GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

The taxi industry is a fundamental segment of the South African public transport system and plays an integral role in the country’s economy. Besides employing some 400 000 people, it drives over 14 million commuters to and from work each day, enabling them to earn a living and take an active part in the economy. Like most economic sectors, the taxi industry was grounded to a halt by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the ease of lockdown restrictions, the economically strained workforce was eager to return to work, yet commuters and taxi operators alike, were exposed to significant risk as personal protective equipment was scarce and expensive. Without basic hygiene and screening measures such as hand sanitisation and temperature checks, the taxi industry could easily transform from an economic enabler for commuters to a contributing factor to the country’s COVID-19 infection rate.

AYO took the initiative to address the issue and donated 200 infra-red thermometers and 30 litres of hand sanitiser to taxi associations to promote the good health and well-being of vulnerable South African commuters.

GENDER EQUALITY

Ending all discrimination against women and girls is not just a basic human right. It is crucial for sustainable future. Empirical evidence exists that empowering women and girls helps overall economic growth and development. The STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields still represent the highest disparity in gender equality, with less than 30% of students pursuing further education and careers in these fields being young women.

At AYO, we believe that encouraging young girls to explore training and employment opportunities in the STEM area will be a powerful enabler for future economic development in South Africa. Thus, we have partnered with Techno Girl Campaign – a collaborative initiative between UNICEF, the Department of Education and the Presidency – in order to play an active role in the practical engagement of female learners in these critically important fields.

The programme involves hands-on mentorship, training and job shadowing opportunities for girls in secondary school, during holidays over a sustained three-year period to fully prepare them for further education and careers in science and technology-related fields. While the implementation of remote working protocols due to the pandemic disrupted the progress of the project during the reporting period, a virtual job shadowing programme was developed to continue our work on the campaign in the short-term.

DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

SDG 8 recognises the importance of sustained economic growth and high levels of economic productivity through the creation of well-paid quality jobs. Thus, it is of particular importance in the South African context where besides high rates of unemployment, the substantial national wealth gap is powered by the abundance of low-skilled and low-waged workforce. At AYO, we acknowledge and embrace our responsibility to promote the achievement of this paramount developmental objective in order to drive inclusive and sustainable economic transformation.

 Our success in the technology industry is contingent on our ability to attract and retain critical rare skills, which can be challenging in this age of global mobility for talented individuals. For that reason, we place a strong emphasis on “growing our own timbre”, thus achieving two important objectives simultaneously – nurturing and developing talent and providing opportunity for decent work.

 AYO Academy is our flagship empowerment initiative in this respect, and it continues to grow from strength to strength each passing year. Through the Academy, 21 participants have joined the Group in various learnership and internship initiatives during the reporting period. These programmes have been a great enabler for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain valuable workplace experience and promote access to future employment opportunities. All of the graduates of our 2019 internship programme have further been absorbed into permanent positions across the Group.

 In addition, our partnership with the Masinyusane foundation, referenced under SDG 4, has resulted in the hiring, training and employment of 46 literacy coaches, themselves previous beneficiaries of the educational programme, who lead and staff the project, thus creating an upward cycle of education, empowerment, employment and upliftment of the community

INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE 

Building resilient infrastructure and fostering innovation are crucial drivers of economic growth and development. Technological progress, which is an additional focus of this SDG, is also an important way to facilitate sustainable development. And while we agree that as an under-developed country, South Africa needs to accelerate the development of its industrial sector, we are of the view that infrastructure investment in any field is important and have again, prioritised the educational sector as a doubly-beneficial investment in both infrastructure and the future leaders of our country.

Building educational facilities, particularly science and technology labs in underfunded areas, is not just an investment in infrastructure. It is also an investment in the future of bright, young minds and a positive step towards reducing inequality and providing access to quality education for all. Thus, AYO participates in a number of partnerships with stellar NPOs like the SAME and Sakhikamva foundations to provide state-of-the-art learning and training facilities at some of South Africa’s most underprivileged schools.

During the reporting year we saw the completion of two projects in the field, namely the building, equipment and opening of a science and technology lab at Kulani High School in Langa, Cape Town and that of the 4iR STREAM lab at Goodwood College in Ruyterwacht. While technically speaking these investments were in brick, mortar and equipment of the physical facilities, we view our involvement in the projects as a contribution to the building of a better, stronger South Africa for tomorrow.

REDUCED INEQUALITY

In a largely unequal society, opportunities are scarce for many marginalised groups and differently-abled people in South Africa who remain one of the hardest-hit clusters with limited access to education and employment. Yet, in the pursuit of a truly inclusive economy, it is imperative that we create opportunities for all our citizens, regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or disability, to lead productive, economically active lives and contribute to the overarching national progress.

At AYO, we believe that differently-abled individuals can be a tremendous contribution to the country’s economic value chain under the right circumstances and we put a lot of energy and focus into creating opportunities for this often neglected community. For years we have been partnering with the QuadPara Association of South Africa (QASA) to facilitate the education, training and employment of people with physical disabilities. During the 2020 financial year we sponsored the building and equipment of two QASA training centres and funded the work readiness training of a 57-people strong class of 2020, made up entirely of black quadriplegic and paraplegic youths aged 18-35 years old.

We are particularly proud of the tangible results we have seen from our partnership with QASA. For 2020, 55 of the 57 alumnae were successfully placed in full-time employment positions post-graduation and one established a small business in the field of physical fitness! Naturally, we understand that this is only the beginning of the journey towards reducing inequality and creating equal opportunities for such a vulnerable segment of our society and look forward to a long and prosperous partnership with QASA in the future. In addition, we believe that there is no better proof to our commitment to assist and support South Africa’s differentlyabled youths than our own practices, and thus have included several disabled interns in AYO Academy’s 2021 intake.