
Catholic Welfare and Development (CWD) is one of the largest and longest established NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) in South Africa. Based on the gospel values and social teachings of the Catholic Church, CWD strives to eradicate poverty and build sustainable and self-reliant communities in disadvantaged areas around Cape Town South Africa.
Our aim is to develop people to rise out of poverty, with the major focus being on development work. This we do through nine community development centres and a wide range of programmes which focus mainly on:
Engaging with communities to build capacity and solve problems
Women, Children and Youth Development
Health and Food Security
Economic Empowerment
Wherever possible, we work with provincial and local government to refine service delivery to the poor, homeless, children and others.
But we also need the support of corporate South Africa, funders and individual donors from all over the world … all joining together to give our people a hand-up towards self-reliance.
For more information please visit http://www.bucketsoflove.org.za/

ASSARO (Australian Shepherd South African Rescue Organisation)
This is a pro quality life Australian Shepherd Dog rescue organisation.
When Ingrid Liberte fostered a deaf Australian Shepherd called Josh, she had a feeling that as time went on more Aussies were going to need new homes. That’s when, in January 2012, the non-profit company, Australian Shepherd South African Rescue Organisation (ASSARO) was started for these rescues, which was subsequently registered in May 2012.
“ASSARO NPC is a section 21 non-profit organisation that rescues and rehabilitates the Australian Shepherd dog. All Australian Shepherds that are surrendered to us receive a full health check and get vaccinated, dewormed and neutered if necessary. We rely heavily on donations from our supporters and the proceeds from the sale of our products such as calendars, T-shirts and mugs.
We have a strict adoption policy and ensure that the right home is found, regardless of how long that may take. Cape Town and Joburg are the main bases where our rescues are cared for and we will facilitate transportation, from anywhere in SA, to ensure that the rescues arrive safely at ASSARO.”
For more information visit http://www.assaro.co.za/ or contact Ingrid Liberte on 071 473 7080 / 0217853958 (h) or 021 788 1172 (w).