Creating a positive impact with our Doorstep initiative.
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Corporate Social Investment (CSI) has become somewhat of a buzzword in recent times, but for Montecasino, social accountability is a core value that drives our initiative into neighbouring Diepsloot and other underprivileged communities.
Involvement on a personal level with the recipients of our social investment is a cornerstone of our policy and with many of our staff having roots in Diepsloot, it’s a project that is not only close to home, but carries personal meaning.
Our CSI initiative, ‘Doorstep’ is a long term programme aimed at creating a stable and sustainable social and economic environment for the communities on our doorstep. |
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Montecasino's Doorstep Programme |
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We’ve committed to consistent investment, monitoring and development over an initial 10-year period – the opposite of a ‘quick fix’ approach.
To ensure our CSI strategy translates into tangible benefits, a committee of senior Montecasino staff members, together with 11 elected Diepsloot community representatives, work in tandem to ensure that those who live in Diepsloot, particularly children, will benefit as their quality of life improves.
Key focus areas of our social investment programme include poverty alleviation, education, arts and culture, life skills, sports and the environment.
Lifeskills through the arts
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One of the first initiatives in our Doorstep programme is called “Lifeskills through the arts”, which was conceived in collaboration with a local performing arts academy, Beyond the Stage Door.
This academy is owned and operated by Steven and Rochelle Hicks, who formulated the life skills programme in conjunction with an American non-profit organisation called Broadway in South Africa. The US group has already been involved in less privileged South African communities for more than three years, and the synergy of professional resources with local knowledge makes for a creative enterprise that promises to be not only wildly popular with children, but highly successful. |
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Lifeskills through the Arts |
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The “Lifeskills through the arts” programme is unique in that it takes a multifaceted approach to attracting and developing youth of all ages from a variety of backgrounds. The performing arts programme includes singing, dancing, drawing, painting and writing, ensuring that a wide range of talents is nurtured, and children are both inspired and equipped as they receive training in real skills that will benefit them.
The project runs every Saturday, and takes place at the Akani after care centre in Diepsloot, where 120 youngsters are catered for. We’re confident that these numbers will grow as we train up our staff to act as co-facilitators for the programme, and more people become aware of the availability of the programme. In addition, each child receives a meal as part of the day’s activities.
The programme isn’t just about the arts, though- the project is designed with long-term social responsibility in mind, so the activities are centred around a different theme every week. The kids are encouraged to explore character development traits in their work: highlighting qualities like honesty, reliability, and working towards the common good. This means that as the participants exercise their creativity, they’re speaking to each other and their peers about vital issues that will help establish trust, positivity, and co-operation within the community.
There are many gifted children in local communities, but without proper direction and adequate resources, their talents and abilities remain hidden. Part of our mandate with this initiative is to recognise and enable those gifted youngsters so that they will not only benefit themselves with their talents, but ultimately, the communities they are in as well.
By way of example, two talented youngsters from this project were selected in July 2011 to travel with Beyond the Stage Door to New York. Fifteen-year olds, Josiaus Gobe and Louis Munyai, were treated to an extensive tour of Broadway, where they were able to learn from production specialists, attend practical workshops, and attend some of the world’s most professionally presented stage shows. They also had the opportunity to meet with renowned musical composers, and a number of showbiz celebrities who have made a commitment to helping underprivileged youth to integrate into mainstream show business. The trip was funded entirely by Montecasino.
Our aim with programmes like this is to provide kids with the most vital ingredient of all to succeed: self-confidence. As they grow in knowledge, and are able to express themselves in ways that ensure recognition and progress, so they develop the self-assurance to be able to achieve success in their chosen fields.
As this happens, so the “us and them” perception changes, and not only do the children benefit from the skills they receive, but entire communities gain the realisation that what they have to offer is indeed valuable. Ultimately, our Lifeskills through the arts programme is not just about the arts, but about empowering people, and creating a society where rich diversity can be reconciled with stability, harmony and a spirit of mutual co-operation.
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The Doorstep programme addresses another area central to the social identity of its recipients: sport.
Despite social, academic and economic differences, South Africans from every sphere of society are unanimous about their passion for sport. With the understanding that sport is such a unifying influence and social catalyst, a large part of our Doorstep programme is aimed at connecting with kids in Diepsloot and equipping them with the resources to excel.
It is not only the stars of tomorrow who are benefitting from this programme: youngsters across the board are being given constructive outlets for their energy, and the opportunity to learn vital life lessons based on teamwork, goal-setting, and self-discipline. |
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Montecasino's Doorstep Programme |
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The Values through Sports project is designed to appeal to as many youngsters as possible. The initial phase has seen the launch of sports programmes for running, rugby and netball, with more to follow. The sports coaching and equipping is being done in partnership with the JAG Foundation and the Inquina Rugby Football Club, and training is being offered at the Akani afterschool centre in Diepsloot as well as at the Witkoppen School. As the project progresses, we will also be integrating many of our own staff volunteers into the project as well.
The JAG Foundation was pioneered by well-known South African runner Elana Meyer, and was established to equip and inspire disadvantaged children to build a positive future for themselves through participation in various sport-related programmes. We’ve been contributing to the JAG Foundation for several years, but the Doorstep programme enables us to become involved in a practical, hands-on manner as well. We have employed a Diepsloot-based coach to teach life skills through our “Running Towards A Brighter Future” programme, which is available to kids from the ages of five to eighteen, and we already have more than 700 children involved.
We already administer a well-established athletics club, the Montecasino Striders, which was created several years ago to assist staff athletes with much-needed sponsorships. Children participating in running events as part of our Doorstep programme will now also have the opportunity to do so under the banner of our very own club, which encourages them to train purposefully and competitively.
The Inquina Rugby Football Club is affiliated to the Golden Lions Rugby Union, and was established with a view to making rugby facilities more accessible to communities and schools that lacked the funds to properly develop their players. “Inquina” is a Zulu word for the concept of hunting in a team, and we have partnered with the club to run a rugby programme at Witkoppen High School for over 300 boys. The coaching is administered by two fulltime professionals whom we employ, and has become enormously successful in just a short space of time.
We have also employed netball coaches to fulfil the same role for over 300 girls who are involved in the same programme
Through vital collaborations such as these, we aim to provide children with not only the means to participate, but the knowledge that they are part of something greater. By exposing children to healthy role models, we believe they will be inspired to contribute positively to the community through their involvement in sports, and will in turn attract others to a lifestyle based on positive values.
Whether through running, rugby, or netball, we remain convinced that grassroots participation in sport is one of the keys to transforming communities, empowering those in need, and contributing to social change.
SA Guide Dogs Association for the Blind
Montecasino has had a long and proud Corporate Social Investment relationship with the South African Guide Dogs Association since Montecasino opened its doors in November 2000. Over the years the now legendary themed annual Ball in aid of the SA Guide Dogs Association for the blind (SAGA) has become an eagerly anticipated annual happening which is regarded as the premier event on the South African Social calendar. Montecasino sponsors the event venue by providing the magnificent Montecasino Ballroom annually.
The annual ball, organized by Edith Venter Promotions, provides a high profile platform for the involvement of corporate sponsors and private individuals to provide financial assistance to SAGA in training puppies to one day assist the visually disabled as Guide dogs / seeing eye dogs. SAGA has been training dogs for more than 50 years to assist disabled people, and in doing so improve their lives.