Brownie Points, a digital network that empowers, tracks and celebrates good deeds, has been selected out of 300 applicants as one of 10 partners to pilot The Good Economy social employment fund, which is part of the employment initiative funded by the Presidential Employment Stimulus.
As the lead implementation partner for The Good Economy, Brownie Points will support nine other partner organisations to meaningfully employ more than 1 100 people.
“Our end goal is to host a successful proof of concept that is scalable and sustainable in the long run,” says Brownie Points founder, Pascale Henke.
“Together with our partners, we aim to show that social employment is the best way to employ people at scale, while adding real value to our society as a whole.”
The Presidential Employment Stimulus was launched by President Ramaphosa in October 2020 as part of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, which set out a range of measures to address the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The aim of the Presidential Employment Stimulus is to utilise public funding to create jobs and support livelihoods while the labour market recovers.
Since its launch, the programme has created opportunities for over 1 million direct beneficiaries across South Africa.
“The Good Economy aims to unlock shared value for all involved stakeholders through cross-sector collaboration and working towards the common goal of sustainable and meaningful employment,” says Henke.
The organisations represented in The Good Economy are:
- Brownie Points (lead implementor), which helps individuals and organisations do more good by amplifying awareness, maximising engagement and automating insights.
- The Litterboom Project, which seeks to fix the plastic pollution problem in our oceans.
- The Do More Foundation, an organisation that works towards “creating better tomorrows” for young children.
- Litter4Tokens, which tackles the challenges of litter, unemployment, and lack of food security along the Dolphin Coast.
- Clean C, which focuses on community upliftment, empowerment, skills development and leadership training.
- Campaigning 4 Cancer, a patient advocacy organisation that was established in 2008 to give a voice to South African cancer patients and those affected by cancer.
- Grootbos Green Futures Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to the conservation of the Cape Floral Kingdom and upliftment of its communities.
- Rays of Hope, which presents life skills to learners at four schools in Alexandra, Johannesburg.
- SA Harvest, which addresses the systemic causes of hunger, while simultaneously tackling the immediate food security crisis.
- Wild Bird Trust, explorers, monitors, awareness raisers and citizen engagers for the conservation of wild birds and their natural habitats.
“We have a mandate to employ 1 175 people across the participating organisations, all of which will be administered on our own platform,” says Henke.
“We are in the process of setting up a public funding campaign page, which we hope will help to ease any budgetary constraints faced by our partners. These include funding more working hours and staff for the beneficiaries.”
Ongoing news on The Good Economy project can be tracked via Brownie Points’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, as well as on the official campaign page: Brownie Points | The Good Economy.