“One of the many benefits of being a business member of BASA is that we are able to bring businesses together with arts projects, in a way that directly aligns with the objectives of the business,” comments Michelle Constant, Business and Arts South Africa CEO.
“When DHL Express approached us to recommend a project that was a good fit with the company’s overall CSI strategy, we were able to quite quickly ascertain that Lefika La Phodiso fitted the profile really well.”
This is echoed by Khanyi Mamba, Marketing and Communications Manager for DHL Express, Southern Africa.
“Corporate Social Responsibility is an integral part of Deutsche Post DHL’s corporate strategy. With ‘Living Responsibility’ as our motto, we focus on environmental protection (GoGreen), disaster management (GoHelp) and education (GoTeach),” explains Mamba. “Contributing to the development of education in the country is in particular a strong focus of DHL Express South Africa and it was important for us to partner with an organisation that has a solid plan and structured framework to create long-term success and sustainability.”
“Lefika La Phodiso certainly ticked all these boxes and was also looking for a partner to increase the reach of its holiday programme. With BASA as the facilitator, we began structuring our partnership and the DHL Creative Care Holiday Programme, in partnership with Lefika La Phodiso, was born.”
Lefika La Phodiso (‘The Rock of Holding’) is Africa’s first psychoanalytically informed Community Art Counselling training centre.
With a mission to build capacity for empathy by training groups of Community Art Counsellors dedicated to psychosocial transformation, Lefika La Phodiso provides safe spaces in which creativity and containment nourish emotional development. Recognising the universal need and nature of psychosocial health, Lefika La Phodiso has grown from its base in Gauteng to reach interprovincial communities across South Africa and abroad.
The DHL Creative Care school holiday programme, in partnership with Lefika La Phodiso, is aimed at fostering psychosocial challenges within disadvantaged inner city communities in Johannesburg. The programme offers an invaluable continuum of support for children of these communities who are most vulnerable during the school holiday period. Through this programme they are provided with a safe space to extend learning, play and creativity in a collaborative supportive environment using art based methods to promote empathic engagement between adults, children and adolescents.
The desired results are that children’s learning prospects improve, they develop essential life skills, as well as build positive relationships with adult role models. In addition is the possibility that they will discover potential creative career paths and, importantly, they will receive the necessary therapy to process any traumatic experiences.
“The power of our economy and society depends on a strong educational system and targeted efforts to develop the next generation of working professionals,” states Mamba. “This, in addition to developing emotionally balanced and engaged youth, forms the basis of achieving this. DHL firmly believes that our business goes beyond simply transporting goods. We connect people, improving their lives.”
The impact of DHL Creative Care school holiday programme, in partnership with Lefika La Phodiso, is expected to be significant, extending beyond Johannesburg where the holiday programme will take place.
As a training organisation with a proven track record, Lefika La Phodiso will work with DHL to build capacity and extend its footprint into Africa in future.
“It will be through the school holiday programme that trainer students at Lefika La Phodiso will gain the necessary experience to disseminate their services into the continent at large,” adds Mamba. “In this way, the programme can be integrated into our existing DHL GoTeach networks and have a much bigger impact.”
Concludes Constant: “It has been a truly rewarding experience, facilitating this new partnership in a way that delivers shared value to both DHL Express and Lefika La Phodiso. We encourage all businesses to join BASA and take advantage of our ability to act as a facilitator in this way.”
If you would like to find out more about arts and business partnerships or would like to become a business member, contact the BASA office on 011 447 2295 or www.basa.co.za
About BASA (NPC):
Business and Arts South Africa (NPC) is an internationally recognised South African development agency with a suite of integrated programmes implemented nationally and internationally. BASA encourages mutually beneficial partnerships between business and the arts, securing the future development of the arts sector in South Africa and contributing to corporate success through Shared Value. Business and Arts South Africa (NPC) was founded in 1997 as a joint initiative of the Department of Arts and Culture and the business sector as a public/private partnership. For more information on Business and Arts South Africa contact us on 011 447 2295 or visit our website: www.basa.co.za
