By Glenneis Kriel
trend
Social initiative with economic spin-off
a
With its unique business model, Help Up is raising awareness of communal environmental responsibilities while creating jobs for the unemployed.
is possible. Using shock-and-horror stories don’t help, as it fter getting fed up with the poor state of the Black paralyses people into apathy; we prefer good-news stories,” River, which flows past Observatory and parts of says McTaggart. the Cape Flats on the Cape Peninsula, Georgia McTaggart in 2018 launched Help Up – an initiative aimed at cleaning river pathways while creating jobs Monetary value for the unemployed. At present, there are two franchises operating. One consists McTaggart, who is an efficiencies consultant, started by of three people from Langa, who have been cleaning a critical self-funding the initiative and now relies on crowdfunding canal, the Jakkalsvlei, which flows into the Black River. The to finance clean-up operations across the peninsula. “People second, ranging between five and ten people from Khayelitsha, pledge R150 and more on the BackaBuddy platform and we is centred around a school where there is a lot of dumping by then use the funds to pay unemployed people, who help with builders and the broader community, to prevent rubbish from the clean-up,” she says. ending up in the underground canals of this neighbourhood. In November last year, after seeing the initiative’s “It is really risky to clean in the rivers, so we want to get potential to change lives, she registered Help Up as a the trash contained before it reaches the waterways and, non-profit company (NPC) to increase the organisation’s ultimately, the ocean,” McTaggart says. “People pledge ability to draw funding from corporates and thus offering Clean-ups are still coordinated around the Black River, them tax benefits for donations. with many voluntary participants. “I wasn’t sure if registering as an NPC was the right The lockdown has come as a major blow to Help Up, with move, as the increased administrative and management McTaggart estimating that the cessation of their cleaning and more on the burden has turned it into a full-time job, but it is well worth efforts may lead to roughly five tonnes of plastic waste BackaBuddy platform and the extra effort. Securing funding for sustainable expansions we then use the funds to pay building up and flowing into the ocean each week. has been our greatest challenge, so we are seeking reliable “It is difficult to quantify the value of what we are doing. unemployed people, who corporate partnerships,” McTaggart says. The rubbish not only obstructs river flow, but it pollutes help with the clean-up.” the water, with devastating consequences for plants, animals and people,” she says. Franchising The clean-ups are also not only helping to address While the initiative started out with volunteers and the pollution and creating awareness of the negative impact remuneration of unemployed participants, Help Up of waste on rivers, they also present unemployed people has since embraced a franchise model. The franchises with potential opportunities. are free of charge to self-starters who have “shown “The clean-ups create an opportunity for people with initiative in their own communities and wish to limited skillsets to participate in group activities and expand their personal projects”. form part of a winning team. This helps to build self“Franchisees pitch for cleaning contracts in a specific esteem and equips them with valuable communication, area, and available funding dictates the frequency and social and practical skills,” McTaggart says. number of contracts,” McTaggart explains. During the Covid-19 lockdown she has made use of the Help Up franchisees receive training to reduce health Georgia McTaggart The founder of relationships she has built through the clean-ups and her and safety risks while doing clean-ups and are equipped with Help Up professional partnerships to facilitate supplies to feeding the necessary tools, such as rakes and bags, required to do schemes in low-income neighbourhoods. the job. The clean-ups are coordinated with municipalities to ensure the rubbish is removed from the various sites after the clean-up is finished. Once the trash is collected, the The future franchisees are paid via e-banking. Through the franchise model, and increased financial Help Up is in the process of going high-tech, with an app commitment from corporate partners, McTaggart plans to that will be launched in May to streamline and track the work expand the reach of the initiative across the rest of the country. done. “The idea is to inform franchise holders of the available “The activities will be carefully coordinated with any jobs via the app and for them to record their work by taking ongoing government interventions to ensure we are adding before and after photos that are uploaded onto the app,” value and not duplicating work. Some of our groups, for McTaggart says. example, have already worked closely with the province’s The app will also create an opportunity to record and Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP),” she says. coordinate clean-up jobs of volunteer groups, which in turn Besides this, she would like the government to more can be used to create awareness of socially responsible actively measure pollutants and the impact of industry endeavours of companies. on river causeways. “It is only by measuring the impact of Most of Help Up’s marketing is done via social media, pollutants that we will be able to quantify the value of clean primarily Facebook and Instagram. “The drive behind our rivers,” McTaggart says. ■ campaigns is to mobilise people by raising awareness of what editorial@finweek.co.za
Photo: Munashe Makado
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finweek 7 May 2020
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