How Business can remedy the HIV situation
Big business invests millions of rands every year in the sectors of education, health, social development and job creation as part of its corporate social investment (CSI) budget; and securing that spend makes up a vital part of the fund-raising efforts of every non-governmental organisation (NGO). But just how much of that money is allocated to those NGOs and community projects that provide care and treatment for those afflicted with HIV/Aids?
In 2008, Anglo American South Africa was rated by 102 private sector CSI practitioners as the company that makes the most effective contribution to development in the country.
It ranked first in a survey done among 100 NGOs countrywide. But where does it rank in its contribution toward HIV/Aids?
Pranill Ramchander, head of corporate communications and branding at Anglo, says the company expects to spend around R7.5 million this year through its CSI fund on HIV prevention. This is up from the R7.4m spent last year and more than the R6m per annum that was budgeted for the 2009, 2010 and 2011 financial years.
Anglo’s HIV/Aids prevention programme is aimed at reducing the spread of the disease through public-private partnerships as well as partnerships with NGOs.
Ramchander says the bulk of the money goes to organisations and hospices that have HIV/Aids prevention and care and support programmes as a core activity.
Furthermore, the fund supports capacity-building for medical staff and the strengthening of public care systems within the HIV/Aids and tuberculosis sphere.
Concerning future endeavours, Ramchander says: “We are also looking at broadening primary healthcare support, focusing more on innovative HIV/Aids prevention methodologies such as nurse-initiated management of antiretrovirals and medical male circumcision, and TB treatment.”
Organisations and NGOs that offer innovative programmes can apply for funding. Funding guidelines and forms can be accessed from www.tshikululu.org.za.
Another top South African company with a sizeable CSI spend on HIV/Aids is South African Breweries Limited (SAB).
According to Hepsy Mkhungo, SAB head of social investment, more than 50% of SAB’s annual CSI budget goes to initiatives that contribute toward the reduction of HIV/Aids as well as related initiatives.
She adds: “The extent and consequences of the HIV/Aids pandemic make managing the issue an operational priority for SAB. SAB’s goal is to reduce the impact of HIV/Aids through its spheres of influence, namely its employees, its supply chain and the communities in which it operates.”
One of SAB’s flagship CSI projects focusing on reducing HIV/Aids is the SAB Tavern Intervention Programme (TIP) for Men.
TIP is a programme aimed at encouraging behavioural change in men identified by law enforcement and communities as perpetrators of social crimes linked to alcohol abuse. The men are educated in an interactive six-week long workshop on issues of rights of the child and child abuse, rights of women and gender violence, responsible alcohol consumption and HIV/Aids.
The TIP was first conceptualised when the NGO, Men for Development in South Africa, approached SAB to support a one-day HIV/Aids awareness campaign in 2008.
To date, more than 400 men in areas across South Africa have graduated from the programme successfully.
It is envisaged that SAB’s investment in the TIP will help to target at least 4 000 men – 800 per year – in all nine provinces over a period of five years.
SAB believes that in time, the TIP will prove to be crucial in addressing some of the causal effects of alcohol abuse. Furthermore, it will augment other programmes that focus on empowering victims and sensitising men to issues of HIV/Aids, gender violence and child abuse.
The company assists NGOs that focus on home-based care, with capacity-building. It supplies these NGOs with HIV-testing kits and home-based care kits. In addition, SAB assists with the establishment of vegetable gardens that are managed by home-based care NGOs so that they can provide a sustainable food source for communities, including people affected by HIV/Aids.
Another SAB initiative focused on HIV/Aids is the Malibongwe Women Intervention Programme.
Identified by community leaders in the North West town of Rustenburg, 30 unemployed women negatively affected by gender violence and HIV/Aids as a result of alcohol abuse have been equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to improve and change their circumstances. Co-operatives developed during the programme have helped the women to earn an income for the first time.
Each co-operative is actively involved in producing garments for the mining and education industry, among others.
Mkhungo says NGOs and community organisations that want to qualify for funding or assistance must be registered with the Department of Social Development.
Proposals are accepted from NGOs that are in need as well as communities. She says a due diligence report is conducted to determine the validity of the proposal and the need.
According to Pynee Chetty, Telkom Group communication and brand senior specialist, the Telkom Foundation this year will not provide money toward HIV/Aids projects in its CSI budget.
He says the Foundation has dedicated its CSI directive for 2011 to working with the Department of Education in public schools to develop mathematics and science at the secondary level, and numeracy and literacy at the primary level.
Chetty says that in the financial period 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011, Telkom spent in excess of R1m in HIV/Aids interventions including donations to the following NGOs: Tumelo Home and Hospice, Ma Glad Day Care Centre, Botshabelo Drop-in, St Anne’s Catholic Church, Thola-ulwazi Home Based Care and Training, Banakekeleni Hospice, Sakhisizwe AIDS Care Initiative and the Hlahlolanang Hospice.
Outside the CSI funding arena, the National Lotteries Board (NLB) makes money available to social causes, including to those involved with HIV/Aids work.
Sershan Naidoo, divisional manager of the NLB, says 45% of the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund is allocated to charities. But he was not able to say how much of this goes to organisations working in the HIV/Aids environment, as “we do not identify beneficiaries – beneficiaries respond to a call for applications.”
Beneficiaries can only apply for funding if they are a registered non-profit organisation operating in the sector in which they are applying.
Furthermore, they require two sets of annual financial statements, a constitution in line with the project for which they seek funding, and a budget and business plan.
All the requirements are made public when there is a call for applications.
Naidoo says the NLB has started a national road show through which the Board will meet with various NGOs to explain to them how to access funding from the NLB.
But just how dependent on CSI funding are those NGOs fighting in the trenches in the battle against HIV/Aids?
Strangely enough, it has never been a big issue for the Aids activist organisation, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), which relies solely on international donors for its core operating costs.
But, according to Dawn Wilson, funding manager for the TAC, it is now looking at ways to incorporate CSI spend into its fund-raising strategy, as international donor funding is “not as good as it was in the past”.
Daniel Bugan