Expand the Impact of South African Black Leaders

Dear Friends and Supporters of TEP,

It’s hard to believe we’re already more than halfway through 2019. Thank you for continuing to support our efforts. 

For the past few months our team has been working hard to balance TEP with the demands of life. All of us work at full-time jobs, one of our team members recently became a father for the first time, and others are wrestling with major life decisions. As a result, our frequency of content production has decreased this year. But one thing that remains clear throughout is our commitment to the work of TEP, raising the profile and expanding the impact of black grassroots leaders in South Africa. 

Our team recently participated in the first of three training sessions around social media and content development. Led by Jonathan Damilola, the goal of these workshops is to develop the skills of our entire team in understanding how to prepare and leverage content across the digital world. This is crucial, as a core part of our mission is to spread the word of our black leaders as far and wide as possible. The team received this first workshop with great enthusiasm and gratitude, and we are looking forward to the next two sessions, which will take place over the next two to three months.

In keeping with our mission to raise the profile and impact of black leaders and communities, we are currently designing a pilot initiative to generate economic power in a small section of Alexandra Township in Johannesburg. With Project Tiger, as we have dubbed this pilot initiative, community members will put a small amount of funds into a pot every month for one year. The community will then decide how to use those funds in a way that benefits the whole. We have partnered with Semadi Ngwenya of The Hub Presents Alex, and Paul Maluleke of the Greater Alexandra Tourism and Heritage Association (both of whom have been featured in our TEP videos) in this endeavor. With their enthusiastic support and outreach, we have also identified the area and community where we will conduct this pilot. 

As we mentioned in our last project report, we also have in the works an international exchange program between South Africa and Brazil, bringing together black leaders at the grassroots level in both countries. We are looking to launch this program in 2020. In preparation for this, our project director will be traveling to Salvador, Brazil in November to begin laying the groundwork for this initiative. We are excited to help build a global network of black change agents both in Africa and around the world. 

We are also excited to continue producing our videos and multimedia content. With two videos already in the works from filming earlier this year, and additional planned shoots for later this year, we have a full slate of content celebrating the accomplishments of black leaders to share with you by the end of the year! 

Hello, Friends and Supporters of The Emerge Project!

It's hard to believe we're already approaching the halfway point of 2019. It's been a busy year for us so far, with a lot more to come!

In our last report we told you about the video we did featuring Semadi at The Hub Presents in Alexandra Township in Johannesburg. From his verbal report to us, that video has yielded several international linkages - people and organizations that have reached out to him to find out more about the activities and tours they conduct, and to book specific tours with them. We will be getting more numbers and details from him later on, but for now Semadi is quite pleased with the impact the video has yielded for him and his community.

Currently we are busy filming and editing for our next video, featuring a group called Midnight Train (see photos attached). This is a group of mostly black South Africans who mobilized themselves and countless other people to donate goods and funds for the people affected by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique. Not only collecting donations, but actually driving them all the way to Beira, the town most devastated by the cyclone in Mozambique. It's an amazing and inspiring story about "Ubuntu" - the African concept of community - "I am, because we are." Despite all the recurring stories of corruption and poverty and disasters on the continent, Ubuntu is still alive and well and fully operating here. This video, which will launch at the end of this month, will show you undeniable proof of this.

We are also in production for another video featuring the Winning Youth Foundation, which empowers youth in rural and peri-urban areas to develop a strong sense of purpose through academic and personal support. Look for the release of this video in late May.

Continuing with our international linkages, we are developing plans and a proposal for an exchange program between South Africa and Brazil. While we are still in the early stages, our vision is to have a group of South African and Brazilian entrepreneurs, community leaders, and youth travel to each other's country for one week. During this week they will have an opportunity to meet and collaborate with local leaders operating in the spaces of entrepreneurship, private businesses, non-profit and government agencies, education, community and youth development, and trade. This will be an opportunity for Brazilians and South Africans to engage with and learn from one another, build global linkages, explore possibilities for business collaboration or trade between each other, and examine possible collaborative solutions to common social problems. Currently we are considering November 2019 for the South Africa to Brazil contingent, and February 2020 for the Brazil to South Africa contingent. Once our plans are confirmed and finalized, we will be launching a crowdfunding campaign to help raise funds for this endeavor. So stay tuned! 

In the meantime, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to reach out.

Thank you for your interest and support! 

The Emerge Project Team