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ABALIMI BEZEKHAYA: HARVEST OF HOPE Harvest of Hope (HOH) was set up in 2008 as a social business unit within Abalimi to provide market access to farmers in the townships for their organically grown vegetables. It was the first organisation to collect and redistribute vegetables from farmers in the townships to restaurants and to households in town via veggie boxes. Over a period of 11 years HOH worked hand in hand with the farmers until they were in a position to stand on their own feet. In December 2019 HOH closed their doors, having opened up the opportunity for farmers to sell directly to former Harvest of Hope clients. Abalimi will continue to support the farmers while they grow and sell their vegetables. Our motivation for submitting this application is to recognise the important work that HOH has done and that its closing is, in fact, a graduation for the organisation and the farmers. It is a reason for celebration and recognition of the work done.
KHANYI DESIGNS Clare Rothwell designs upcycled furniture and décor items, and teaches upcycling craft to children, unemployed people and those with disabilities. Clare then also markets upcycled items. Children in Makhanda and at Enkuthazweni Special Needs School in Port Alfred have learnt to make ecostools from ecobricks covered with paper maché. Adults at Enkuthazweni Skills Centre make these and also create upcycled lamps and bowls. These practical skills have given them an outlet for their creativity and increased their self-esteem. Some adult students have already been able to supplement their disability grants by selling a few of their own creations. Four of the students were invited to demonstrate newspaper weaving at the 2019 Bathurst Agricultural Show. In June 2019, Clare’s upcycled newspaper, cardboard and ecobrick chair, called Nest, won joint first prize in the Innibos National Craft Awards. Since then she has been working towards starting an upcycled furniture business in Bathurst where she has trained suppliers, who will now get a small income by upcycling newspaper for weaving, and cardboard chair components. Clare also sources the plastic bottles for the upcycled chairs, from Port Alfred, where Enkuthazweni children collect them and sell them on to her.
WILDERNESS FOUNDATION AFRICA Candice Stevens is a biodiversity finance expert and niche tax specialist who works at creating innovative finance solutions for landscape conservation. Candice introduced the first effective biodiversity tax incentive into the South African protected areas network and, together with the Government of South Africa, received the UN Pathfinder Award Special Commendation for this global innovation. She heads up Innovative Finance within Wilderness Foundation Africa where she works extensively with multiple stakeholders and industry leaders across different sectors to ultimately plug South Africa’s conservation finance gap, ensuring that South Africa’s conservation efforts are scalable and sustainable. To date, her work is estimated to contribute over R1 billion into South Africa’s protected area networks by 2026. She has also forged new pathways to address one of the environment’s most challenging problems: sustainable finance. She is cochair of South Africa’s first Sustainable Landscape Finance Coalition. She also sits on a number of national and international committees regarding landscape conservation and financing and resourcing. Candice has a background in both law and commerce as well as experience in protected and conserved area policy and expansion, biodiversity finance, environmental law and policy-making on financial incentives and is regarded as a global expert in her field.
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