Beyond Advocacy Fund

BLSA and USAID (www.usaid.gov/southern-africa-regional) have partnered to establish the Beyond Advocacy Fund (BAF) with the aim of supporting the efforts of business to make a more coherent and systemic contribution to national development objectives as envisaged in the National Development Plan. BAF represents the South African private sector’s aspiration to move “beyond advocacy” and toward deeper public-private dialogue and cooperation to jointly address strategic socio-economic challenges facing the country.

BAF aims to catalyze good ideas and to unlock private capital and public resources to address national development priorities, and to promote greater dialogue, consensus and cooperation between business, government and other social partners on strategic initiatives. In particular BAF seeks to: (1) improve the allocation and effectiveness of government of South Africa (GoSA) and private sector resources, including corporate social investment (CSI); and (2) to have a direct impact in the following GoSA priority areas:

(a) improving education and training with a focus on Early Childhood Development and Foundation Phase schooling

(b)addressing youth unemployment through for example matching of work seekers with job opportunities, expansion of learnerships, and alignment of TVET college curriculum development with industry demand.

(c) job creation with a focus on small and medium enterprises development, including access to finance and market opportunities.

(d) Enhancing the delivery and maintenance of water and sanitation infrastructure, through for example leveraging private sector investment in the delivery of infrastructure, and/or supporting initiatives that aim to improve infrastructure delivery through partnerships with the private sector.

See below details of the projects that operated from the May 2018 to May 2021 BAF cycle.

Kago Ya Bana (KYB) ECD Enterprise Incubator

The Early Childhood Development (ECD) Enterprise Incubator worked together with the private and public sector to provide the right investment package to both kickstart new, viable ECD businesses as well as stabilize existing ECD enterprises. The ECD enterprise incubation package focused on enabling, kick-starting, and developing sustainable enterprises. Click here for more information.

National Business Initiative (NBI) Green Skills TVET Intervention

NBI has been implementing the Green Skill TVET programme to strengthen pathways and opportunities for youth through TVET Colleges into the Green Economy. The Green Skills TVET programme seeks to provide scalable solutions to the limited opportunities for young people to transition through the public TVET College system into the industrial economy, with a particular focus on the green economy. Click here for more information.

Gen Africa/22 on Sloane

22 ON SLOANE is a start-up campus that offers disruptive start-ups and innovative SMEs a solution to scale, from the initial idea through to commercialization, funding opportunities and access to markets. The aim is to nurture the entrepreneurial mindset, ensure their sustainability, and explore development of new industries and contribute towards job creation in Africa. Click here for more information.