It is also about well-being and ensuring that communities have access to programmes that offer the chance of a better tomorrow, says Old Mutual.
"The challenge of bringing these two seemingly different objectives together is the aim of a roadshow campaign, which was recently launched by Old Mutual," says Thobile Tshabalala, head of brand at Old Mutual.
Tshabalala adds, "The 'Old Mutual Roadshow' is about focusing attention on the fact that investment in education is most needed at a grassroots level in South Africa. It is difficult to encourage people to learn when they don't have school shoes and girls have to miss school because their families cannot afford to buy them sanitary towels."
"However, we believe that it is vital that to be effective, a holistic approach to community support is needed to help address the underlying issues that make daily survival difficult in impoverished areas. Leaving these unaddressed means that the effectiveness of other programmes can be undermined," says Tshabalala.
Tshabalala adds that it is, therefore, natural that Old Mutual — which has supported educational development through integrated programmes and campaigns to the tune of more than R460 million over the last 10 years — is also involved in efforts that vary such as:
- humanitarian assistance in times of local and national emergencies
- contributing to food security
- affordable housing, and
- fighting social ills ranging from gender-based violence and femicide (focusing on the boy child / young men), to peace-building and social cohesion projects.
Old Mutual says that while investments in helping build sustainable community programmes take place, shorter campaigns help to convey the message that the basics — such as making it easier to get to school — are still vitally important to thousands of South African children.
"Ongoing efforts have been aimed at tackling issues such as gender-based violence and unemployment through youth programmes that saw nearly R6-million being invested to help 470 youth improve their employability with digital literacy and green economy skills and building youth micro-businesses," says Tshabalala.
"The 'Old Mutual Roadshow', which will visit 30 schools over the next three months, is a natural extension of our holistic, community-based initiatives. In this case, it also complements our commitment to inclusive and sustainable education from early childhood education level through to tertiary level," concludes Tshabalala.
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