CORPORATE SOCIAL INVESTMENT CSI NARRATIVE

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Over the years we have seen the Corporate Social Investment (CSI) made by the Sector evolve from being “charity” based – giving when you have a little extra – to become intentional efforts to create value and sustainability for broader communities in the rural areas where our plantations are situated. Many FSA members have actively re-engineered their markets, products and value chains to benefit local economic development by creating new businesses owned and managed by locals.

Over and above the traditional eight core areas of our members’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes: Education, Health and Welfare, Community Engagement and Upliftment, Food Security, Enterprise and Supplier Development, Community Infrastructure, Environment and Recreation, this year we added Disaster Response to the core themes, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and civil unrest recently experienced.

It is amazing how, over the past 18-months, the Industry’s CSI networks have effectively rolled out Covid-19 relief with FSA members have been able to distribute food parcels, sanitiser and PPE to many communities. Other communities have shown real resilience during the pandemic, in part due to the Entrepreneur Schemes that our members have helped set up – these include honey harvesting projects, community food gardens and even small businesses. These have enabled them to generate income and provide for themselves during the pandemic. Some members of FSA selflessly adapted their chemical process lines to produce hand sanitiser which they donated to the neighbouring communities, while others opened their private healthcare facilities to vaccinate all willing members of the community, not just their workforce. We have stood together with the rest of the country, and continue to stand, in the fight against Covid-19.

Although our initiatives may not hold value in the joint industry’s profit and loss statement, to us and our neighbours, it is one of the most tangible and easily recognisable brands of who we are: “the socially-caring and environmentally-friendly forestry sector”.

We are also delighted that the Industry was able to support the broader fight against Covid 19 domestically and internationally, through the continued provision of essential goods and services, tissue products, medical and hygiene products, food and medical packaging and energy.

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ForewordMr Michael Peter, FSA Executive Director

“The South African Forestry industry’s commitment to social investment is not new, there are initiatives by members of Forestry South Africa (FSA) that have been on-going for over two decades.”

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Content pageEducation Narratives p6

Health and Welfare Narratives p22

Community Engagement and p30Upliftment Narratives

Food Security Narratives p38

Enterprise and Supplier p47 Development Narratives

Community Infrastructure Narratives p54

Environment Narratives p58

Recreation Narratives p61

Disaster Response Narratives p65

In a forestry context, sustainable development is rooted in three interconnected spheres of sustainability - social, economic and environmental – and requires a holistic approach that encompasses all three into the strategies and business decisions of forestry businesses. These are guided by the principles of the United Nations (UN) Global Compact and align to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

While Forestry South Africa (FSA) members’ approaches to sustainable development will differ, the fundamental core values remain remarkably similar. So too does their framework for transforming company sustainable development visions into achievable company goals, initiatives and programmes that promote positive change. It is these community projects, programmes, initiatives and goals that are testament to how our members’ approach to corporate citizenship goes beyond corporate social responsibility

(CSR) as they strive to create shared value, a crucial ingredient for sustainable communities.

Traditionally, eight core areas have been the focus of our members’ CSR programmes: Education, Health and Welfare, Community Engagement and Upliftment, Food Security, Enterprise and Supplier Development, Community Infrastructure, Environment and Recreation. These have been added to this year, with the introduction of a ninth area – Disaster Response - in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and civil unrest recently experienced.

This report is far from a comprehensive list of CSR initiatives, there are simply too many forestry growers who are making similar contributions to make that possible. Instead, it provides a snapshot of some of the initiatives being rolled out by FSA members across these nine areas, to provide a glimpse of the tangible contribution and benefits the forestry industry is making to the lives of the communities we serve. Communities, it should be noted, who are in the most rural areas where State resources are often inadequate to fully service its citizens. For every initiative mentioned in this report, there are many more unsung initiatives that are making equally important contributions to the wellbeing of a great number of people in our rural areas and if space permitted, we would have listed every one of them.


Content page Corporate Social Investment in a South African Forestry context

Mr Norman Dlamini, FSA Director Business Development

Sustainable development is central to almost everything the South African Forestry Industry does and in many ways is an intuitive and natural approach

for an industry that works with a renewable, natural resource. As such, sustainable development has become a cornerstone of corporate policy for

most forestry companies and the forest certification processes to which much of the industry subscribes.


EducationAs an industry, we understand the importance of nurturing tomorrow’s talent pool. This is why we invest heavily in promoting education - particularly mathematics and science skills - as well as prioritizing funding at Early Child-hood Development (ECD), which has been proven to be the most effective means of building capacity in youth from our communities. We also place huge value on developing the many artisan skills too.

Photo: Sappi

Education Initiatives

Merensky Timber: Maripi-Orhovelani Alumi Organisation p7

Merensky Timber: Politsi Primary School Project p8

Merensky Timber: School Desk Project

Merensky Timber: Youth Driving Programme

Mondi:Cotlands Mobile Toy Library & Early Learning Group

MTO: Edunova Initiative

PG Bison: Early Childhood Development

PG Bison: Infundo

Sappi Forests: Early Childhood Development (ECD)

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p9

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p14

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p20

“We as Maripi-Orhovelani Alumni organisation would like to express our gratitude towards the contribution you have made of donating timber to the school. Thank you for your thoughtful donation of timber to the Maripi-Orhovelani High School. Your donation

will make sure that pupils in our school receive book cabinets for the library and a well-equipped computer room. Because of you, we have catered to the needs of our

students. Donations from caring people like you help us make a positive change in our education system and the community at large. Truthfully, we could not do this without you. We, and those we serve, sincerely appreciate your generosity.” - Alson Matukane

As part of our ongoing drive to support education initiatives in our local communities the Merensky team undertook to supply pine shelving for cabinets at the Maripi-Orhovelani High school library and computer room. Timber was transported from

the Merensky Heriotdale Depot to the school. Later this timber was converted into beautiful cabinets that ensured that pupils in the school have proper storage for their book in the library and a well-equipped computer room.


Merensky Timber: Maripi-Orhovelani Alumni Organisation

Location: Mpumalanga, Maripi-Orhovelani High School, Thulamahashe

Project duration: July 2021

Project objective: Merensky assisted in enhancing the learning environment

Project deliverables: Timber for pine shelving and other uses

Resources employed: Timber to build desks


Merensky Timber: School Desk Project

Location: Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal

Project duration: 2021

Project objective: The provision of desks to schools to ensure social distancing to comply with Covid-19 mitigation requirements and enhance the learning environment for learners.

Project deliverables: Refurbishment of 850 school desks.

One of the schools’ large classrooms was sub-divided into two classrooms to improve educational capacity and comply with social distancing requirements for Covid-19 mitigation. In addition, a donation of 75 litres of hand sanitizer

was made to reduce the spread of Covid-19. The final phase, painting the classroom, is now in process. Ultimately, the school will gain an additional classroom to help with the fight against Covid-19 now and create expansion possibilities in the future.

Merensky Timber: Politsi Primary School Project

Location: Limpopo, Politsi Primary School, Politsi

Project duration: 2000 - ongoing

Project objective: Merensky has a 20-year relationship with the school, providing an array of financial support and expertise. This year, Merensky has helped with the subdivision of a classroom.

Project deliverables: The subdivision of a classroom to comply with social distancing requirements.

Covid-19 restrictions had meant that learners were no longer able to share desks and were required to adhere to the social distancing protocol. However, most schools were not able to adhere to these protocols due to a lack of sufficient and suitable desks in their schools.

Many desks owned by schools were either broken or damaged and therefore could not be used in classrooms or utilized by learners. Furthermore, the rooms being used to store

these broken desks could not be utilized as extra learning areas to prevent overcrowding.

In striving to do good, Merensky has embarked on a structured project to refurbish old and broken desks. In total, 850 school desks had been repaired since the beginning of 2021. Various schools within SFP’s operational areas have benefitted from this project, which has directly led to more desks and classrooms becoming available for learners to enjoy.


Location: Eastern Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal

Project duration: 2020 – ongoing

Project objective: Provide youth with a driving skill to increase their employability

Project deliverables: Support to obtain learners and driver’s licence

Merensky Timber: Youth Driving Programme

In an effort to empower youth in local communities, SFP embarked on the Driver’s Licence Programme, which aims to provide unemployed youth with the necessary skills to obtain a driver’s license. The aim is to increase their chances of employability as drivers and to empower them with essential life skills. The programme covers obtaining the learner’s licence, booking for tests, driving lessons and hiring the vehicle for the day of the driver’s

test. The programme, which is dependant on the progression of learners, started in January 2020. Accommodation and transport is provided for leaners from far away villages. The programme has benefitted 35 unemployed youth from our areas of operation, both in Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Transport is provided from home to work for the local learners and accommodation for learners from far away villages.

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The toy library and playgroup programmes were initiated by Mondi and are linked to the rural mobile health clinic partnership project. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a working model

of how to deliver a comprehensive package of services that benefit young children, as envisaged in the National Integrated ECD Policy (2015).

Mondi:Cotlands Mobile Toy Library & Early Learning Group

Location: KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga


External Stakeholders: Cotlands, Department of Social Development (DSD), Depart-ment of Health (DOH) and Tholuwazi Thol’impilo Network (TTN)

Project objectives: To provide approximately 350 children below age 5, living in 35 rural villages in Mkhondo, Mpumalanga, access to early learning.

Project deliverables:

• To provide 350 children between 0 to 4 years, living in 35 villages in Mkhondo, with access to play sessions provided from the mobile toy library trailer

• To develop a working model of how to deliver a comprehensive package of services, as envisaged in the ECD policy (2015)

• To set up, support and monitor the implementation of 19 early learning playgroups and 19 Early Learning Facilitators (ELFs).

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Expansion into KwaZulu-NatalIn partnership with Cotlands and Kwazulu-Natal Department of Health, this programme was rolled out during 2020 to the other mobile health clinics that Mondi have in partnership with KwaZulu-Natal Health in uMkhanyakude, King Cetshwayo, Harry Gwala as well as in the Zululand District.

Since its rollout, 1 279 children under 5-years-old visited the toy library trailers. The Toy Library & Playgroup programme is supported by five depots with 2 454 toys that are situated at various venues – a children’s home, clinic, hospital or municipal library. From these points, the trailer is packed according to the theme of the week and the topic that the facilitators (ELF’s and Toy library assistants) were trained on. On return to the depot, toys are cleaned, sanitised and repacked. Parents can also loan toys directly from the depots.

COVID-19 ImpactAll Cotlands early learning programmes were closed during the Covid-19 national lockdown between March and September 2020. The Cotlands ELPGs reopened in October 2020, but experienced challenges as enrolments and children’s attendance were affected. DSD protocols and regulations regarding social distancing, sanitisation, washing of hands and wearing of masks have been followed on all early childhood development programmes. Children have also been split into two timeslots at smaller venues, with children attending either in the morning or afternoon.

Cotlands had the strategy, during the lockdown, to continue providing access to early learning through a zero-rated platform. The platform allows parents to access videos, activities and games to play with their children at home free of charge.

Mondi: Ligbron E-Learning Programme

Location: KwaZulu-Natal, servicing Mahlahla Secondary School, Emvungu Community near Bulwer; Indala High School, Mkhuzane Community near Richmond; Candabathule High School near Greytown and Kwanxusa High School, KwaMagwaza Community near Melmoth.


External Stakeholders: Mahlahla, Ntaba Contractors, Indala, Candabathule, Cintasign contractors, Kwanxusa, Department of Education, School’s Governing Body.

Project objectives:

• Improve the quality of teaching

• Promote access to quality education

• Improve results

• Broaden the interest in mathematics and science

• Bridge the digital gap between rural and urban schools

• Prepare learners and educators for entry into the 4th Industrial Revolution


A survey was conducted in the rural high schools within the targeted areas in Mondi’s footprint to understand the needs and the gaps within maths and science. The results confirmed the need for support in maths and science. Schools for the Ligbron e-learning system were selected based on the following criteria:

• School management – leadership and discipline

• Proximity to other neighbouring high schools

• Infrastructure – space and minimum safety requirement

• Learners’ performance

The four schools and circuits had the final say if they wanted to be part of the e-learning programme. After a definite yes, roles and responsibilities were discussed and MOU’s were signed for a period of three years.

Ligbron e-Learning System connects schools all over SA to an online learning network. Live-streaming of mathematics and science lessons are shared by using video conferencing and desktop sharing. Each e-Learning classroom has an e-Boxx with a SMART interactive whiteboard, LCD screen with a digital camera, sound system and microphone. The LCD screen shows the image of the teachers/learners from linked schools, enabling them to take an active part in the lesson. The SMARTboards display the presenter’s presentation and allow students and teachers to write on the SMARTboard and ask questions from where they are, and this is displayed and heard in all the participating schools. These facilities were installed in all four schools.

Clear, concise maths & science lessons follow the curriculum exactly as laid out by the Dept of Education. These lessons are streamed live at pre-arranged times on four days of every week.Ligbron e-Learning System also includes:


• Implementation of 4IR by using the newest Classroom technologies

• Virtual Classroom & Live streaming facilities

• Quality education & equal opportunities by using experienced teachers during live lessons

• Content: Pre-installed Maths & Science lessons for grade 8 – 12 teachers & learners

• Teacher & learner access to resources such as Question papers, notes, videos

• 24 Hour teacher support with online & onsite support

• Teacher development: Workshops & Topic Training

• Software and Technical training for teachers

Resources employed: Mondi Community Engagement Facilitators engage with all the schools regularly and monitor progress. To date, over R2 364 000 has been spent over the past four years at the four schools, approximately R147 000 per school per year.


“The e-learning programme at Mahlahla is helping us a lot in support of teachers and learning. It is providing live transmissions of mathematics and physical science subjects. Learners and

teachers can engage with the tutors during morning sessions. Our learners are motivated by the lesson presentations and videos that are in line with the learning programme. They

always attend and find the information that is downloaded in Dropbox useful. The recorded lessons are also helpful during study time. The new system assisted a lot during the Covid-19 pandemic, where learners had to work from home. With this system, we hope to improve our

matric results at the end of the year and are happy to report that parents are proud of the school due to the availability of this resource. I want to conclude, by expressing a word of

gratitude to Mondi for supporting our disadvantaged school.” – SJ Shezi, Principle, Mahlahla Secondary School

“As a teacher, I have gained confidence and techniques for teaching a specific topic and when it comes to problem-solving. For the learners, it has given them a concrete understanding of these topics, that can be seen in the 100% 2019 pass rate in physical sciences! The E-learning programme has helped our school produce a number of learners who are now pursuing their studies at different universities thanks to the results they have obtained.” – Mr S S Ngonyama,

Maths Educator, Kwa-Nxusa High School

“It has enabled me to have access to online learning, even at home through its Digicampus App. It benefits me in a way that I get to have access to different opinions or views on these particular subjects since the teachers have different methods of teaching. It also benefits me to such an extent that if I did not understand during the lesson in class, I get to revise through transmissions. It helps me grasp information which was lacking and gain certain knowledge in that particular section. E-learning has also demonstrated self-motivation to me, encouraging

me to study further. It also challenges my critical thinking.” – Shoba Lungelo, Grade 12 Learner, Indala High School

• All day-to-day lessons in Maths and Science from Grades 8-12

• Questions and answers evolving from these lessons are highlighted

• Teachers are given software training and receive a certificate after successful completion

• The Online Resource centre is available to all connected schools

• In 2021, the Digicampus Platform was added to enable teachers and learners to have access to all resources anytime, anywhere

Project management is a key component and includes regular contact by phone, constant monitoring of the log-in to live sessions and quarterly meetings with all e-Learning teachers to address and assist them with any problems they may encounter plus pre-and post-testing.

The project has benefitted 2 686 Grade 8 to 12 maths and science learners across four schools. A further 18 neighbouring schools are benefitting through access to the technology via weekend and holiday classes at the four e-learning schools.


MTO: Edunova Initiative

Location: Eastern Cape, Tsitsikamma area


External Stakeholders: Edunova and YES programme, Department of Basic Education

Project objectives: Empowering learners through Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) skills.

Project deliverables: The provision of ICT skills to 120 teachers and 45 teaching assistant recruits, who have transferred this knowledge to over 1 000 learners at eight Tsitsikamma Primary Schools.

In 2019, MTO partnered with a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Edunova, in offering training to members of the school management teams at eight Tsitsikamma primary schools. Edunova trains teachers in Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) skills. The teachers in turn use the skills in the classroom when they interact with the learners, thus empowering them to use technology and improve their performance. Since the beginning of the programme 120 teachers have been trained and more than 1 000 learners have benefitted.

In 2020 the programme attracted funding from another partner, the YES programme, which is a joint initiative by the private sector and government. It signifies huge progress towards assisting South Africa’s youth to gain work experience through employment placement. The funding enabled us to recruit eight young people from the Tsitsikamma communities who were deployed to the eight schools. They were trained in ICT skills to support the teachers and the learners after school. The young people followed a 12-month skills programme with a


“When they tell you about the psychology – how you act, how you should be, how to communicate clearly. Also, just how to carry yourself (although that’s still a work in progress!).

One of the things we do is help the teachers – they are so used to a paper-based system – what we do is we find out what their lesson plan is for the day and we help them set it up digitally.

What’s great is we see how that makes them happy because they feel like they’re now moving with the times.” - Rhonwen Boesak

“Most of the children didn’t even know how to handle a mouse at first. They didn’t know what is a keyboard, or a USB stick. Most of the children know how to use a keyboard now – Word,

Powerpoint, Excel. They really loved Scratch and coding. It’s been a wonderful journey for me so far and I’ve learnt a lot. My life has changed – I’ve started to see how I could become a

professional. The schoolchildren have started to call me “Meneer” – it’s like I respect myself now, and they respect me. This has opened big opportunities for me.” - Enver van Rooyen

“During this time we’ve learnt a lot - skills we never even knew existed – emotional intelligence, project management, how to communicate - so much more than just the computer

programmes. For me, it’s that I have developed, to the extent that I can make good choices. It has changed my mindset.” - Danillo Jacobs

strong focus on mentoring, care and growth, along with an in-school educational work experience. Four out of the eight Youth have received permanent job offers and others have been inspired to further their education.

In 2021, an additional 45 young people have been recruited into the programme, which means 53 job opportunities have been created for the unemployed youth of Tsitsikamma over two years. We are proud to be part of a programme that benefits the development of

young people in the communities around our operations, especially given the fact that Youth unemployment is a global challenge that has been increasing over the past few years. It is our intention, in partnership with Edunova, to attract more partners to sustain this programme and build on the successes.

Future plans involve the establishment of a learning centre that will also upskill parents in technology to enable them to support learners when they get home after school.


PG Bison: Early Childhood Development Location: Western Cape, Knysna, Sedgefield


External stakeholders: South Cape Educational Trust

Project objective: For every child to attend a safe pre-school, with competent, qualified teachers, where literacy, numeracy, and life-skill lessons happen daily - and where training, on-site mentoring and support to teachers and parents ensure all children reach crucial developmental outcomes.

Project deliverables: Ensuring young children thrive through quality Early Childhood Development Programmes, guided by competent teachers and caregivers in safe, healthy and enriched learning environments.

Resources employed: R127 000 per annum

“I think for me, it’s that – it’s changing our mindsets, but also the mindset of the children in the community. The programme has had a huge impact – first on me, then the children and

teachers we work with.” - Kevin May

“To be honest, technology and I were never comfortable together. For me, teaching is my thing – that’s what I’m passionate about and this programme gave me the opportunity to

experience that. And it was an extra boost was when some of the teachers encouraged me to apply for teaching.” - Marcha Uithaler

“You know, Marcha’s remark, technology wasn’t my friend – I’m thinking, how many people in our community feel the same? How many children are scared to come and sit in front of a

computer? This programme comes and breaks that fear away, piece by piece. These kids know how to left-click, right-click, double-click, how to make and save their folders and documents.

It’s the satisfaction that I have of knowing I contributed – I helped make a difference to a child, to a person.” - Danillo Jacobs

The Learning Tree is KET’s model pre-school and practical teacher training centre, managed by the KET Board of Trustees, and supported by an elected Parent Committee. The school has grown to 80 learners and is staffed by a principal, 5 teachers, a cook and a caretaker.

The KET FET student teachers are mandated by SAQA to complete practical teaching hours in a registered facility. At The Learning Tree, student

teachers can learn best in-classroom practice through supervised teacher training rotations.

This practical training enables student teachers to gain teaching experience and to develop confidence in a model classroom environment. The pre-school is registered with the DSD and is in the process of being registered as a Grade R feeder school to local primary schools.


The pre-school is a model pre-school in all aspects, providing a holistic learning environment where children receive age-appropriate developmental support to reach their full potential

Health, safety and nutritionIt is widely documented and proven that one of the barriers to learning and optimal brain development is hunger. Many families live below the breadline and the meal children receive at pre-school is often the only meal of the day. KET’s goal is to fund feeding programmes in the most vulnerable and unfunded affiliated pre-schools. Collaboration with local NGO e’Pap has been invaluable in supporting KET’s goal of ensuring food security in local preschools. KET aims to implement growth charts for all children receiving meal support to allow for the early identification of children who need additional nutritional support.

Caregiving and parent trainingMaking sure that babies get the right kind of care, nutrition and stimulation is the best chance that society has at breaking cycles of poverty, violence, alcohol and drug abuse. The First 1000 days programme is a big, bold, audacious strategy for achieving our vision and mission. It helps us to ensure that all children grow up safe, healthy, educated and prepared to meet their full potential.

The programme puts a focus on the importance of development during a child’s first 1 000-days of life. Based on brain science, it looks into all of the aspects that affect a child’s development. One of these aspects is nutrition. The right nutrition during this 1 000-day window can have a profound impact on a child’s ability to develop and learn. Healthy food during the period from pregnancy to a baby’s 2nd birthday is crucial. Besides the body growing rapidly, 80% of a baby’s brain growth takes place in the first 2 years of life.

The first 1 000-day programme The first 1 000-day programme includes: pre-schools that admit children aged 3mths to 3yrs as part of their ECD programme, Play Groups, also known as Day Mothers and parents and young mothers information-sharing sessions provided through preschools and Municipal Health Clinics located in each of the serviced geographical areas.

Adopt-a-Child’s-EducationAdopt-a-Child’s-Education programme exists to provide disadvantaged children access to an Early Childhood Development Facility in the geographical region serviced by KET.

Children are selected from ECD facilities in the poorest socio-economic areas and are identified based on very specific criteria:

• Combined household income must be below R4 000 per month

• Parents are required to complete an ACE application form/means test with proof of income or a sworn affidavit as confirmation thereof

• Adopt-a-Child’s-Education programme exists to provide disadvantaged children access to an Early Childhood Development Facility in the geographical region serviced by KET.

The impact of the programmeCurrently benefitting from KETs services and programmes we have:

• 4 900 children• 108 Pre-schools• 432 Principals and Teachers (Avg 1

Principal and 3 teachers)• 53 DSD registered pre-schools• 20 Receive DSD (government) funding• 55 are unregistered and unfunded• 15 of these 108 facilities are private and

self-sustainable entities not requiring government funding.

Within our area, we are still seeking to locate


PG Bison: Infundo

Location: Eastern Cape, Ugie Maclear and Mpumalanga, Piet Retief


External stakeholders: Education Department, Teachers and Learners

Project objective: PG Bison appointed Infundo Consulting, a Level 2 social enterprise consultancy, in Ugie and, more recently, in Mkhondo as strategic development partners in 2007 and 2021 respectively. The brief is to create impact in the specific communities whilst concurrently serving the agendas of Community Development (predominantly education and skills) - community stakeholder relations and long-term performance of the community - as part of a PG Bison business-driven strategy. Ugie and Mkhondo CREATE projects combine strategic vision, with a mix of specialist interventions, stakeholder relationship management and resolution of systemic dynamics which creates exponential impact.


• Leadership development and SMT coaching

• Teacher development

• Curriculum support for teachers and learners

Resources employed: R881 491.20 (2020 – 2021) and 450 hours per annum

and secure access for a further 3 000 children below the age of 6 years old (according to the last municipal 2016 census). We also have a high number of children that move in and out of our municipal area from the Eastern Cape

Province which also influences the constant changes in the number of children requiring access to early education services.


School leadership development, teacher development, curriculum support and youth strategy. The overall focus continues to be the development of leadership and teachers, with a focus on improvements for learners and, in particular, better school results.

CREATE reflects PG Bison’s understanding of the mutually beneficial strategy of investing in their business development and then, as a natural understanding of the inter-relatedness of their community’s welfare, investing in education and skills development.

CREATE’S “hands-on” approach focuses on systemic transformation by seeing the community as an integrated complex whole.

Scientifically grounded, systematic and proven models of change and impact are applied, creating a learning culture across schools, organisations and community structures. Infundo believed in small beginnings and then leveraging stakeholders for a community-wide intervention. In Ugie this has been experienced as a great positive impact on schools’ leadership, succession planning, emotional intelligence, teacher development, resourcing, strategic

partnerships, skills development and team building.

More than 450 hours per annum, per community, are spent on inter alia strategic stakeholder development, school leadership, district leadership and learner engagement and work readiness towards the achievement of our projected outcomes. The challenges presented by the pandemic provided an opportunity to “stress-test” the digital and virtual part of the programme and the successful implementation of the various solutions is an indicator of progress made.

There are 10 Education District officials directly connected to our project – who are each mandated to work across more than 50 high schools. They work via the new District Director who utilizes his skills across the entire super District of Joe Gqabi. The impact of our leadership work is felt across all the schools in this area. Some District officials have left this District for promotion posts in areas close by and stay in contact with us. They thus share the learning and thinking further afield. All positively impacting the education system using the systemic principles we share with all stakeholders.

“The holistic work of 12 years in one District (Ugie) alone across 7 schools (direct impact) can be extrapolated to be a meaningful impact for 126 000 learners in the 12 years; 2 520

teacher years, 450 school leadership years and an exponential number of families and community.” – PG Bison representative


Sappi Forests: Early Childhood Development (ECD)Location: KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, servicing communities that neighbour various Sappi operations.


External stakeholders: TREE and Penreach

Project objective: To provide Early Childhood training and development to upskill ECD practitioners to improve the quality of learning that children receive in their formative years; helping to stimulate them from an early age to enable them to be more receptive to formal learning and to improve their levels of education.

Project deliverables: ECD practitioners to reach NQF4 level of proficiency.

Sappi believes that the way to make a real difference for the better in its communities, is to do this in the very earliest years of the lives of the children, and partnering with TREE and Penreach has offered the complete solution.

In KwaZulu-Natal, in 2014 Sappi partnered with local NPO Training and Resources in Early Education (TREE) to train 25 ECD practitioners from communities adjacent to Sappi Forests’ plantations. Upon completion of their training, they graduated with NQF Level 4 Accreditation as fully-fledged and qualified ECD practitioners. In 2016, Sappi expanded the programme to train a further 36 trainees, which consisted of 18 crèche workers and 18 workers that were in charge of informal playgroups, also from the forest communities. In Mpumalanga, we developed an ECD Centre of Excellence at the

Sappi Elandshoek community in partnership with Penreach, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) and social impact organisation working towards educational excellence in disadvantaged rural communities in Mpumalanga.

These practitioners are being taught to implement programmes at each of their sites that will promote the child’s holistic development, which includes attention to their physical health by providing improved daily care, early learning and stimulation through structured playgroup programmes, improving parental support and facilitating grant funding from the government. They are also taught how to use the material and resources that they have at hand (waste material such as paper, wood, fabric, etc) and turn them into useful educational toys and teaching aids.


“Training gave me knowledge on how to facilitate holistic development of the child. I am now able to assess a child and identify if the child has a problem. Through training, I gained knowledge and realized that it is important to have an ECD Association whereby we discuss progress and also share knowledge with other ECD Sites committees. The

ECD Association I started now has more than 70 ECD Sites that are members. I am now able to fundraise. The Municipality has donated tables and chairs. Other organizations like

Jam are assisting us with porridge.” - Thandi Mbatha from Thembalethu Crèche

“Training assisted us a lot because I am recognised as a qualified ECD Practitioner. Parents are trusting our crèche because they know that we are qualified. Toy Making training that I received has helped us to make toys since we had no toys on our site. Municipality has

donated tables and chairs.” - Ncwane Ziningi from Abaholi Bakusasa

“I am now funded by DSD, the knowledge that I gained through TREE training helped me in knowing the requirements and standards for a crèche to be registered by DSD.” -

Thandeka Madiba from Fundokuhle Crèche

“TREE assisted us by giving us guidelines for registration of ECD Site. Smart Start also donated toys and we were also given training.” - Bahlakaniphile Khambule from Siqalo

Crèche


Health and WelfareThe health and welfare of communities - the home base of our workforce and plantation neighbours - is high on all FSA members’ agendas, in particular, removing barriers to accessing healthcare services as a result of the rural nature of these communities. HIV and Aids, in particular, takes a huge toll on communities, with the negative impacts associated with the disease stretching far beyond those living with the disease, to their families, neighbours and the community at large. As an industry, HIV/Aids awareness programmes are among the top items on the list, with many FSA members running their own programmes to help raise awareness and manage this life-altering disease.

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Health and Welfare Initiatives

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Mondi:Mobile Clinics

MTO: Unjani Clinic Partnership

SAFCOL: Glory Hill Clinic p27

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Merensky Timber: Clinic Support

Merensky supports and maintains four local clinics, three of which are managed by the government. These clinics serve all the surrounding communities, with Merensky collecting no rent for the clinics or the housing where clinic staff reside. In addition, Merensky provides the municipal

services such as electricity and water to ensure the proper running of these clinics. Due to most operations being situated in outlying areas these clinics play a vital role in providing full health care services to the local communities.

Merensky Timber: Clinic Support

Location: Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo

Project duration: Ongoing

Project objectives: To support and maintain rural clinics servicing the community.

Project deliverables: Ongoing support and maintenance of the clinics.


Mondi: Mobile Clinics

Location: KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.


External Stakeholders: Department of Health, KwaZulu-Natal and Department of Health, Mpumalanga and Tholuwazi Thol’impilo.

Project objectives: To increase access to quality health care services for remote rural communities as well as to contractor employees.

Project deliverables: Primary Health Care Services provided by the nine mobile clinics to communities living on and around Mondi land as well as Mondi contractor employees. The clinics follow a route that ensures that each community and contractor site will be visited at least once a month. Services provided by the mobile clinic include:

• Maternal, Child and Women Health Care

• Antenatal Care

• Post Natal Care

• Well Baby Clinic and Immunizations

• Prevention of Mother to Child HIV Transmission

• Family Planning including Emergency Contraception

• Information on Choice of Termination of Pregnancy

• Cervical Cancer Screening


The past 11 years, 726 233 visits were recorded to our mobile clinics averaging over 66 000 visits per year.

The programme has clear systems determined by the public-private partnership that underpins the intervention. The partnership between the DoH and Mondi ensures that the mobile clinic service is resourced and financed, while at quarterly meetings information is shared between the project partners.The relevance of the model lies in its adaptability to the local context, and the way it accesses hard to reach communities across vast distances through mobile clinics.

The public clinics are burdened with large numbers of patients. The mobile clinics have helped by providing access to those who would otherwise find it difficult to benefit from

the public service. The mobile services provide regular monthly services that therefore ensures that people access health services on time and don’t wait for long periods to seek care. It also means that communities save time and transport expenses by having services come to them.

The addition of a tow bar and toy library trailer to five mobile clinics, which resulted in our partnership with Cotlands, has provided the additional benefit of delivering play-based early childhood education to under 5s at the different sites where the mobile clinics stop to deliver services.

• Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses

• HIV and Aids, TB and STI services

• HIV Counselling and Testing

• Provision of ARVs

• Management of TB

• Management of STIs

• Information on Medical Male Circumcision

• Treatment of minor ailment

• Management of non-communicable diseases

• Diabetes Mellitus

• Hypertension

• Epilepsy

• Asthma

• Mental Health

• Management of non-communicable diseases

• Management of casualties and other emergencies

• Health promotion

• Covid-19 screening

Resources employed: Mondi donated mobile clinic vehicles, contributed to the running cost and collaborated with partners regarding the routes, oversight and reporting.


“The experience is good, we get everything we need at the mobile clinic, the staff is very helpful, and they are able to answer whatever questions you may have of the ailment you

are asking about.” – Anonymous Clinic Visitor

“We appreciate the fact that Mondi gave a mobile clinic and we get help from the mobile staff and they are not rude. They treat us with respect.” – Anonymous Clinic Visitor

MTO: Unjani Clinic Partnership

Location: Western Cape, George


External Stakeholders: Unjani Clinics NPC

Project objectives: To provide access to affordable quality healthcare facility for employees and the community around MTO’s George Sawmill and to support enterprise development by partnering with Unjani Clinics NPC.

Project deliverables: Provision of accessible health care facilities in a semi-rural area that is beneficial to both company employees and the surrounding community.

MTO’s partnership with Unjani Clinics has resulted in the establishment of a health care facility on the premises of the company’s sawmill in George.

Unjani Clinics, a network of black women-owned and operated primary health care facilities, is the cornerstone of access to affordable healthcare for MTO staff and the surrounding communities and businesses. The professional nurse is recruited from the community and operates the facility according to Unjani Clinic standards. The clinic at the George sawmill is a pilot project for MTO: the company intends to roll out this healthcare

model in the future in its business locations, in partnership with Unjani Clinics. This will benefit the company’s employees, contractors and surrounding communities, as access to health care facilities is limited in the semi-rural areas in which the forestry industry is located.

The George Unjani ClinicCharlmain Harker is a highly qualified Professional Nurse with extensive experience in public and private health care. “Five or six years ago I realised that people need quality care, but within a caring environment and that’s when I started exploring the possibility of opening my nursing


practice. I read about the Unjani Clinics NPC initiative and I started my application process. It’s been four years of vigorous scrutiny and putting everything in place. But there was a problem.

“We’d been struggling for nearly two years to get land to lease, but what the private sector had to offer was too expensive. So, it was a godsend when MTO came to the table and offered me the land for five years without compensation.”

Unjani Health Clinics NPC gets donations from big companies, such as pharmaceuticals Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, to fund a particular clinic. “The Registered Nurse takes ownership of the clinic and pays back over five years,” Harker explains. “The NPC then takes that money to redeploy it to open another clinic in another area.”

The George Clinic is the 100th Unjani Clinic nationally and the second in the Western Cape.

Harker is still thinking ahead, and for 2022 she is planning to partner with the Department of Health’s Central Chronic Medicines Dispensing and Distribution (CCMDD) programme.

“The clinic is situated ideally to provide chronic care and assist with the chronic burden in the Western Cape,” Harker says. Her second goal for 2022 is a mobile clinic so they can offer

their services closer to communities that need them but can’t afford transport to get to clinics.

Unjani offers quality preventative and curative care - from vaccinations, to wound care and taking blood samples for laboratory testing. Unjani Clinic George recently signed an MOU with the government to provide services such as family planning, baby vaccinations, public immunisation and pap smears.

A separate women’s health room is equipped for women-specific health services such as antenatal sonar, family planning visits, pap smears, antenatal first visits and breast examinations.

George serves a community of over 140 000 people, of whom around 45% earn at or below the minimum wage or are unemployed. The area has only seven state clinics and one state hospital.

“We serve mostly working people who are able to afford a minimal amount for excellent quality health care. We also assist people above the medium socio-economic level who cannot afford to go to their private GP and pay R400-R500 per visit,” Harker says. “For example, in a family of four, with two children, most of the medical aid benefits are done by the fourth or fifth month of the year.”


“There is now privacy, unlike in the community hall where the partitioning was made of cupboards” – Facility Health Care Staff, Glory Hill Clinic

“We can now provide better services to our people; we have a proper medicine dispensary for the first time.” – Sister in Charge, Glory Hill Clinic

SAFCOL: Glory Hill Clinic

Location: Mpumalanga, Graskop Community in the Thaba Chweu Municipality.

Project duration: Developing the site 2020 – 2021, Clinic Opening 2021 - ongoing

External Stakeholders: Tzaneng Treated Timbers, Department of Health, Thaba Chweu Local Municipality.

Project objectives: The provision of quality primary health care services to the community of Graskop.

Project deliverables: The construction of a state-of-the-art Graskop Clinic.

Resources employed: SAFCOL provided the project manager and invested R2 930 374.31

The Graskop Community were using an old community hall as a part-time clinic, that had no consultation rooms and only a shared toilet. The lack of appropriate clinic facilities triggered a collaborative project between the Mpumalanga Department of Health, Ehlanzeni District and SAFCOL.

The state-of-the-art clinic was completed in March 2021 and consists of six consulting rooms, a waiting area, a medicine dispensary area, ablution facilities, guardhouse, boardroom and kitchen. All consulting rooms are air-conditioned, with the air conditioners donated by Tzaneen Treated Timbers.

The new clinic provides quality primary health care services to more than 4 500 community members. The project also provided job creation opportunities, with 21 construction jobs created and 12 ongoing clinic jobs.

The facility has brought confidence to the community about quality Private/Public Partnership health care services. The increased number of consulting rooms have shortened waiting times and improved staff morale. The facility is also being used as a Covid-19 testing centre and has been registered as a vaccine centre as well.


Location: KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, communities neighbouring various Sappi operations


External Stakeholders: The Department of Health

Project objectives: Sappi Clinics provide support to employees and contractors by strategically placing Occupational and Primary Health Care Clinics at sites with the highest volume of employees. These clinics are manned by trained specialist staff to assist with day-to-day acute health care issues and manage chronic illnesses.

Project deliverables: Employees, especially those living in remote areas with limited health care resources, are provided with access to quality health care through initiatives driven in collaboration with private and state institutions.The Sappi Clinics provide various types of services that include HIV- and TB-testing, dental, vision and mental assessments, pap-smears, vaccinations and circumcision campaigns which are run from the worksite, which increases the uptake of the testing and improves long term management of conditions which require ongoing monitoring and care. The collaborative service with government institutions has reduced the cost to Sappi for the provision of HIV medication, and other medical interventions. Sappi covers the cost where the State is unable to do so and provides a valuable service, ensuring the reduction of pressure on the overstretched local services, saving them servicing time, administration and costs.

Covid-19In addition to the standard health services offered by the clinics, the current Covid-19 pandemic has been a challenge to all health facilities. The testing of Covid-19 cases was a hybridised effort of the State and Sappi resources, to ensure that the infected people were quickly and adequately cared for to reduce the risk of infection to anybody else.

Education was given to Peer Educators, and they were able to educate and skill the employees to

reduce risk and maximise their education on the novel virus to ensure the best outcomes in avoiding infection or causing the rest of the family to be infected, in addition to the provision of sanitiser and masks. Where needed, the employees were assisted with accommodation away from their communities or family to ensure that isolation could be maintained with no additional risk to the family cluster. Food parcels were given to people who were unable to purchase for themselves due to isolation restrictions. Care was provided by phone calls through the Nursing staff and Employee wellbeing staff to both employee patients and their family members on a regular basis, with additional support when needed for hospital admissions and more difficult cases.

Sappi Forests: Sappi Clinics


“It’s heartening to know that Sappi is instrumental in helping communities and its employees whenever there is a problem. One important person in Sappi that I have to mention is Robyn de Wet. She has been amazing during this time in aiding me with

professional and friendly advice. A truly fine human being” - Christle Kanniepen (GIS Analyst)

Sappi has embraced the national vision of ensuring that all eligible adults be vaccinated. We have embarked on a robust vaccination plan for all Sappi employees and have included the rollout to our contractor employees. Through the relationships with DOH, the Sappi Occupational Health team have assisted government mobile units to be dispatched to provide vaccinations to all willing and available Sappi and contractor

employees including their contacts and family members, reaching into the most rural and isolated places. We are pleased that because of our efforts, we have already reached an 85% participation rate inside our Sappi Forest workforce, thereby reducing the risk to individuals, the business as a whole and the greater South African economy.


Community Engagement and UpliftmentThe industry plays a major economic role in many rural communities, with these communities looking to FSA members for support, guidance and engage-ment on a broad spectrum of projects and initiatives, that aid in the devel-opment and growth of their communities. These projects build ties between communities, the private and public sector, and will ultimately build stronger communities for future generations.

Photo: NCT Forestry

Community Engagement and Upliftment Initiatives

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NCT Forestry: Upskilling our youth and our staff

PG Bison Safe Hub

Sappi Forests: The Sappi Abashintshi Programme

York Timbers: Theresa Willis Home of Hope p37

NCT replaces its office computers every three years. As part of its youth development initiative, NCT donated 10 of these pre-owned computers to the Nqabeni and Mfolozi high schools of KwaMnyathi area in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. These computers are aimed at assisting matriculants to become computer literate and gain a flair for technology when they advance to institutions of higher learning. The move to online learning by some institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic compromised learners coming from non-computer backgrounds. This gesture by NCT will assist underprivileged learners to not lag too far behind their peers.

In addition, NCT also opted to have a lucky draw where staff were randomly selected for a computer. General Manager, Danny Knoesen, chose numbers from a Google programme against the staff list. A total of sixteen all-in-one desktop computers were allocated to the lucky winners from Richards Bay mills, northern & southern tree farms and commercial departments.


NCT Forestry: Upskilling our youth and our staff

Location: KwaZulu-Natal

Project duration: January 2021

Project objectives: To improve accessibility to technology, through the donation of NCT office computers.

Project deliverables: Donation of ten computers to the Ngabeni and Mfolozi High Schools and the further donation of 16 computers to randomly selected NCT staff.

Resources employed: R38 000


Every year, NCT celebrates Mandela Day with an event, focussing on the environment or social needs. This year, however, our Mandela Day was overshadowed by the unrest and looting in July. NCT was unable to celebrate the day with vigour BUT banded together with staff and gathered 71 sets of winter warmers earmarked for the Inadi creche, in the Mafakatini area outside Pietermaritzburg. The area is cold, even in summer, so the winter warmers will be of great benefit to the little ones throughout the year.

NCT Forestry: For the Children – As Mandela would have it



External Stakeholders: Pietermaritzburg Community Chest

Project objectives: To bring warmth to the children of the Inadi Creche

Project deliverables: 71 sets of winter warmers

Resources employed: R5 000


NCT Forestry: For the Children – As Mandela would have it PG Bison Safe-Hub

Location: Western Cape, Knysna

Project duration: 2021-2025

External Stakeholders: Knysna Municipality, AMANDLA Social Enterprises

Project objectives: Safe-Hub Model has been designed to disrupt the intergenerational cycles of poverty, unemployment and inequality that trap young people growing up in disadvantaged communities.

Project deliverables: A Safe-Hub is a world-class infrastructure, which provides a physi-cally and emotionally safe space where young people access services, opportunities and support through sports, arts and culture-based programmes that focus on personal development, health, safety, education, accredited training and employability.

Resources employed: R3 000 000 per year for 5 years

Through healthy, strong relationships with well-trained role models (coaches and facilitators), young people are encouraged to explore their independence and individuality, build a core set of values, and strengthen their ability to deal with the challenges they face in everyday life.

As a platform for youth development, a Safe-Hub is a campus for local NGOs, government and service providers to offer holistic support for young people, their families and the community. At its core the Safe-Hubs’ infrastructure includes an Artificial Turf Sports Field connected to a Youth Centre, which enable the following core model versions:

Edu Football CurriculumThe Edu Football Curriculum guides the core programme Safe-Hubs which is aimed at young people aged five to eighteen years old. The curriculum provides age-appropriate, structured play and sporting activities to develop active

youth with positive attitudes and values; strong resilience and social competencies; and a good quality of life. It is a cradle-to-career pipeline intentionally designed to complement a young person’s journey to adulthood. (Programmes: 5-a-side football Leagues, Fair Play Points System, Life-Skills / Employability Training and Night Leagues)

Digital LabThe digital lab is run in partnership with R-Labs, including 40 workstations. The Safe-Hub’s Digital Lab creates an enabling environment that supports youth on a weekly basis with building their digital skills for the 21st Century.

Career Development CaféA youth café designed by young people, offering webbing, learning, networking, and exchange space with access to free WIFI Internet and further education, training and employment opportunities.


Shared Office SpacesNGOs, young entrepreneurs and community stakeholders from the private and public sectors will be able to make use of the office space.

Psychosocial Support & Health CentreOffering personal development planning, social and primary health services and counselling support, addressing young people’s emotional, social and primary

Community CollegeOffering academic support through extra-curricular tutoring and further accredited training and qualifications.

Youth Entrepreneurship SpacesOffering safe and professional commercial spaces and support programmes for young entrepreneurs and local start-ups.

Multi-Purpose Sports, Arts & Culture FacilitiesOffering a broad range of high-quality youth-focused activities at the Safe-Hub, including cricket, netball, karate, chess, aerobics, athletics, board games as well as arts and culture (dance, visual arts, choir, drama).

Local Economic Development Zone:LED Zone makes land and ICT-enabled business

spaces available to small, medium, and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs). This is based on two principles: a. the off-take of Safe-Hub youth into entry-level employment and accredited training opportunities, and b. revenue share models that support the long-term sustainability of the Safe-Hubs’ youth development programmes. The LED Zone further offer SMMEs formalization and capacity development support, and crowds in SMME development and training opportunities.

Green Solutions ZoneCutting across the Safe-Hub Precinct, Safe-Hubs establish a number of Off-Grid Solutions to provide access to water harvesting systems, renewable energy, waste management and food security through sustainable food resources (urban farming), through state-of-the-art on-site infrastructure and services.

The impact it is having or has had on those it is servicingThrough this, the Safe-Hub Campaign strives to replicate the ground-breaking impact the existing three Safe-Hubs have made in the areas of violent crime prevention, primary school education and youth employment in South Africa.

To make a meaningful difference, we first had to understand what challenges the various communities were dealing with and identify any potential opportunities. Accordingly, we commissioned a third party to conduct research in neighbouring Sappi communities. Following this, in 2015 a programme that identified social mobilisers, known as the Abashintshi was conceived.

This involved training formerly unemployed youth volunteers in the following:

• The Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) model, which aims to empower community members to use what they have, instead of focusing on what they need or don’t have.

• Youth life skills training.• Ifa Lethu (‘our heritage’) documents the

legacy of the elderly in the community to continue with successful practices and learn from mistakes.

• Holiday programmes and Sports Days for children.

The programme has achieved exponential growth over the past six years:

• 2015: 18 Abashintshi in 9 communities • 2016: expansion into Forestry communities:

36 Abashintshi in 16 communities

• 2017: expansion into mills and forests communities: 88 Abashintshi in 43 communities (first alumni)

• 2018: 116 Abashintshi in 55 communities • 2019: 126 Abashintshi in 63 communities • 2020: 124 Abashintshi in 60 communities • 2021: 108 Abashintshi in 58 communities.

The Abashintshi programme has now been fully adopted by Sappi in-house (previously managed by an external service provider) and we are helping to guide these youngsters on an individual basis to ensure that their unique skills and interests are identified – whether they be entrepreneurial, social or organisational.

Through this ongoing engagement we hope to achieve sustained access and to work closely with our communities; conducting asset mapping audits to identify gaps; determining potential investment areas and ensuring that Social Impact Programmes are targeted, tailored and relevant to creating shared value, positive social impact and promoting inclusivity and sustainability.

We use the Poverty Stoplight tool to determine socio-economic upliftment in the communities where the Abashintshi programme is active. Whilst there had been some improvement noticed over many of the indicators between surveys done


Sappi Forests: The Sappi Abashintshi ProgrammeLocation: KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, communities neighbouring various Sappi operations


Project objectives: The Abashintshi Social Mobilisation programme deals with bringing community change from within, and it is achieved by the ‘changers’ or ‘Abashintshi’ in IsiZulu - youngsters from various communities neighbouring Sappi all over the two provinces, who are tasked with being facilitators of change within their communities.

Project deliverables: A social mobilisation and community development initiative to involve the rural communities living in and around Sappi’s operations in taking responsibility for their futures; instead of waiting for work or development to arrive from outside.

between 2017 and 2019, there has been a noticeable drop in some indicators during the testing done in 2020, mostly attributable to the negative effects of Covid-19 as a decline in spending and minimised opportunities for entrepreneurship.

Similarly, Covid-19 negatively affected the very successful holiday programmes and sports days which had been held in communities up until 2019, which had to be cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19 related restrictions on crowds and events.


“My business is going very well because I receive orders every weekend. I am grateful for the Abashintshi in our community because they give us fresh ideas to use to uplift our livelihoods,” - Sibongile Lungwase from Mqadi who owns a started up a business

inspired by local Umshintshi

“Being part of the programme changed many things in my life, starting from the mindset, I know I have to concentrate more on the positive side like focusing on what I have rather than on what I don’t have, choosing to look at my glass HALF FULL not

HALF EMPTY. I have been able to fight all types of poverty using my skills, I have gained more information about how to run a business, since then I have never been broke. I Ntombikayise Ndlela, thank you for the opportunity and I am still working on

every knowledge I got from the Abashintshi programme” - Kayise Ndlela

“I’m so fortunate to be part of the Abashintshi programme because the knowledge that the programme has imparted upon me has been a great asset and I’ve grown into

someone I can respect (independent woman)” - Thandie Masina

“The Abashintshi programme is helpful in my life, it changed my lifestyle, I learnt to appreciate my life and start taking responsibility. I manage to make money on my own,

am my own boss, am setting big goals for myself” - Phindile Dlamini

Working in collaboration, York Timbers, AVSI and Jump Start Your Career wanted to create a more comfortable and homely atmosphere for the children. York Timbers donated the new appliances consisting of a stove, fridge, washing machine, microwave oven and TV. AVSI donated furniture which included tables, chairs, chest of drawers, vegetable racks, bathroom shelves and beds. Other items donated were books, bedding, lounge and bathroom, toiletries, interior paint and lunch. Jump Start Your Career provided labour to paint the interior of the home and donated masks, sanitiser, paint for the jungle gym, a desk and computer, sleeper couch, toys and plates.


York Timbers: Theresa Willis Home of Hope

Location: Mpumalanga, Harmony Hill, Sabie.


External Stakeholders: Assured Vocational Skills Institute (AVSI), Jump Start Your Career and individual donors.

Project objectives: To upgrade the Child and Youth Care Centre which caters for a maximum of 15 children between the ages of 4 to 18 years. The home provides for the immediate developmental, physical, emotional and other needs of abandoned, orphaned and abused children while in transitional care. The home prepares the children to be cared for by more permanent homes if they cannot be returned to their biological or extended families. The project objective was to make the home more comfortable for the children.


• General maintenance

• New appliances

• Items for the children

Resources employed: R20 000 worth of new appliances, with four York Timber employees assisting with installing the appliances, remaking beds, preparing and serving lunch to the children and caregivers.

SAFCOL: Dugudzivha Primary Agriculture Co-operative


Food SecuritySadly, food security is a major issue in rural South Africa with adults and children still going to bed hungry at night. Hunger negatively impacts performance both at work and at school, quality of life and long-term health. Many FSA members run a variety of initiatives that look to address food security in rural communities.

Photo: MTO Group

Food Security Initiatives

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Mondi Zimele: Food Security Programme

MTO Group: Vegetable Garden Project

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Sappi Forests: Agri-business Pilot Projects p44

Mondi Zimele appointed a full-time agricultural extension officer, Tholinhlanhla Dindi, to assist people to establish, maintain or improve their small farms and we connected farmers with markets for the sale of excess produce. “This landscape is excellent for farming and farms can produce from January to December,” said Ms Dindi. “It means that our farmers can supply in the off-season, which puts them in a good position for the market. Rainfall is sufficient and the soil quality is sandy and lightly acidic at times but very fertile at about 90% of our sites. We have applied dolomite lime to improve the soil pH at some plots.”

“Employment opportunities in rural areas are extremely limited and due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the situation has worsened,” explained Nelly Ndlovu, General Manager of Mondi Zimele. “Food security is dire in our communities, and we recognised that we needed to help optimise what is available, and in this case, it

is the available land”, she emphasised. Mondi Zimele supports local farmers on many levels – from training on soil preparation, planting, the application of fertiliser, to guidance on the best crops to plant for the available markets and crop rotation.


Mondi Zimele: Food Security Programme



Project objectives: Mondi Zimele’s grassroots food security and agricultural development programme assists communities to establish and improve small farming operations in the Mondi and SQF footprint areas in Zululand.

Project deliverables: Nine co-operatives and three individual farmers are currently involved with the programme, benefitting over 2 100 households across the region.

Since 2019, MTO embarked on a vegetable garden project in Tsitsikamma erecting 35 gardens for the local communities. The vegetable garden project has expanded into 560 gardens in 2020 and 600 vegetable gardens in 2021 and has since turned into a fully-fledged food security programme that is providing food to the 600 Tsitsikamma households – with approximately five members per household – in an area where the unemployment rate is at 50%.

“The first aim is subsistence,” said Ndlovu, “but we are identifying those with the potential to upscale their plots or farms to small businesses. We provide some basic business training on cash management and planning. We also work closely with Mondi and SQF CSI programmes to improve infrastructure, where possible, and

look to leverage government and development agency support.”

The programme’s success is evident in the empowerment of women and youth, who have been the driving force behind the programme. The end goal is to create sustainable livelihoods with the potential for growth and both social and economic upliftment.


MTO Group: Vegetable Garden Project

Location: Eastern Cape


Project objectives: To provide food security through the erection of vegetable gardens that serve the community.

Project deliverables: The erection of 600 vegetable gardens that service approximately 3 000 individuals in communities where unemployment is at 50%

16 individuals involved in the food gardens were selected by their communities to attend a three-month business training programme. Most of our graduates took what they have learnt back to their original gardens, applying it to increase productivity. However, one of the graduates from this programme wanted to take his training further, so MTO helped him fence and prepare land upon which he could farm and helped give him develop a business plan and access to markets, on the premise he would help create jobs for the local community and become an inspiration to other young people within his community.

“Planting is something I used to do with my father,” Andile Msizi says. When MTO funded his attendance at a crop production course, he could see the potential and embraced the chance to see what he could do with 8ha. He grows spinach, beetroot, cabbages and onions and sells them both to the local community and the Loerie vegetable market. Msizi is now looking to expand his business to the production of cattle feed, as there are a lot of livestock farms in the surrounding area that he could service. These are the kind of sustainable

social initiatives we now focus on, where you help one individual reach their potential and in turn, they help many more. It has a knock-on effect, with others who have done the training seeing the opportunity this individual has taken and wanting to get on board.

Forest View tunnelsIn partnership with Harkerville Agri and Forestry Projects, MTO is supporting a food-growing project in the Forest View community near Harkerville. MTO has supplied tunnels, as well as seedlings to the project. Like Msizi’s crop production enterprise, the Harkerville project serves to supply affordable food to families in the area, as well as spaza shops and restaurants in the area that support local supply chains.

With some shared infrastructure such as water tanks, the vegetable tunnels complement the Projects’ existing Honeybush cultivation enterprise.

School food gardens.MTO supplies seedlings to several school vegetable gardens, which are used to supplement the School Nutrition Programme (SNP).


Khuphukani Women Agricultural Co-operative, located in Redhill Village, eNgodini (outside Ermelo town) was established in 2011 by 26 local unemployed women in order to address food security. Khuphukani women agricultural co-operative plays a role in sustainable food production for the families of the beneficiaries, as well as the local community. The women grow a variety of vegetables on a 3-hectare plot and are currently producing cabbage, butternut, spinach, onions, lettuce, green pepper, maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beetroot, carrots,

tomatoes, chillies and green beans. The co-operative also plays a key role in rural development and rural employment and thus contributing to economic growth and poverty reduction. This is in alignment with the government’s focus on job creation and poverty alleviation.

Through this initiative and the support from SAFCOL, the project hopes to improve the quality of life for eNgodini community and address some of the socio-economic issues their community faces.


SAFCOL: Khuphukani Women Agricultural Co-operative

Location: Mpumalanga, Mpuluzi

Project duration: 2019-2020

External Stakeholders: Department of Agriculture

Project objectives: Improve food security, poverty reduction and create job creation/ opportunities.

Project deliverables: Leading supplier of freshly produced vegetable crops locally.

Resources employed: Technical support with the installation of irrigation systems. To date, R126 295 has been spent by SAFCOL on this initiative.

“The project has enabled us to send our children to tertiary institutions and some of them are working graduates.” – Chairperson of the Khuphukani Women Agriculture Co-operative

The project was initiated to curb poverty and address food security in the village of Lwamondo, with SAFCOL’s Entabeni plantation allocating a 6-ha piece of land for this project. The beneficiaries produce quality vegetables which they sell to the local retailers in Thohoyandou. The project produces vegetables including cabbages, onions, tomatoes, spinach, beetroot, green pepper, butternut, green beans and bananas. Since its inception, SAFCOL has supported the beneficiaries by procuring irrigation equipment, vegetable seeds, tools, pesticides and fertilizers to assist the project, as well as offering technical support.

Agriculture plays a key role in food security and poverty alleviation. The beneficiaries of the project have confirmed that the income generated from the project has assisted them to pay for tuition fees at tertiary institutions. They also have a livelihood that they wake up to every day as a result of the project.

The project also supports the national school’s nutrition programme by donating vegetables to nearby schools.

SAFCOL: Dugudzivha Primary Agriculture Co-operativeLocation: Limpopo, Lwamondo Village in Thohoyandou


External Stakeholders: Department of Agriculture – Extension Advisory Services

Project objectives: To become a viable, thriving and sustainable agricultural business that contributes to poverty alleviation, food security and job creation in the village and can supply diverse market food demand.

Project deliverables: Sustainable agricultural business, reliable income source for project members and participants, business growth through crop diversity, capacity to meet market demand.

Resources employed: Technical support, monitoring and evaluation, along with the provision of market linkage. The supply of agricultural equipment to the value of R176 355.

“I have been able to send my nephew and another young man to a TVET college to study Boiler Maker and Plumbing until N6 level. They have

both graduated, today they are trade certified artisan and plumber and one

works with us in the project while waiting for opportunities of what he

studied” - Anonymous


SAFCOL: Khuphukani Women Agricultural Co-operative

Given the limited work opportunities for the rural youth and women (in particular), Sappi has been seeking opportunities to provide access to land to emerging farmers, to not only start with subsistence farming, but to extend the reach into competitive agri-business ventures. There are also shared value opportunities for Sappi to investigate their own expansion into supplementary agri-business opportunities, by using these pilot projects as a testing ground for the market.

Pinewoods/ Mpophomeni areaSappi has provided a young man Nhlanipho Nzimande, owner of Ikhuze Farmer Pty Ltd. with access to just over 2ha of land. Not a newcomer to the field, this emerging young farmer brings with him some previous experience, so when he approached Sappi for access to land we saw it as an opportunity to gain some pilot project experience of our own in the agri-business field. The size of the plot allows him to plant enough produce to be competitive in the market and with no restrictions on the type of produce, and the potential for more land for planting, the


Sappi Forests: Agri-business Pilot Projects

Location: KwaZulu-Natal, Mpophomeni, Pinewoods, Mphithini and Shikishela


External Stakeholders: Farmusa; SOS, Cedara Department of Agriculture

Project objectives: Sappi has entered into a number of agricultural projects in its neighbouring communities, focusing on how rural youth and women, in particular, can benefit from having access to arable land for vegetable farming.

Project deliverables: To grow emerging farmers to fully fledged commercial farmers, with the potential of supplying produce to local and national food suppliers.

Resources employed: Sappi’s Forestry managers, Community Services officers and ESD department specialists all work together with partners (contactors, government departments and agencies) in training, development, guidance and advice regarding administrative and operational support and assistance.

success of the project relies on his commitment, something which is not lacking from his side!

The Mphithini Cooperative near Bulwer The Cooperative operates with 11 members, focusing on agriculture production specialising in sugar beans and maize production. These crops are seasonal, so the co-op members wanted to venture into vegetable production, that filled the gaps in-between. Leading the way is Ziningi Mazibuko, a Sappi-trained uMshintshi from Mphithini, who is currently studying marketing, and with advice from extension officers from the Department of Agriculture is assisting the Cooperative with admin duties and sourcing markets for their produce. Because the youth tend to consider farming being something for the older generation, they do not consider the potential there is in the agriculture field. Ziningi is set to change that mindset and is working hard to bring the youth into these community initiatives and to promote the plans of the Cooperative, to become commercial farmers, resulting in job creation within the community and contributing to economic growth and overall supporting food security in the area and the country.

Shikishela in MtubatubaIn 2018, Ms Ntombiyenkosi Mbuyazi and four other women started planting peanuts on a newly planted Sappi compartment close to

her community at Shikishela in Mtubatuba. Since then, Sappi has made more land available and sponsored seeds and there are currently 20 participants in the Palm Ridge project area.

Sappi sees this project as an excellent example of creating Shared Value, because whilst providing the community with free access to Sappi land, earning the participants some profit during harvest time, the costs for Sappi’s weed control activities get reduced, with the participants routinely doing weeding while they plant. So, not only does this have considerable saving implications for Sappi in view of its initial weeding activities but the roots of the peanut plants help to enrich the soil, as they have nitrogen fixing properties which can improve nitrogen requirements for the trees in the soil.

Through Sappi’s Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) Unit, the project participants are being assisted to register the business as a Co-operative, with the main goal to ensure sustainability of the project through taking advantage of opportunities including funding and securing the market so that it may grow and contribute to financial gains for the participants and their families.

The diversification of Sappi’s rural landholdings holds great potential to engage emerging farmers (especially youth and women), in joining hands to


“Let us work together to empower and contribute positively towards the South African food system and inspire

young farmers everywhere of the possibility for success in agriculture.” –

Nhlanipho Nzimande

“The women here are very proud of this project, and they have much to

celebrate. With money made from this initiative of planting groundnuts we are able to pay our children’s school fees,”

-Ms Ntombiyenkosi Mbuyazi

advance economic transformation. The land will be leased to farmers at a nominal fee, and the stability, commitment and performance of participants will determine the success of the projects going forward. Sappi, will provide assistance, partnerships and training in entrepreneurship, governance issues, obtaining food safety certification, transport and warehousing – all vital elements to ensure fresh produce for consumers; and sustainability for the programmes.


Enterprise and Supplier DevelopmentThe forestry industry was one of the few industries to quickly embrace the mutual benefits of enterprise and supplier development, realizing that remaining healthy in business required a deliberate investment in smaller suppliers. As early as 1983, well before the promulgation of the B-BBEE Act in 2005 which led to the development of the Forestry Sector Transformation Charter, forestry companies started assisting communities to establish their tree-farming businesses. This was done mainly to increase the timber basket feeding the processing plants. Up to today, the process continues and has evolved to create all forms of enterprises ranging from silviculture, harvesting and transport contractors servicing timber growers, to enterprises that deliver numerous products and services to forestry companies and neighbouring communities.

Photo: York Timbers

Enterprise and Supplier Development Initiatives

Mondi Zimele: Small Timber Growers Programme

Sappi Forests: Sappi Khulisa

York Timbers:Clothing Manufacturing Learnership Programme

York Timbers: DM Creative Equipment Contribution


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Merensky Timber: Mkomasi Woodwork Centre

MTO Group: Sewing Initiative

Since October 2018, Singisi Forests Products (SFP) has been running a Woodwork Training Centre as part of an initiative to empower unskilled and unemployed community members in the areas surrounding its operations. The purpose of this programme is to assist community members with the skills to become entrepreneurs or to enter the formal employment sector as carpenters. The centre provides basic woodwork training and entrepreneurship skills. The training programme runs for a period of 6 weeks. Over the last three years that the centre has been in operation, 116 learners have been successfully trained.

Two graduates who were trained at the centre have gained formal employment with Singisi Forests Products as carpenters. Four previous learners have also been employed by the company for woodwork-related projects for the schools. Some learners are earning a reliable income as entrepreneurs by manufacturing

Mondi Zimele: Small Timber Growers Programme

Location: KwaZulu-Natal, Community Forestry Operations surrounding Richards Bay Mill operations.

Project duration: 2013 - onwards

External Stakeholders: Awethu and Khulanathi

and selling wooden items to their communities. Some learners are manufacturing items for their households and own consumption.

On completion of the recent training course, our Singisi Forests Products contractors donated power tools to the learners to use at home. To ensure continuity, Singisi Forests Products provides post-training development support by providing off-cut timber and tools.





Project duration: May 2018 - ongoing

Project objectives: To provide unemployed members of the local communities with an opportunity to be upskilled and grow their business as carpenters.

Project deliverables: The transfer of skills and development of enterprises.

While Covid-19 presented unexpected turmoil for some people, it also birthed opportunities. MTO recruited a group of women who were sewing school uniforms for a living, and donated fabric for them to manufacture and supply the company with cloth masks for its operations staff and other neighbouring businesses. The company assisted the women to register as a business entity as that would help them attract new partnerships and markets. The newly registered business entity was linked with

the Clothing Technology Station of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) to assist the aspiring entrepreneurs with budgeting, record keeping, production planning and other enterprise management skills, in addition to specialised technical production training.

In 2021 we linked Coldstream Women on the Move with our silviculture contractors. These forestry SMMEs are up-and-running beneficiaries of MTO’s enterprise development policies and

Location: Coldstream, Tsitsikamma Area

Project duration: 2020 - onwards

External Stakeholders: Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Project objectives: Encourage entrepreneurship and create job opportunities for women within the forestry communities.

Project deliverables: PPE manufacturing women-owned business; Business skills training; Access to market.

Mondi Zimele aims to increase the availability of sustainable, competitive fibre for Mondi Mills by empowering surrounding communities and small growers, through our small timber growers’ programme. This is achieved by providing them with market, seedlings and support.

Since the programme’s inception in 2013, 3 200 small timber growers have participated, delivering 758 000 tons of timber to Mondi’s Richards Bay Mill. Mondi Zimele has also implemented an FSC Group Scheme through the CMO group for these growers, with 25 growers on-board.

“My work is significant, it has meaning. I am providing jobs and contributing to the economy.” – Ben Shange

“Forestry has changed my life, I went from living in a mud hut to building this homestead” – Qondeni Ngcobo

Project objectives: Mondi Zimele aims to increase the availability of sustainable, competitive fibre for Mondi Mills by empowering surrounding communities and small growers, through our small timber growers’ programme.

Project deliverables: Providing these Small Growers with market, seedlings and support to improve the productivity of their woodlots.


MTO: Sewing Initiative

Sappi Forests: Sappi KhulisaLocation: Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, communities neighbouring various Sappi operations. Manguzi near Khosi Bay in the north to Port Edward in the South, inland as far as Ixopo and Nongoma.


External Stakeholders: Some external training providers.

Project objectives: Sappi Khulisa (meaning ‘Grow’) was started in KwaZulu-Natal in1983 as a tree-farming scheme aimed at subsistence farmers and which involved only three farmers working eight hectares of land. Today, it is a successful supplier and entrepreneurship development model contributing towards sustainable livelihoods in rural areas. Since starting up, Sappi Khulisa has also expanded to include community forestry projects and forestry programmes handed to land-reform beneficiaries with projects in the Eastern Cape near the towns of Bizana and Lusikisiki.

In order to service our global customer base, Sappi needs to ensure a sustainable supply of wood fibre to its mills. In South Africa, timber grown in its own plantations is produced by the forestry division of the company, but this timber supply needs to be supplemented. The Khulisa programme provides this quality timber to the business at market-related prices.

“We’re so privileged that MTO gave us this opportunity because most of us are unemployed, and those who have jobs earn very little. This helps us a lot. This is very good

for us because now we can put bread on the table.” - Elsie Mosoka

practices. In a reciprocal gesture, they have in turn given Women on the Move a business opportunity by placing an order of 100 PPE suits (overalls). The CPUT has supplied the enterprise with three industrial sewing machines, and staff to mentor them, as the newly established enterprise produces its first big order. MTO will continue to assist this SMME with accessing potential markets to ensure financial sustainability.

Flepu Hard WorkersIn one capacity or another, Vuyisile Flepu has spent a lifetime working in Forestry. He took the gap to make the switch from employee to entrepreneur in 2003 when he took on a short contract for the (then) Department of Environmental Affairs’ Working for Water Programme. Now an MTO

entrepreneurship development success story, he has since 2007 worked first as a sub-contractor, then a contractor and now employs 105 people, as well as sub-contracting.

Flepu’s growth as an entrepreneur has been supported by training in business and production management, and ongoing consultation and advice from initiatives such as Productivity SA.

He is one of the business owners that have ordered protective clothing from the newly established local sewing enterprise, Coldstream Women on the Move. It is this type of long-term commitment to the development of individuals that MTO actively pursues through its Enterprise and Supplier Development programme.


Project deliverables: Sappi provides quality seedlings, using site-specific species for best yield. These seedlings are produced at Sappi’s nurseries and are genetically superior thanks to years of research.

• A qualified team of dedicated Sappi Khulisa foresters provides extension services offering expert advice to growers on a continuous basis.

• With the international demand for its products growing rapidly, Sappi guarantees a secure future market for buying timber from growers at fair, market-related prices.

• An interest-free loan is provided to cover all farming input costs, including annual maintenance of the plantations until harvesting.

• Advances are paid to growers for work carried out throughout the generally 8-10 year growing cycle.

• Growers’ associations are encouraged to increase collaboration between growers, contractors and Sappi, maximising the opportunities available in the Forestry Value Chain; this means that the importance of developing not only the growers but also the rest of the participants in the value chain (silviculture and harvesting contractors, short-haul and long-haul transporters and other support services) are being recognised and included.

• Extensive training is offered to these Value Chain participants through the Sappi Ulwazi training programme, which is aimed at improving technical silviculture and harvesting practices to increase yields and profitability, as well as focusing on improving business acumen, life skills and entrepreneurship.

Resources employed: Sappi employs 32 full-time foresters and support personnel in its Khulisa department.


York Timbers: Clothing Manufacturing Learnership Programme

Location: Mpumalanga, Jessievale

Project duration: October 2020 – January 2022

External Stakeholders: Training provider, Workplace and Entrepreneurship Talent Solutions (WETS)

Project objectives: To assist local unemployed community members to achieve an accredited qualification that capacitates them with knowledge and skills in clothing manufacturing processes. It is envisaged that the competent learners will be equipped to start their own business upon completion of the learnership, as there is a high rate of unemployment in the area.

Project deliverables: For 32 learners to gain a Certificate in Clothing manufacturing processes, NQF level 1, 120 credits.

Resources employed: R416 000 to date with a further R164 000 estimated to take the project to completion.

The total area managed currently in the programme is 32 660 hectares. In 2020, under this programme, 284 038 tons of timber worth some ZAR232 million was delivered to our operations. This figure is lower than the 2019’s figures of 425 001 tons worth ZAR382 million. Since 1995, a total volume of 4 505 979 tons to the value of ZAR2.7 billion has been purchased from small growers under this programme.

Currently, the programme involves over 3,644 growers and approximately 103 small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) who are involved in silviculture, harvesting, loading, short- and long-haul activities. The initiative has successfully uplifted many impoverished communities in Southern Africa, with many growers benefitting financially over the years, creating shared value for the company and the participants in the programme.

“It brings me great happiness to have three qualified teachers in our household. I live in a decent house for someone my age, which was all built through my Sappi Khulisa profits. My success would not have been possible if it was not for the Sappi Khulisa team. They

regularly keep in contact and physically visit me to drop off weighbridge tickets and offer me great advice on how to grow my forestry business. With forestry, once you get in, you

will never want to come out – the benefits are worth working hard for!” - Bhekekile Ngema, 81, from Ngudwini, in the Zululand South District.

“I am very thankful to the Sappi team for always providing us with advice and forestry knowledge. They are very helpful and always encourage us to take good care of our plots because that is how you make good profits. I would advise other Khulisa suppliers to love their work and treat their plots as a fixed deposit, that will bear interest when you harvest.

Make full use of the land you have, and you will gain success!” - Doris Mdladla (59)


York Timbers: Clothing Manufacturing Learnership Programme

The learners attend theory and practical classes daily. Theory classes consist of communication and mathematical literacy, business and entrepreneurial skills. The learners are taught to make garments such as skirts, shirts, school tunics

“I am gaining the ability to start and run a business and adapt to a changing business environment, participate and work effectively in the workplace, effective communication

skills, Entrepreneurship and develop entrepreneurial qualities” - Thabile Mavuso.

Location: Mpumalanga, Simile and Sabie communities


Project objectives: To provide DM Creative with assistance to grow their business and venture into new markets.

Project deliverables: York Timbers donated power tools and personal protective equipment to the business.

Resources employed: Donation of power tools to the value of R3 588.

DM Creative is a small business which manufactures furniture for homes, offices and restaurants utilising wood pallets and pine timber. The business manufactures various types of tables, chairs and benches, headboards, bedside cabinets and chest of drawers. The business also has tables, chairs and benches which can be hired for functions. The business partners were unemployed youth who sought to find employment for themselves and others, and thus started the business in the midst of lockdown.

and cloth facemasks as well as tray cloths and school bags using sewing machines during the practical classes. The learners are grateful to have the opportunity to learn skills that will assist them in providing for their families.

York Timbers: DM Creative Equipment Contribution



Community InfrastructureForestry is associated with the maintenance of public roads, the construc-tion and maintenance of low-profile bridges in the rural landscape, a service offered at no cost to local municipalities. The construction of educational facilities like classrooms, laboratories and libraries in the deep rural spaces and afforested areas is normally accepted as the role played by corporate forestry. However, even private timber farmers support the development of community and residential infrastructure like permanent housing and churches.

Photo: Sappi

Community Infrastructure Initiatives

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Merensky Timber: Village Upgrade

NCT Forest: Water for Mtunzini

Sappi Forests: Sappi Support for Rural Schools

Merensky’s Community Development Department embarked on a village upgrade drive aimed at upgrading employee villages together with completing maintenance projects. This included the installation of additional streetlights, security gates, new taps, painting of houses and repairing roofs where necessary. During these difficult times, it improved morale and the living conditions of staff.


Merensky Timber: Village Upgrades

Merensky Timber: Village Upgrades



Project objectives: To improve the well-being of employees and maintain the quality of their housing.

Project deliverables: Village upgrade.

NCT Forestry: Water for Mtunzini


Project duration: December 2020 – May 2021

Project objectives: To provide cost-effective sanitation for the Mtunzini Community.

Project deliverables: A gravity-fed water source, with 13 outlet points and two quick-fill overhead points for firefighting.

Resources employed: Over R130 000.

The Mtunzini community-owned land (+-100ha) is situated within Baynesfield Estate outside Pietermaritzburg and surrounded by the NCT Baynesfield Timber Trust lease.

Initially, with the availability of electricity and the option of solar power, pumping water reliant on a power supply proved very costly and would also require continual servicing and maintenance, which considering the environment the water project was to be placed in, was not the best option.

In conjunction with Baynesfield Estate, the possibility of a gravity system was investigated. Over three kilometres of piping was required, which although costly, the costs and advantages far outweighed those of a mechanically driven water supply.

The need for sanitation was further necessitated by Covid-19 protocols of regular hygiene and washing. Government intervention proved to be a slow process so to solve their water problem, NCT intervened.

Baynesfield Estate took on the project management. This allowed NCT to continue with the project by reducing the need to appoint a consultant for a project of this calibre and to deliver close to budget parameters.

There are 13 water points from which the community can collect water. In addition, two quick-fill overhead points were added to the system for fire protection and other farm uses, making this project, in terms of water delivery, a win/win situation for NCT and the community. NCT and Joseph Baynes Estate employ labour from the Mtunzini community.


Location: KwaZulu-Natal, Winterton (and various others)


External Stakeholders: Farmusa

Project objectives: Knowing that some of our communities are severely challenged when it comes to access to clean water and sanitation, we have partnered with local contractors to assist with providing flushing toilets. There are still thousands of learners in South Africa that are subjected to using pit latrine toilets, a fact that continues to highlight the structural inadequacies of many schools, especially in our surrounding communities.

Project deliverables: The replacement of pit latrine toilets at schools with flushing toilets.

Resources employed: Sappi Forestry and Stakeholder Relations Teams worked together with contractors to obtain quotes and oversee the installation.

Sappi is often approached by neighbouring communities to assist with providing infrastructure at local schools, community halls and clinics. As a rule, Sappi does not build schools, classrooms, halls, etc although, in the light of the plight of certain schools with needs relating to lack of water and sanitation, and because of Sappi’s focus on SDG6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), Sappi has provided assistance.

The Sappi Forests Midlands team partnered with one of its contractors, Farmusa, in the Winterton area, when they replaced the Ezinyonyana Primary School’s dilapidated pit latrine toilets with decent flushing toilets.

Flushing toilets provide the children at the Ezinyonyana Primary School with the dignity of having decent ablutions with access to decent sanitation. The Ezinyonyana Primary School has

several children from under-resourced households, who often struggle to get school essentials. Sappi and Farmusa ’s donation to the school will go a long way in ensuring that children at the school will have decent and good hygiene ablution facilities for many years to come.


Sappi Forests: Sappi Support for Rural Schools

EnvironmentThe forestry landscape is a patchwork in nature, with approximately 30% of forestry land remaining permanently unplanted. This includes great swathes of natural and semi-natural ecosystems, including over 61 000 hectares of indigenous forests, 171 000 hectares of grassland and just under 60 000 hectares of waterbodies that are all managed, monitored and maintained by the forestry industry. Properly developed and managed, these natural areas in the heart of our plantations could have a central role in the protection and conservation of ecological services and biodiversity. FSA members realise this and have put in place strategic partnerships with government departments, environmental NGOs and research institutes to ensure these natural spaces in their landholdings are managed correctly for the benefit of future generations.


Photo: Sappi

Environmental Initiatives

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Merensky Timber: Arbor Week

Sappi Forests: Sappi/WWF-SA Water Stewardship Collaboration

Merensky planted 207 indigenous trees at their various sites in celebration of Arbor Week. Over 300 indigenous trees were also distributed amongst stakeholders and more than 5 000 seeds distributed to staff members. This initiative was part of the Merensky drive to educate local communities and other key stakeholders on the important role that trees play in our environment and economy. The Arbour Day initiative also focussed on the education of learners in local schools on the use and protection of trees and our forests from fires.

Sappi Forests: Sappi/WWF-SA Water Stewardship CollaborationLocation: KwaZulu-Natal, uMkhomazi Catchment Area

Project duration: July 2021 - ongoing

External Stakeholders: WWF

Project objectives: Sappi has entered a Water Stewardship collaboration with WWF-SA which aims to protect, conserve and manage the water needs and usage in the uMkhomazi catchment area. This partnership with WWF-SA enables us to improve our understanding of the water resource needs in the catchment and through proactively partnering with stakeholders in the catchment, we can address the changing water needs of businesses and communities of the uMkhomazi.

Project deliverables: Understanding the water needs, uses and stakeholders involved in the uMkhomazi catchment area, providing a platform for multi-stakeholder engagement, addressing some of the misconceptions around plantation water use, developing a water roadmap for the stakeholders in the catchment area, conserving and protecting our freshwater resources in the catchment and creating green jobs that promote sustainable livelihoods.


Merensky: Arbor WeekLocation: All Provinces

Project duration: September 2021

Project objectives: To plant additional indigenous trees, to further decarbonise the environment in our quest ‘to do good’.

Project deliverables: Planting of over 200 indigenous trees and the distribution of 300 indigenous trees and 5 000 seed packs.

Resources employed: Indigenous trees, seedlings and labour and education sessions.

“The partnership with Sappi is crucial, as WWF cannot work on its own to secure these important Strategic Water Source Areas. It is only through collaborative partnerships with corporates such as Sappi, who are also large landowners, that we can begin to support a social change process for improved governance and management of our

water resources at a landscape and catchment level such as in the uMkhomazi. This will ensure that in the future we will have some water, for everybody, forever”.

David Lindley, WWF-SA Partnership Manager

Water is essential for our timber plantation productivity, but we are also very aware of the effects of trees on water resources. While forestry is responsible for only around 3% of the country’s water use, we still make every effort to reduce our impact on water resources.

We promote water stewardship as a key part of our forestry management and make every effort to reduce the impacts of our forestry activities on water resources. Because we recognise the impact our plantations can have in the uMkhomazi catchment and on freshwater ecosystems, such as wetlands and rivers, especially if they are not well managed, Sappi has taken this proactive step towards creating a better understanding and management of our water resources.

A key component of the partnership is multi-stakeholder engagement in the catchment. Coordinated and facilitated engagement of key stakeholders (landowners, organs of state, local government and corporates) will provide a platform for open dialogue regarding water resources in the catchment enabling the different stakeholders to understand each other’s needs. This engagement will also be an opportunity for plantation forestry to highlight the already existing initiatives being undertaken on plantations to secure water resources and collaborate with other stakeholders to further address areas of

concern. The development of a water roadmap for the uMkhomazi catchment which is inclusive of all stakeholder needs is an important outcome of the partnership.

The green jobs opportunity in this partnership’s activities (alien invasive plant clearing), is also fully aligned with our dedication to Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) that promotes sustainable livelihoods through capacity building of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This collaboration will also address some of the misconceptions around plantation water use. While it is too soon to determine what the impacts will be, the collaboration is aimed at ensuring that there will be sufficient water at an acceptable level of assurance and quality for all stakeholders in the catchment area. This can only be achieved through multi-stakeholder collaboration.


“The partnership with Sappi is crucial, as WWF cannot work on its own to secure these important Strategic Water Source Areas. It is only through collaborative partnerships with corporates such as Sappi, who are also large landowners, that we can begin to support a social change process for improved governance and management of our

water resources at a landscape and catchment level such as in the uMkhomazi. This will ensure that in the future we will have some water, for everybody, forever”.

David Lindley, WWF-SA Partnership Manager

Photo Sappi


RecreationForestry spaces provide many forms of outdoor recreation including hiking trails, mountain bike routes, bird watching, camping and other forms of accommodation as well as environmental education opportunities. Globally, we are becoming increasingly aware of the important role being outdoors in nature plays in our mental and physical wellbeing. The forestry landscape offers a myriad of outdoor opportunities, for both young and old, that promote wellbeing.

Recreation Initiatives

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What started as the Sappi Mountain Bike Project, initiated in August 2011, has grown to incorporate walking and running trails and is now known as the Sappi Trails programme. The agreements and systems that have been put in place to make riding, running or walking trails on Sappi’s properties a safer and more enjoyable experience, fulfil many functions. As sustainability becomes increasingly more relevant in a world where people are learning just how vital it is to maintain their health and a deep-rooted connection with the natural environment, bikes are a positive symbol of sustainability signaling harmony between responsible production and consumption, people and the planet.

These are pillars of Sappi’s business and fundamental to the company’s commitment to the circular economy. So besides providing access to our land for people to enjoy the benefits of how we balance the one-third of our unplanted landholdings that are preserved for biodiversity, in conjunction with the working parts of our plantations, we also work with our trail partners to ensure that the trail networks


Sappi Forests: The Sappi Trails Programme

Location: KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, communities neighbouring various Sappi operations including Karkloof, Howick and Barberton.


External Stakeholders: Club custodians.

Project objectives: Responsible management of recreational access to Sappi land, a well-managed renewable resource, allows for the thriving of individuals, organisations and communities surrounding Sappi forests, without compromising the health of the planet.

Project deliverables: Through collaboration and development of strategic partnerships, we will grow the positive economic impacts of recreational and event access to Sappi land.

Resources employed: Sappi employs a consultant who manages all relationships between custodians of the various recreational clubs on its behalf.

result in broad-based economic beneficiation supporting SDG8 – which aims to provide decent work and economic growth.

Sappi Southern Africa’s accommodating attitude towards the need for beautiful open spaces in which to build trails came naturally and dovetails seamlessly with its 2025 targets, which are aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Sappi’s Trail Programme - which has resulted in partnerships with trail custodians including the Karkloof Country Club, Nelson Mandela Capture Site Trails and Cathkin Trails Club in KwaZulu-Natal and Mankele Mountain Biking and Tranquilitas in Mpumalanga – align neatly with one of the SDGs prioritised by Sappi, being SDG 15 – Life on Land. Through focusing on this SDG, we aim to promote the sustainable use of our ecosystems, along with our commitment to preserving biodiversity which we do by leaving 30% of our landholdings unplanted and by managing seven nature reserves and 160 Important Conservation Areas, to name but some of the measures being taken. To read more about these interventions: www.sappi.com/managing-for-biodiversity.

With the focus of the Trails Programme shifting from being risk management to a collaboration with the trail custodians such as the Karkloof Country Club and others, they are now also embracing the objective of Creating Shared Value, in line with Sappi’s focus. In the case of the Karkloof, this has resulted in the support of schools such as Hawkstone Primary which now has a dedicated Early Childhood Development teacher whose salary is funded by the Country Club. It has also led to the development of the Karkloof Adventure Tourism Incubator (Karkloof ATI) out of which Nguni Trails (Pty) Ltd was established. The Nguni Trails team is now contracted by the Club to provide trail building and maintenance services. The trails team has received formal training in numerous trail building and other skills necessary to perform their tasks and they have also been equipped with machinery and tools for this purpose. The Karkloof Club now employs 10 staff over and above the Nguni team which is made up of three people.

Following Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, people’s desire to connect with nature has increased and


the Karkloof Country Club has seen its annual membership and day visitor numbers double by February 2021; many of the runners and walkers. Dedicated trail running and walking routes have been introduced, especially to sites such as the Karkloof Falls, renowned for its scenic beauty.

The Nelson Mandela Capture Site (NMCS) Trails and Cathkin Trails Club are also trail custodians or partners of Sappi’s in KZN, doing a fantastic job of establishing networks that offer a blend of beginner to advanced trails through picturesque landscapes in the Lions River District of the Midlands and the Northern Drakensberg.

Mankele (near Sudwala Caves) and Tranquilitas (Near Waterval Boven) are Sappi’s current partners in Mpumalanga, offering an exciting range of riding and running trails as well as accommodation and recreational facilities,

also catering for families with young children. Mankele have six full-time employees and employ an additional 12 people on a part-time basis, all from the local community. Mankele plans to expand on its Shared Value Plan in the coming years by providing guiding and trail building training to members of their team. The Tranquilitas trails are equally impressive and enjoyable and offer great riding opportunities and excellent accommodation.

Research by Tourism KZN has shown that the annual Sappi-sponsored Karkloof event creates a total economic impact of R6,88million, and recreational riding has grown to provide an overall annual economic impact of R231million in the region.

“The Karkloof Country Club’s long-term partnership with Sappi has allowed the club to develop the country’s best trail network. The Club’s trails programme now costs just over R1 million per year, spent on the employment of people

year-round, for the construction and maintenance of the network. The employment of these people from our community means so much to them

and their families”Andrew Nicholson, Chairman, Karkloof Country Club


Photo: NCT Forestry


Disaster ResponseWe are living in unprecedented times. The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions have challenged the provision of health care, supply chains and world economies and resulted in a massive loss of life across the globe. Closer to home, civil unrest has further destabilized commu-nities and economies that were already struggling because of the pandemic. In response, many forestry businesses have launched some form of disaster response initiative, stepping up when the communities they neighbour need them the most. With the ongoing threat of further Covid-19 waves and the impact of climate change being felt more acutely, Disaster Response is likely to become a permanent focus area for CSR initia-tives going forwards.

Disaster Response Initiatives

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Mondi Zimele: COVID-19 SME Support Fund

NCT Forest: Caring from the community in a pandemic year

Sappi Forests: Covid-19 and Unrest Relief

Many small businesses faced cashflow constraints and struggled to sustain the employment of staff. Mondi Zimele provided discounted loan funding and offered deferred payment holidays to existing investees to support cashflow constraints. Eleven businesses received relief loan funding support and deferred loan payments. This resulted in the preservation of more than 424 permanent and 75 temporary jobs, as well as the creation of 208 new temporary jobs.

Reducing costs and finding ways to increase productivity and efficiencies was key for many

of these businesses, as was flexibility in the face of the changing business environment. Many of the businesses focused on training staff, saving jobs and retaining key staff while protecting staff morale in instances of retrenchments.

The businesses reviewed all non-essential services, with some services brought in-house and staff upskilled to enable them to conduct additional job requirements. Many businesses reviewed their resources and processes and made changes that better utilised resources and ensure efficiency and productivity gains.

“We greatly appreciate the assistance of Mondi Zimele and for granting us the loan. The funds received allowed us to maintain our operations and help sustain

jobs throughout the current Covid-19 pandemic.” - Business Owner


Mondi Zimele: Covid-19 SME Support Fund


Project duration: April 2020 – December 2021

Project objectives: To make available business support services, which includes financial support at very favourable interest rates to approved Mondi South Africa (MSA) suppliers to help ensure the sustainability of SMME’s that are critical to MSA’s value chain. The recent civil unrests combined with the Covid-19 pandemic, have led to significant challenges which continue to threaten business and economic progress. This has resulted in numerous businesses being adversely affected, especially SMME’s, which has a negative impact on the sustainability of jobs.

Project deliverables: Mondi Zimele will provide business support to the applicants together with discounted loan funding support at preferential rates to help ensure the sustainability of SMME’s that are critical to MSA’s value chain.

NCT Forestry: Charity begins at home



Project objectives: To provide much-needed food relief to own staff due to shortage of basic needs as a result of unrest and looting in KZN.

Project deliverables: The provision of over 600 food parcels and vouchers.

Resources employed: Over R65 000.

NCT came to the fore and provided food parcels to the staff at Tree Farming Division (320) and Durban & Richards Bay wood chipping mills (300) who live mainly in rural areas where food procurement was difficult. Vouchers were offered to cleaning staff at head office. Staff have expressed their gratitude to the management for this initiative.


Location: Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal

Project duration: March – October 2020

External Stakeholders: SAME Foundation, Pietermaritzburg Community Chest, the Lunch Box Fund, Singakwenza Education and Health.

Project objectives: To provide much-needed food relief, personal protective equipment, hospital beds and ventilators to disadvantaged communities at short notice during an unprecedented pandemic year.

SAME Foundation (NCT contribution - R250 000)– Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Gauteng – hospital beds & ventilators. NCT was one of the first corporates to respond in March 2020. A total of R1.5 million was raised by the Foundation to equip the hospital for Covid-19 patients.

Pietermaritzburg Community Chest (NCT contribution - R100 000)

• Mama Ntombi Community Project, Ezinketheni informal settlement (Copesville, Pietermaritzburg)

• PMB Benevolent Society – poverty alleviation – food & clothing.

Durban Community Chest (NCT contribution - R100 000) – Food relief & PPE to 11 projects in the greater Durban area:

• Durban Hospice for Women (Durban)• Enthembeni Crisis Centre (KwaNdengezi)• KwaMashu Child & Family Welfare Society

(KwaMashu)• Lulisandla Social Outreach Project

(Ntshongweni)• Ilungelo Labadala (Inanda)• Merewent Cheshire Homes (Durban)• Molweni Zimele Centre for mentally &

physically challenged children (Lower Langefontein)

• Sahara Centre for abused women (Phoenix)• Sonke Care Centre for disabled children

(KwaNdengezi)

• St Theresa’s home for children (Durban)• Verulam frail & day care centre (Verulam)

Lunch Box Fund (in conjunction LETCEE) (NCT contribution – R145 000) – food relief to 553 children in ECD’s as well as home groups in the Njengabantu area of Greytown.

Singakwenza Education and Health (NCT contribution – R10 000) – mobile wash basins to four creches (three in Bergville and one in Mpophomeni (Howick).In all cases, there has been a knock-on effect to flatten the curve and prevent the spread of the virus and alleviate food supplies among the poorest of the poor.


NCT Forestry: Caring for the Community in a Pandemic Year


NCT Forestry: Caring for the Community in a Pandemic Year

In an effort to provide some relief during the Covid-19 global pandemic, Sappi Southern Africa made available several donations of scarce items such as hand sanitiser, face masks, nutritional porridge and paper products to support the most vulnerable during these extraordinary times.

Following countrywide shortages in the supply of hand sanitiser, Sappi’s science and research centre based in Pretoria was able to refocus its efforts to produce the company’s first prototype hand sanitiser, enabling Sappi to distribute the sanitiser to more than 80 community clinics and health care centres in the rural and peri-urban areas of KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.

Sappi Forests: Covid-19 and Unrest Relief

Location: KwaZulu-Natal & Mpumalanga communities neighbouring various Sappi operations


External Stakeholders: The Southern Lodestar Foundation, Spar Group and Savithi Trading.

Project objectives: The immediate nutritional and personal protection needs of neighbouring communities were highlighted during 2020 with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Partnerships were formed to provide immediate support and relief to these communities. During the 2021 unrest in KZN, this support was again extended when food supply chains were interrupted due to looting. Sappi will be seeking longer-term sustainable solutions with partners like the Department of Social Development.


• 34,000 litres of hand sanitiser manufactured and distributed

• 25,000 surgical masks procured for community clinics and healthcare centres in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.

• 55,200 cloth masks dispatched from Saiccor Skills Centre.

• Gloves and hand soap sourced by Procurement and donated to healthcare workers and vulnerable communities.

• 90,000kg of nutritional A+ instant porridge distributed to vulnerable communities in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. (Covid & Unrest)

• ZAR35,000 to the Solidarity Fund

• 3,000 boxes of Typek office paper donated to the KZN Department of Education for future distribution.

Resources employed: Sappi Forest personnel worked with contractor partners and local health care workers and social workers.


An initial shortage in the required PPE for health practitioners prompted Sappi to procure 15,000 surgical masks for community clinics and health care centres in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. Sappi also procured 19,000 cloth masks for own employees and contractors. The Sappi Skills Centre at its Saiccor Mill in Umkomaas deployed six apprentices, to make cloth masks.

Sappi also entered into a partnership with the Southern Lodestar Foundation and the Spar Group, for the distribution of much needed nutritional porridge, distributing 60,000kgs of A+ instant porridge to vulnerable communities in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.

During the 2021 unrest in KZN, this support was again extended when food supply chains were interrupted due to looting and this outreach programme was again activated and helped to address the food shortages that occurred following the riots in KZN, providing immediate relief and sustenance to neighbouring communities, with the donation of a further 30,000kg of porridge.

Going forward, Sappi will be seeking longer-term sustainable solutions with partners like the Department of Social Development for Disaster Relief efforts of this nature.

www.forestrysouthafrica.co.zaInstagram: @forestry_explainedEnquiries: [email protected]

Forestry South Africa

www.forestrysouthafrica.co.za

Contact: [email protected]

CORPORATE SOCIAL INVESTMENT CSI NARRATIVE

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