Economy

A Plan for Sustainable Economic Development within the Indlovu Project

Mission Statement and Objectives

2009 Economy Team with sponsor Dianne Womersley of the Shaster Foundation

The overall goal of our work was to research and develop methods to help the Indlovu Project become an economically sustainable, community-driven project. In order to achieve this goal, we drafted a sustainability plan for the Indlovu Project including our research and ideas to serve as a reference for the Shaster Foundation to use in the upcoming years. To develop a complete sustainability plan, we focused on meeting the following objectives:

• Improving existing methods of income generation
• Exploring new methods of job creation
• Analysing current project operations
• Considering funding, hiring and management issues

Motivation for the Project

The Indlovu Project has a very positive impact on the community of Monwabisi Park. The goal of the Indlovu Project is that eventually all sections of the park will have community centres that offer services like those at the Indlovu Project, but that will be community-run. We worked to help the Shaster Foundation make the Indlovu Project self-sustainable by finding new ways to generate income and improve the programs offered. Our motivation for this project was to help the Shaster Foundation, but also to develop ideas that could be applied to future community centres in other areas of Monwabisi Park.

Methodology and Analysis

Our team worked on a number of different initiatives during the project. As part of developing ideas for income generation we explored options for bringing tourism to the park by visiting tourist attractions in Cape Town and in other townships. We researched simple handcrafts that could be made within the park. Our team purchased one sewing machine and worked with co-researchers from the community to test training methods and develop ideas for a potential sewing centre within the Indlovu Project. To help improve existing methods of income generation we looked at improving the guest house and volunteer program. We researched marketing methods, talked to past volunteers and guests and stayed at the settlement overnight to learn how the volunteer and guest experience could be improved.

Learn more about our methodology.

Major Accomplishments

Our main accomplishment was the development of an economic sustainability plan for the Indlovu Project, including ideas for improving income generation and addressing management and hiring issues that affect the sustainability of the project. Our accomplishments within the sustainability plan included:

• Sewing centre prototype
• Improvements to the Indlovu Project volunteer and guest experience
• Researched new methods of income generation

Learn more about our accomplishments.