It was Desmond Tutu who said that we should strive to be the change we would like to see in the world. We couldn’t agree more and believe businesses should be at the forefront of this responsibility.
While Stratum has regularly contributed to good causes over the years, we recently decided to formalize a giving agreement with B1G1: Business For Good. We are donating a portion of all our project fees to B1G1. This Social Impact Platform connects companies like ours, and indirectly our clients, to organizations that make the world a better place for all.
Mining is not just about the resources below the earth’s crust. It is equally about the resource above the ground: People, and not those working in our sector. Communities are equally important, and true corporate social responsibility is a partnership.
In our quest to evolve our mining recruitment business into an even more human endeavour, Stratum is donating a portion of each project’s fee to B1G1. This platform helps the private sector do good by channelling 100% of donations directly to carefully vetted change-making initiatives.
For example, one of our recent placements enabled us, and indirectly the client involved, to provide a South African child from Diepsloot township near Johannesburg with four months of early childhood development services. Managed by award-winning youth development NPO Afrika Tikkun, this project focuses on early learning, nutrition, physical and mental wellbeing, healthcare, and psychosocial counselling.
Another placement paved the way for 3495 meals for nursery school children in Kenya’s Turkana region, a project managed by New Ways. Having access to enough nutritious food in one’s early years has tremendous long-term benefits. Research shows that stunted children don’t perform as well in school as well-nourished peers, are more likely to drop out, and have a far greater risk of being unemployed and poor as adults.
Moving forward, at Stratum, we will keep you posted each month (as per below) on how we, with our clients and B1G1, supporting these and other organizations do what they do best. This is not to blow our own trumpet but to highlight the fantastic and unsung initiatives out there and celebrate their endeavours in making a difference. They deserve the credit and spotlight because it is these organizations that are doing the hard work.
JUNE 2021 GIVING
- Support an Early Childhood Development Program (83 days of early childhood development to disadvantaged children)
- Feed and Nourish a Child (3495 school meals to children in need in Kenya)
- 471 nourishing meals given to people in South Africa
- Gen XX – Ending Period Poverty – founding donor to world-first reusable sanitary product vending machine installed in a school in South Africa (summary below)
ENDING PERIOD POVERTY
Stratum is incredibly proud to have sponsored a world first in the global fight against period poverty among young women. We have helped install the world’s first dispensary of reusable sanitary products at a school in South Africa through a recent partnership with GEN-XX.
We will soon update you on developments. This cause resonates with us because no one should face financial hardship because of natural processes associated with their gender. In addition, many of the communities our clients operate in would benefit from a GEN-XX dispensary. We want to help them make it happen.
Stratum International
Mining. A Human Endeavour