There are several options for individuals wishing to volunteer or help. They can contact one of the organisations listed below (in alphabetical order) or they can search the AIDSbuzz directory to find an organisation that suits their needs and objectives.

 

The following organisations are included:

Fax: 021 762 7065

Address: C/O GreaterGood South Africa Trust, Postnet Suite 293, Private Bag X16, Constantia, 7848

 

GreaterCapital, as part of the GreaterGood group, created South Africa's first social investment 'stock exchange' where carefully selected projects are listed and offered to the public as investment opportunities with a social return. The South African Social Investment Exchange (SASIX) provides independent research, evaluation and monitoring to ensure that listed projects meet a set of criteria, including the ability to deliver measurable returns. These returns are social rather than financial but they are nonetheless vital for development in South Africa.

A prospectus is printed quarterly and detailed Project Proposal Profile documents are available on the website, (http://www.sasix.co.za/), outlining each investment opportunity. They include a risk analysis, the minimum investment required and metrics portraying the qualitative and quantitative life change that is expected as a result of the project. As well as promoting a new approach to public and corporate participation in social development, SASIX aims to build a culture of accountability for social performance amongst beneficiary organisations. 

 

Investors buy shares in SASIX projects online or through GreaterCapital Research. GreaterCapital facilitates the transfer of your funds to the beneficiary organisations through a transparent and accountable process. Investors can keep track of how their investments are performing and view the impact they are having online.

Greater Good also allows people to invest skills, goods or time, and runs several 'giving' campaigns - 'Donate-A-Book', 'Do It Day', 'Gifts4Good', 'Teachers' Dream' and 'Make Christmas Matter' offer further opportunities for focused giving and provide everyone with a wide range of innovative ways to give, including volunteering and responsible consumer options.

 

All causes featured on Greater Good undertake to provide their donors with feedback reports, which are then posted on the website. This ensures transparency and accountability and enables the giver to experience the ‘gift of giving’ directly.

 

46664 Campaign

Email: info@46664.com

The 46664 Campaign is a non-profit initiative of the Nelson Mandela Foundation to inspire individual and collective action towards an AIDS-free world. At its core, the Campaign is about bringing hope and inspiration to all affected by HIV and AIDS, as well as helping to raise awareness about the HIV pandemic and the underlying issues that influence it, such as poverty, lack of education, gender inequality, lack of access to health facilities and the denial of economic opportunities. The Campaign achieves its objectives through outreach campaigns in Africa and beyond, as well as through the staging of multi-artist concerts, sports and entertainment events and fundraisers. The Campaign uses the universal connecting power of music, sport, entertainment and celebrity to educate, engage and empower those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS, actively drawing upon an extensive global network of ambassadors and celebrities. International ambassadors have the power to raise awareness and educate the younger generation, in particular. By gaining global backing for the cause, 46664 looks to raise funds to directly assist the many HIV and AIDS projects it supports.

The 46664 Campaign began in 2002 when Nelson Mandela realised that to reach the youth of the world he needed to engage the support of the people who appeal to them most. He chose the number given to him when he was imprisoned on Robben Island, off Cape Town in South Africa where inmates were known only by their numbers. This was typical of the strategy of the then apartheid regime - to reduce its opponents to nameless numbers. It was for precisely this reason that  Mandela decided to use this powerful symbolic number in the fight against HIV and AIDS, demonstrating to the world that people must never be reduced to simple numbers. The number 46664 therefore became the icon for promoting Mandela’s global HIV and AIDS awareness campaign, which he famously handed over to the world at a concert in Hyde Park, London in 2008 with the words: 'It’s in our hands'.

The following options are actively promoted:

• Get tested
• Buy something from the shop*
• Buy a bangle and support people affected by HIV and AIDS in South Africa**
• Get in touch with your local HIV organisations and see if you can help
• Talk to your family about HIV
• Find out more about HIV
• Talk to your friends, teachers and/or students about HIV
• Make a plan to prevent HIV in the workplace
• Donate to the 46664 campaign

*The 46664 online shop is dedicated entirely to stylish, interesting 46664 merchandise. All of the items on sale are produced under ethical conditions and the proceeds help to raise funds for the 46664 projects and initiatives.

**The 46664 bangle is an initiative that hopes to bring the 46664 HIV and AIDS message to thousands of people around the world, while generating funds for the charity. These bangles, which are engraved with Nelson Mandela’s prison number, provide valuable funding to support the 46664 initiatives and are therefore helping to improve the lives of people infected or affected by HIV and AIDS in South Africa. The handcrafted silver, gold and platinum bangles are a corporate social initiative that empowers previously unemployed, disadvantaged and HIV-positive people by adding to their skills base. From the crafters who fashion the bangles to the people who build the packaging boxes, all the individuals involved are improving their craft skills and gaining valuable business skills. The bangles, which are already being worn by celebrities around the world, can be bought online or from various retails stockists in Africa, Europe and the United States.

Website: www.sasvo.up.ac.za

Address: Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002

 

This organisation was established in 1993 by the Faculty of Law's Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria to give students and communities in the southern African region the opportunity to work together as volunteers in sustainable community development projects.  SASVO prepares students to become responsible citizens and actively promotes values such as self-reliance, volunteerism, responsibility towards the community and physical involvement in development. Although based at the University of Pretoria, students from all universities in southern Africa and from all disciplines have participated in previous SASVO projects. The organisation became inactive in 2005 and the first holiday work camp of SASVO's renaissance took place during July 2008 at Meetse A Bophelo Primary School in Mamelodi where the students, with the help of the learners and their parents, established a sustainable vegetable garden and upgraded the school's ablution facilities. This project was co-implemented by the Faculty of Law, the Mamelodi Campus and the Mamelodi Trust, a British Charity working in Mamelodi.

 

SASVO developed the concept of what it calls the ‘50/50’ approach, or meeting the communities halfway. The organisation’s slogan is ‘we do not work for communities but with them’. SASVO principles are founded on the basis of co-operative partnerships with the communities in order to bring about positive change. This approach also helps to ensure that each project remains sustainable long term. SASVO has found that communities respond well to the enthusiasm and energy that young volunteers bring to a project. Since its establishment thousands of student volunteers have helped to renovate more than 40 schools, and build around 250 new school classrooms as well as crèches and community centres. The organisation has also helped to establish many food-gardening projects and run HIV and AIDS awareness and education workshops. 

 

Due to a number of reasons SASVO's activities were suspended in 2005. Talks are still underway regarding the implementation of a similar project on a smaller scale.

 

Starfish Greathearts Foundation

Physical Address: Block E, Metropolitan Life Office Park, 82 Wessel Road, Rivonia, Johannesburg

 

The Starfish mission is to inspire individuals throughout the world to give of their time, talents, resources and influence to provide a better future for the children made vulnerable or orphaned by the AIDS epidemic. The organisation has developed the following ways in which individuals can help this cause.

 

Become a Greatheart

People can offer to participate as Greathearts in national sporting events such as the Comrades Marathon, the Dusi River Canoe Race or the Argus Cycling Tour. The idea is to use your skill and determination to make a difference in the lives of the children supported by Starfish. To register as a Greatheart or to find out more information about this programme please email greathearts@starfishcharity.org

 

Dinners of Hope

The ‘Dinners of Hope’ is a very successful ‘giving’ programme run by the Starfish Greathearts Foundation. ‘Through the project people around the world are encouraged to host a dinner party and ask their guests to give a donation in order to help orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa. 

2011 will be the 'Dinners of Hope' tenth-year anniversary. To register your dinner and receive a host pack: log on to the website or email doh@starfishcharity.org

 

An offshoot of the 'Dinners of Hope' campaign, a Charity Drinks Mixer can be held on any night of the week, on any occassion. Suggestions include monthly bookclubs and poker evenings. Your guests can provide any donation they desire.

This is a fun, creative way of raising money: each friend brings along an item to auction - a photograph, a homemade lasagne, or coveted cricket tickets - and the loudest one takes on the role of auctioneer. You could also hold a theatre evening or musical event.

 

Voluntary Service Overseas: South Africa HIV and AIDS National Volunteering Programme

Tel: 012 320 3885
Fax: 012 320 7894
Email: enquiry@vso.org.uk
Website: www.vso.org.uk

Physical address: 357 Visagie St, Pretoria
Postal address: Raisa, PO Box 11084, The Tramshed, Pretoria, 0126

Cel: 083 474 6801 / 082 441 2749

 

This organisation is aimed at the overseas market and charges for the volunteering experience, which includes board and lodging. Participating NPOs receive a percentage of the fee charged to the volunteers.

 

Voluntours recognises that there are many people who have skills, compassion and time who really want to help but are not quite sure how. They have therefore made it easy for people to volunteer and make a difference and have chosen a few rewarding opportunities for a ‘voluntouring’ experience in South Africa. The projects that have been chosen include several focusing on helping people infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. Voluntours also has a corporate volunteering programme, which involves setting up and managing a volunteer programme that is in line with a company’s social investment policy.

 

Volunteer Centre

Contact person: Ms Deline van Boon
Telephone number: 021 674 5338; sharecall 086 826 873

Website: www.volcent.co.za

This organisation recruits volunteers from all age groups, and of varying skills and abilities, and then matches each person with one of around 300 NPOs registered on its database. Approximately one third of its member organisations have HIV and AIDS as a main focus, although many of the other organisations include programmes relating to this disease because of the extent of the epidemic.

 

The centre registers between 30 and 100 new volunteers per month – the numbers vary depending on the time of year and current publicity campaigns or media exposure. Most of these volunteers are matched with an appropriate member organisation within two months of registration.

 

Volunteers have to complete a registration form. This can be done via telephone, email or in person at the Centre’s main office in Claremont or any of its four satellite offices in Mitchell’s Plain (021 376 3741), Khayelitsha (021 364 5326), Vredendal (027 213 4870) and Beaufort West (023 414 3167).  Details regarding age, qualifications, skills, field of interest, preferred area and time on offer are taken. This information is then used to match the volunteer to the most appropriate organisation in the Centre’s database. Though most of the member organisations are in the Western Cape there are several members from other provinces. The Volunteer Centre is, however, able to refer volunteers looking to help in other provinces.

The Volunteer Centre gives motivational workshops and talks to promote volunteering as well as orientation workshops for volunteers. The Centre will visit an organisation to advise on setting up a volunteer programme or how to improve an existing one at no cost. Various training programmes (three to five days in length) are held for organisations wanting to find out how to utilise their volunteers more effectively. These training programmes in effective volunteer management are very reasonably priced and are held at the Centre's office or in-house at the client’s premises around four times a year. Volunteers themselves can attend office volunteer training. A corporate programme, called Employee-Supported Volunteering (ESV), is also run by the Centre.

The registration costs are R25 for an individual, R30 for a school, R120 for an organisation and R500 for a corporate. To register email info@volcent.co.za or phone 021 674 5338.

 

The Volunteer Centre is affiliated to the International Association of Volunteer Effort (IAVE) and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV), and runs several international exchange programmes in partnership with Canada World Youth and the International Cultural Youth Exchange Programme (ICYE).

 

Volunteer Child Network

Contact person: Paulin Mbecke

Tel: 012 841 2231
Website: www.volunteerchildnetwork.org.za

 

The Volunteer Child Network (VCN) is the result of an initiative undertaken by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research - Crime Prevention Centre (CSIR –CPC) in close consultation with a number of organisations and individuals working with children.

 

The Network was initially launched in October 2002 as a web-based database of organisations active in the prevention of child abuse and the support of orphans and vulnerable children. The Network provides potential volunteers with access to information and contact details of relevant organisations, and also facilitates networking among organisations. It assists in the process of matching the skills and preferences of volunteers to the specific needs of individual organisations. More than 500 organisations are registered with the Network countrywide, many of which have a strong focus on HIV and AIDS.

 

A paper version of the database was launched on the 30th May 2005 during Child Protection Week and is being distributed countrywide to police stations and social welfare offices.

 

Potential volunteers are encouraged to:

Relevant organisations are encouraged to:

The Network offers assistance to both organisations and the volunteering process. Information about the service providers who give support in this area is also provided.