Exxaro has welcomed the appointment of its Executive Head for Stakeholder Affairs, Mzila Mthenjane as Chairman of the Board for the Impact Catalyst.
The Impact Catalyst is an initiative that aims to create mechanisms that drive large-scale, socio-economic development initiatives through public-private partnerships. Founded in 2019 by Anglo American, Exxaro, the CSIR, World Vision South Africa. State-owned development finance institution (IDC) also joined in June 2021. And as a result of the increased partnerships – the Impact Catalyst has been able to respond to local sustainable development challenges in order to achieve the scale, speed, and impact necessary, in an integrated approach that leverages key role players to drive meaningful change and measurable socio-economic impact.
The first Regional Socio-Economic Development Platform was launched in the Limpopo Province in partnership with the Office of the Premier in the province in 2019.
“The future of Impact Investment in South Africa rests with companies that are willing to take the lead on fostering collaborations with civil society and government to drive shared value benefits across our society. The Impact Catalyst is keen to enhance on the considerable knowledge, expertise, networks, and scale of the private sector in health, education, livelihood enhancement, enterprise, and social development,” said Mthenjane.
“The Impact Catalyst aims to drive a collective approach to value creation and social impact to create long-lasting, vibrant economies that will leverage, and be less dependent on mining.”
The Impact Catalyst currently operates several initiatives in three provinces: Limpopo, Northern Cape, and Mpumalanga. In the Northern Cape around 75,600 potential learners are benefitting from access to ICT infrastructure at 250 schools. In addition, all three provinces are earmarked for improved waste tyre management to align the sector with environment and Waste Bureau policy. The initiative also seeks to improve capacity within local municipalities in the identified provinces by facilitating capability development in areas such as finances and project management, with effective skills and systems which can in turn improve service delivery capabilities. Exxaro has enabled significant progress in this regard working with the National Business Initiative (NBI) and Corporate Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) through the Technical Assistance, Mentorship and Development programme in the Waterberg District in the Limpopo Province.
Furthermore, the Impact Catalyst has introduced the community-oriented primary care (COPC) initiative, which empowers and equips healthcare workers to deliver medical care advice and medication directly to people, in the comfort of their own homes. The Impact Catalyst partners support the department of health with resources including training, IT and internet connectivity which results in relationships, connecting partners and better health literacy for individual community members. Currently, 133 health clinics are involved, close to 1 700 Community Health Workers will have received training, and a total of 2.7 million people will benefit from the programme.
The Impact Catalyst is designed to be the catalyst for change towards this new approach to socio-economic development as we embark on the journey towards a Just Transition. A collective impact model is used to drive long-term initiatives that enable a shared vision, linked programmes, a common understanding of the challenges, co-investment of resources as well as public, private and social alignment.
For more information visit: www.impactcatalyst.co.za