South Africa

Initiative for Sustainable Economy South Africa

BODY Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
PARTNER IOPSA, RMI, MBSA, SEIFSA, ECA
TIMEFRAME 2019 – 2023

Idea: Knowledge exchange on COVID-19 related challenges
Goals: Strengthening the associations in times of crisis
Activities: Networking as well as trainings in the field of association development

Idea: Empowering the five partner associations
Goals: Evaluation of common trainings needs and improvement of communication among the associations
Activities: Creation of the umbrella association ISESA and a web-platform for the collection of common trainings needs as well as subsequent training offers in various fields

The ISESA project was initiated by the German GIZ’s Business Scouts for Development in 2020 with a focus on networking and bilateral information exchange. It evolved from an online project into an offline project, as soon as it was possible, to network again in the real world.

The project was carried out in partnership with five South African business associations from different trades, focusing on the evaluation and subsequent implementation of common training needs. In this context, the umbrella network association ISESA (Initiative for Sustainable Economy in South Africa) has been founded. Further, a unified platform was created, which drastically simplified communication and made the training needs of all partners transparent.

Over the course of about two years, KH was able to offer a large variety of on-site as well as online workshops and trainings. The topics for these have been developed together with the associations and on the basis of preliminary evaluations. During this time, the network for sustainable development in South Africa grew significantly and collaboration among all project partners has greatly improved.

The project officially ended in February 2023 and will be relaunched as an integral part of the BBP with Motheo TVET College.