[ad_1]
(Facebook, Solidarity Fund)
- The Solidarity Fund, created to respond to Covid-19, has been running for six months and has received R3.1 billion so far.
- Most of the spending so far has been on medical equipment, including personal protective equipment.
- Vice President Adrian Enthoven expects the fund to continue through November 2021.
The Solidarity Fund, which has raised 3.1 billion rand in just six months and has so far disbursed nearly 1.3 billion rand, could be used as a model for future public-private partnerships to address major societal challenges such as food insecurity and gender. based violence.
This is the opinion of the fund’s vice president, Adrian Enthoven, who predicts that the fund, “a rapid response vehicle,” will likely not exist beyond November 2021, GroundUp reported.
But, he says, a key learning point (and part of his success) has been the fact that the board has worked so well because it served a “singular purpose” and in the true spirit of Ubuntu.
“It shows that when we come together as a society with a common purpose and intention, the ability to mobilize resources and get things done is remarkable.
“It has created a different way of thinking about institutional vehicles that can be used to harness the capacity that already exists in society.
“We had the best procurement people, the best logistics people, unions, ministers, NGOs, churches. The fund brought them together and they did the work for us at no cost,” he said.
Enthoven said that almost all financial commitments made to the fund have resulted in money in the bank, although it was still waiting for the British government to give them 50 million rand, which would be used to help 47,000 small farmers.
Of the total R3.1 billion, R2.4 billion had already been committed to projects under the three pillars of the fund: Health, Humanity and the Solidarity campaign aimed at “changing behavior.”
He said that creating the fund has required an enormous amount of work. At the peak of the pandemic, 120 people were working full time, all pro bono, either doing the job for free or having been seconded, so nearly every penny went directly to impact investing.
“The board met every week as did the subcommittees. There is a war room that worked seven days a week for the first two months, now it has been reduced to five days a week,” he said.
READ ALSO | SA’s coronavirus cash is in good hands, promises the director of the Solidarity Fund
When the pandemic hit, the response from funders and donors was “phenomenal”; 2,500 companies and foundations and 3,000 people put their hands in their pockets.
The fund focused on its health response and spent around R2 billion on personal protective equipment, tests, medical equipment and ventilators, initially targeting the worst affected provinces of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng.
The fund’s humanitarian projects focused primarily on food security and gender-based violence, including the approval of 100 million rand for food stamps, another 100 million rand to support small farmers, and around 75 million rand to support more than 300 community-based organizations working on gender issues. -Violence based on violence (GBV).
He also committed R60 million to the solidarity campaign in which he works with civil society, churches, work groups, schools, traditional leaders, to promote the behavioral changes necessary to keep the virus under control.
As the health crisis subsides, Enthoven says the fund will enter its next phase and future spending is being discussed, possibly with less emphasis on health and more on humanitarian and solidarity campaigns.
“We seek to continue efforts to improve food safety, but in the next phase it will be through the distribution of electronic food stamps, rather than food packages, which are administratively expensive. The stamps will also allow people to use the money as they want and support their communities.
“We work with NGOs and others to help shape our strategy to ensure that it is very specific and has a significant impact.
“For example, we are working with the UN to help migrant families who do not benefit from social subsidies, and we are developing strategies around pregnant mothers, who need access to adequate nutrition, and young people in the gig economy. who have no income.
Enthoven admits that the fund cannot address issues like food safety and gender-based violence, which existed before Covid-19, on its own, but it worked alongside government and companies to “close the gaps” and tried to have a “huge impact”.
The Solidarity Fund does not replace the government. In the first quarter of this year, the state’s Covid aid spending was R18 billion, roughly six times what the fund has received to date.
But Enthoven believes the fund is not simply putting a “band-aid” on endemic social problems; it has “made an important contribution in a time of crisis and need.”
“Yes, the national problems have not been solved, but society would be worse off without the fund.”
