FOSTERING INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS TO POIGNANT SOCIAL CHALLENGES THROUGH CROSS CULTURAL COLLABORATIONS
Sibanye’s Social Innovation Learning Journeys are focused on approaching real world challenges by harnessing the collaborative creativity of cross cultural exchanges. Each social innovation learning journey focuses on developing insight into relevant and pertinent societal issues and looks to find new and novel strategies to approach and address those issues. Sibanye has designed and developed learning journeys that have ranged from: urban agriculture in South Africa townships; the development and use of big data and AI in South Africa; and, nexus development in rural Mozambique. In order to facilitate these experiences and identify innovative and relevant initiatives, Sibanye has built a deep and extensive network of projects, businesses and universities in Southern Africa and beyond.
These are not traditional academic courses; they are deep learning journeys into the real world reality and lived complexity of finding a more just, equitable and sustainable future.
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
Urban Agriculture
When: June 2020
Where: Cape Town, South Africa
Who: This trip is run in partnership with University of St Thomas Professor Adam Kay and our local partner Abalimi Bezekhaya.
Explore the Urban Agriculture movement in Cape Town and how it can support local food security and livelihood opportunities in the townships of South Africa. Currently, South Africa is the most unequal country in the world (according to the World Bank) and one of the major impacts of this inequality is the ever-expanding townships. Many of these townships have become “food deserts” where access to healthy and fresh food is severely limited. However, despite this challenge, townships residents have found a number of strategies and solutions to secure access to food. These strategies and solutions have emerged over the last 30+ years and have evolved into a growing grassroots urban agriculture movement. This learning journey is focused on immersing participants in this urban agriculture movement and exploring current and future opportunities to enhance food security in Cape Town’s townships. Click on the link below to see the rough schedule of activities and organization visits!
Nexus Development
When: April - May 2020
Where: Sofala Province, Mozambique
Who: Open to ages 18+
As global society continues to grow and subsequently push the socio-ecological thresholds within which humans can safely operate, the impacts of climate change, inequality, poverty, the loss of important biodiversity and unsustainable resource extraction will all lead to greater vulnerability. This, in turn can lead to resource shortages and volatility in the supply of key resources that underpin society – namely, safe and equitable access to clean water, energy and food around the globe. In order to meet these socio-economic and ecological challenges, new and innovative approaches to addressing water, energy and food security are needed. One such promising approach is Nexus Development which seeks to identify meaningful development pathways that capitalize on synergies across different disciplines and resources nodes (primarily Water – Energy – Food) while at the same time minimizing trade-offs. This learning journey seeks to explore an emerging nexus development project in a rural community in the Nhamatanda District, Sofala Province, Mozambique.
