Unemployed adults receive a two-day a week wage or a monthly
food parcel, as well as training and work experiences, to help
them move from poverty to income security.

We offer sustainable livelihoods assistance to all members of the families on our programme, from unemployed
young adults to their parents. We mentor, train and support them in community-based businesses or in finding jobs
in the formal sector either at our centre or through collaborations with other organisations.

Citizen Connect

As an implementing partner of the Citizen Connect
programme we offer 100 unemployed adults a 2
day a week training programme and work
experience for which they receive a wage.

Food Parcel Programme

In addition, we offer a monthly food parcel
programme to 40 unemployed pensioners and
foreigners.

Both these programmes are supportive interventions for six months, during which time Love to Give works with
participants to develop the skills necessary to generate an income and improve the lives of their children.
No single solution will suit everyone. At Love to Give, we adopt a four-pronged approach:

1. Training

We offer training in the following fields to upskill people and to provide basic skills to unemployed people who wish to enter any of the following sectors.

In partnership with Asiphe Cosa of Just Sip Mo plumbing, we offer a “Think Water Plumbing Course”. The course consists of three modules: Civic Education, Water Conservation Education and Plumbing Skills Training.

Please see our Vegetable Garden section to read about the training done by our Garden Manager, Nomveliso Xhalisile.

In partnership with the Mikhulu Trust, Book Sharing training for all our participants is held at Love to Give, two mornings a week for eight weeks. We have two trained facilitators who train participants how to share books with pre-school children. At the end of the course, participants graduate and receive a certificate and a book to take home to continue the practice of reading to their children. They can also make use of our library at no charge. Many participants go on to get jobs at crèches after completing the course.

We run a number of Health, Nutrition and Parenting Workshops and hold a fitness session for all the participants every morning.

2. Job Seeker support

The cost of job seeking is prohibitive, particularly in impoverished areas. We offer a CV writing and printing service to all of our beneficiaries as well as their extended families. Additionally, we have laptops that can be used to do online job searches, job applications and study opportunities. Beneficiaries also have the opportunity to set up an email address and to store their CVs and supporting documents online so that they can apply for jobs easily and from anywhere.

Work Experience Opportunities

We find work experience opportunities for our beneficiaries wherever possible. We have been supported by a number of Stellenbosch businesses with this and have found work experience opportunities in a number of sectors:

  • Plumbing at the Stellenbosch Municipality
  • Food preparation at the Co-Create Hub in Stellenbosch
  • Child Care in a number of ECDs in Kayamandi
  • Woodworking with a local Timber company

3. Micro-Enterprise Development

We offer the Micro-MBA Course to the participants of our programmes. This course has a very good international track record, built-in monitoring and evaluation and emphasises the practical application of the skills learned in the course. The course consists of eight modules with mentoring and supplementary exercises provided for a period of a year after the course is completed. Our ongoing mentoring enables us to support business owners to address issues and difficulties that arise in every small business.

We have a three-tiered programme for small businesses:

On the first tier, all participants of the Citizen Connect programme are given an in-depth overview of the course and the basic principles of how to start their business.

Established entrepreneurs and participants with a viable business plan can apply to do the full course with the workbooks and make use of the app in order to grow their enterprises. The course takes approximately 10 to 12 weeks, depending on the aptitude of each individual.

Our mentors assist and coach people individually and at the weekly workshops at our centre.

4. Individual Mentoring & Support

The Greenlight survey helps people to progress to a better quality of life by empowering them to understand and map their own choices.

How is this done? By doing an in-depth questionnaire with families in their homes.

Love to Give has trained facilitators who conduct the surveys on an ongoing basis with our beneficiaries. They take each of the beneficiary families through an in-depth questionnaire and they fill in a template with green, orange or red stickers to give them a visual reference to see where they are in their lives. The survey encourages households to participate in and own their journey to a better quality of life, and at the same time, allows us as an organisation to articulate the progress of social impact against our programme objectives.

IMPACT: Beneficiaries

  • Provides a snapshot of quality-of-life status
  • Contrasts ‘poor’ with ‘not poor’ – enables people to understand the way in which they are poor
  • Provides line of sight to a way out of poverty
  • Promotes ownership and responsibility for the journey out of poverty
  • Encourages self-reflection in a journey from dependence to independence and dignity
  • Our beneficiaries form self-help groups to set goals to make measurable change.

We are fortunate to have relationships with Good Hope Psychological Services, the Stellenbosch University Theology Department, Real Deal and the Mikhulu Trust as each year, they provide free counseling services to our beneficiaries who are dealing with various kinds of trauma in their lives.

Support Groups and Workshops

Love to Give does regular workshops in Smart
Parenting, Health Promoters, She Blooms,
Heartlines and Active Citizenship.

Trauma Counselling is available on Fridays
or by appointment.

There is a daily exercise session.