Kariega Township Development Project

The Kariega Township Development Project (KTDP) is a pilot business development support intervention targeting township informal micro-enterprises. It was implemented by the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation NPC (SLF) from 2021 to 2022 and funded by the VW Trust over a period of 10 months. It was the VW Trust’s first initiative to drive economic development on a micro level. The project built on the ‘Uitenhage Township Economy Development Strategy’, prepared by Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation (SLF) in 2019.

The pilot project comprised of four phases and focused on three thematic areas: automotive, personal care sector and waste collection.

Phase 1

This phase included beneficiary mobilisation and the selection of potential beneficiaries in the townships surrounding Kariega from September 2021 to December 2021. Of the 95 potential candidates that were initially identified during this phase, 46 were selected for the project implementation through a stringent application process.

Phase 2

This phase ran from January 2022 to June 2022, with training interventions for the 46 beneficiaries from all three sectors identified in phase 1. This involved implementing financial management marketing and strategy solutions for the businesses. An assessment of phase 2 based on consistent monitoring by facilitators and participants themselves took place during July 2022, including site visits to establish further development support needs.

Phase 3a

The findings from phase 2 informed this phase, which provided specialised sector-specific business development support to 21 beneficiaries from August 2022 to October 2022.

Phase 3b

Following the conclusion of the pilot project, the VW Trusts has embarked on an ambitious flagship project to make a long-lasting impact in Uitenhage. This flagship project, in partnership with USE-IT proposes a solution for waste management in the Kariega area, with a specific focus on the township economy. This phase has been proposed to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, for potential partnership in the project being implemented,