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| SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY CONTINUED |
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| Thuthuka Bursary Fund |
| Brait is a proud sponsor of the Thuthuka Trust initiative, developed by
the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), to fund
aspirant students from previously disadvantaged communities who are
studying towards becoming chartered accountants. A significant
number of Brait's professional staff are chartered accountants, and
share SAICA's vision of increasing the number of chartered accountants
from previously disadvantaged backgrounds. In the true spirit of
partnership, Brait not only provides funding, but also involves its staff
members in mentoring the bursary students. |
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| PUSH |
| PUSH is registered as a non-profitable community based organisation
with the Department of Social Development. Its approach is to mobilise
schools and communities to work together, in partnership, to address
key risk factors like HIV/Aids/STI and tuberculosis, early pregnancy and
behaviour change and to eliminate some of the problems around
stigma, discrimination and denial, to increase prevention awareness.
The Foundation decided that HIV/Aids was one of the areas on which
it needed to increase its focus and activities and, thus, aligned with
PUSH on an HIV/Aids programme. Together, the Foundation and PUSH
created an opportunity for Moletsane to receive the necessary teaching
and education to build awareness, train, treat and monitor
interventions to combat the epidemic, through regular workshops and
question and answer sessions. |
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| MaAfrika Tikkun |
| The Foundation made a further commitment to the fight against
HIV/Aids, during August 2005, when it decided to support the Aids
Educational Centres being set up by MaAfrika Tikkun in the Orange
Farm, and Diepsloot, informal settlements. The HIV/Aids caregivers
project, managed by MaAfrika Tikkun, encourages members of the
community to train as caregivers to provide home-based care to
patients who are bedridden and infected by the HIV virus, along with
additional support for the family. The caregivers are trained in
counselling (grief, depression) and data collection, collecting
information directly from the community. This enables government and
NGOs to effectively identify the community's needs, to be able to
provide essential services and proactively manage vulnerable families
and infected patients. |
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| Endeavour |
Given the extremely high level of unemployment in South Africa the
Brait Foundation realised that the development of entrepreneurs was
an area of high importance. In light of this, it decided to support a programme called Endeavour. This programme was set up in the USA
in 1997 with the express intention of encouraging entrepreneurship in
developing nations. Having achieved initial success in Argentina and
Chile, Endeavour SA was launched in 2004.
Each year, approximately 40 entrepreneurs are identified. Interviews
and panel discussions are held between the candidates and the
Endeavour Board members (Brait is represented on the board by
Mr John Gnodde), following which two or three entrepreneurs are
selected. Endeavour then offers assistance, advice and demand-driven
services to these carefully chosen entrepreneurs, ensuring that their
initial ideas expand into major growth and employment benefits.
During the initial stages of entrepreneur selection, senior Brait
employees assist a number of the candidates in compiling their
presentations. This programme is re-evaluated on an annual basis. |
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| Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) |
At the end of 2004, the Brait Foundation decided to fund the fees for
a previously disadvantaged student to attend the Gordon Institute of
Business Science's MBA programme over a period of two years. The
Foundation wanted to foster the idea of excellence in education and
GIBS seemed a natural choice given the close links between Brait
and GIBS.
After a rigorous selection process conducted by both institutions, one
full scholarship and two partial scholarships were awarded.
The scholarships formed a three way relationship between the Brait
Foundation, the students and GIBS and close contact is maintained
between the parties. The awarding of this scholarship will be
re-evaluated at the end of 2006. |
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| Rally to Read |
Rally To Read, a joint venture between The Financial
Mail, McCarthy Motor Holdings and the READ Educational Trust,
has been supporting rural education since 1998, and has had
a direct influence on the lives of more than 100 000 school
children at 345 remote, rural schools of South Africa. Full
sponsorship costs ZAR17 000, of which ZAR11 000 buys books,
and
ZAR6 000 funds teacher training. Annually, during weekends in
May, convoys of off-road vehicles depart from main cities across
the country to deliver books and other teaching materials to
some of the country's most neglected schools. The project allows
for the sponsors to personally deliver portable libraries and
other teaching aids to remote schools during The Rally weekend.
On arrival at the school, Rally participants meet and interact
with the learners and teachers who benefit from the books and
subsequent professional development, provided for three years
by the READ Educational Trust. Sponsors return to the same set
of schools for three consecutive years and can witness the progression
of the teachers and learners. The Brait Foundation's objective
to assist impoverished communities with educational initiatives,
and to enhance the learning experience for young South Africans,
is met in supporting this project. Foundation members take part
in Rally to Read, annually, with the end goal of improving the
reading and writing skills of hundreds of learners. During May
2006, three Brait teams participated in this project, reporting
that it was one of the highlights of the year. |
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