Khulisa Social Solutions

NO CITY BECOMES SAFER WHILE ITS COMMUNITIES STAY INVISIBLE

Khulisa Social Solutions — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 09:57:59 +0000

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NO CITY BECOMES SAFER WHILE ITS COMMUNITIES STAY INVISIBLE

KHULISA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE CALL FOR REGENERATION THAT MAPS RESIDENTS IN

Johannesburg, 2 November 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Khulisa Social Solutions and the University of the Free State (UFS) marked World Cities Day with MAP US IN: Safer Cities Through Community Data Intelligence, a webinar held on Thursday 29 October 2026. Partners, government officials, funders, researchers and community organisations from across South Africa took part. The webinar was also the launch of Impact Outcomes, Khulisa’s platform for tracking whether what is promised to communities is delivered, and whether it makes a difference.

World Cities Day falls on 31 October, and this year’s UN-Habitat theme is “Regenerating the City: Adequate Housing for All”, with a focus on improving neighbourhoods without displacing the people who live in them. Khulisa marked the day two days early so that officials and community leaders could join during the working week.

“A city cannot regenerate, or become safe, around people it cannot see,” said Lesley Ann van Selm, Founder and Managing Director of Khulisa Social Solutions. “Map Us In is what communities ask of us: to be placed on the map where decisions are made, with their needs, their strengths and their solutions.”

Billions invested, millions still off the map

Lesley Ann van Selm set out the national picture. Corporate social investment in South Africa was estimated at R13.1 billion in 2025, yet 47.4% of young people aged 15 to 34, some five million people, are unemployed. Crime costs the country at least 10% of GDP each year, about R700 billion. Of more than 295,000 registered non-profit organisations, around 69% are at risk of deregistration for not filing annual reports, and there is no consolidated map of who invests where. The organisations closest to communities therefore remain invisible to funders and government alike.

“Doing nothing is not free,” she said. “Leaving these problems in place costs us more than solving them.”

What communities told us

The webinar shared findings from Khulisa’s Dialogue Circles with 1,031 people in all nine provinces. Three needs came up everywhere: work for young people, help with addiction and safety from violence. Residents did not describe these as separate problems but as one cycle, in which no work feeds substance abuse, substance abuse feeds violence, violence breaks families, and broken families leave young people with no way into work. Each institution is funded to deal with one part of the cycle; families live with all of it at once.

Local evidence showed where trust breaks down. In Rustenburg, where Khulisa has facilitated 362 Dialogue Circles reaching more than 26,000 people since 2022, 28 stakeholders recorded commitments to act at a September 2026 engagement, but only three attached a date. In Alexandra, 11 of 18 residents had reported a community problem in the previous six months, and only four had heard back. Yet 89% of Rustenburg stakeholders supported a collaborative forum, showing that the will to work together already exists.

Communities also described what would help: youth hubs with job and skills support, peer-led recovery and mediation circles, men’s circles, community safety patrols and mobile legal clinics, all community-led and working alongside state services.

From community voice to verified change

Khulisa presented its Collaborative Implementation Model, which takes a place from what its residents say, to what local organisations agree to do together, to evidence that it made a difference. Every commitment has an owner, a deadline and evidence; stalled actions are escalated; and results are taken back to the community. The model is designed to bring community voice and measurable results into government’s One Plan under the District Development Model.

As evidence that the approach works, Lesley Ann van Selm pointed to Khulisa’s Justice and Restoration Programme (JARP), started in Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal, in 2006. Community mediators, prosecutors and the courts worked as one system, and the Phoenix court roll halved within a year. With European Union funding the programme grew to six sites, resolving 84% of cases, with 97% of victims saying justice had been done.

Impact Outcomes launched

The webinar included a demonstration of Impact Outcomes, which brings community needs, assets, partners, commitments and evidence of change into one shared view. Every finding can be traced back to the community voice it came from, so that funders, municipalities, NGOs and residents can look at the same map and answer the same question: did it work? Impact Outcomes is available to any organisation through Khulisa.

“Putting communities on the map is the first step,” said Lesley Ann van Selm. “Keeping them there is the harder one. Regeneration works only when it maps residents in, not out: when their voices shape the plan, their assets are used, and someone remains accountable until the change reaches them.”

A research partnership for safer cities

The final part of the webinar was led by the University of the Free State, with which Khulisa has a collaborative agreement through the Department of Criminology. Dr Matthew Cronje, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, facilitated a panel with Prof Marelize Rabe, Dr Karen Venter and Dr Zandile Mncube on what community data intelligence means for safer cities, research and policy.

The panel engaged on topics ranging from the challenges with community based collaborative research to the implications of AI assisted research and the need for grassroots data to verify and support existing digital information. The role of universities in affecting change in their communities as opposed to solely generating knowledge was also on the agenda and the importance of constructive collaboration across government, civil society and academia featured prominently.

“It was a very fruitful and nuanced discussion on a complex topic that’s often lacked coordinated efforts. It was great to be able to bring scholars and practitioners together to break down the silos in which we unfortunately too often function,” said Dr Matthew Cronje, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of the Free State.

Feedback from participants

Participants from government, funders, NGOs and community organisations responded to the findings and to the Impact Outcomes demonstration during and after the webinar.

The big question afterwards focused on the way forward. From the feedback and comments received it seems that both representatives from government and civil society were on the same page about the overarching issues and saw the value in Khulisa’s Impact Outcomes system to better coordinate efforts for sustainable, measurable change,” said Dr Cronje.

Khulisa invited every organisation that took part to join the Community Intelligence Collaborative and help keep communities on the map. Participants will receive a short follow-up questionnaire to register their interest.

About Khulisa Social Solutions

Khulisa Social Solutions NPC was established in 1997, beginning with storytelling in a correctional centre. For nearly 30 years it has worked in restorative justice, offender rehabilitation, diversion, victim support, youth and family development, and NGO capacitation, in mining, urban and rural communities across South Africa. Its Dialogue Circles have gathered more than 150,000 community voices.

About the University of the Free State Department of Criminology

The Department of Criminology critically examines crime, deviance, justice and victimization within the African historical, cultural and socio-political context. Grounded in African scholarship, ubuntu, social justice and human rights, the Department promotes contextually relevant approaches to understanding and addressing crime and victimization. Through innovative teaching, critical inquiry and quality research, it equips students with the knowledge, skills and ethical competencies to engage with contemporary criminological challenges. Its commitment to African-centred scholarship and diverse forms of justice seeks to advance human dignity, social transformation and safer, more equitable communities.

For more information, contact:

Lesley Ann van Selm | Managing Director and Founder

Khulisa Social Solutions

082 601 2299

lesleyann@khulisa.org.za:

http://www.khulisa.org.za

The post NO CITY BECOMES SAFER WHILE ITS COMMUNITIES STAY INVISIBLE appeared first on Khulisa Social Solutions.

“WE NEED MORE OF THESE, NOT JUST A ONCE-OFF” TEMBISA RESIDENTS SPEAK OUT ON SAFETY

Khulisa Social Solutions — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 14:13:01 +0000

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“WE NEED MORE OF THESE, NOT JUST A ONCE-OFF” TEMBISA RESIDENTS SPEAK OUT ON SAFETY

A community safety dialogue in Tembisa, led by Khulisa Social Solutions with Sakhisizwe an Get Informed! finds that fear shapes daily life, but that residents are ready to lead the change.

Tembisa – Gauteng, 29 October 202

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fear decides where Tembisa residents walk, when they go out and whether they speak up. More than four in five residents who took part in a community safety dialogue in Tembisa this week say that fear of physical danger stops them from doing things they would otherwise do. Yet every single respondent said they were ready to contribute their time, skills or ideas to making their community safer.

The Community Safety Dialogue Circle was held on Tuesday, 27 October 2026, at Phomolong Recreational Hall as part of Project WEAVE, the Social Fibre Initiative, a national listening and social cohesion programme led by Khulisa Social Solutions and Sakhisizwe, a project of Kululeko NPC. It was organised in collaboration with Get Informed! Youth Development Centre, a Tembisa-based youth organisation with which Khulisa has worked for more than 13 years.

Tembisa, whose name means “promise”, is one of Gauteng’s largest townships and home to hundreds of thousands of people in Ekurhuleni. It is also one of the country’s most pressured policing areas. Khulisa’s Tembisa Security Fact Sheet, compiled from publicly available sources, records 8,434 crimes reported at Tembisa police station in 2025/26, up 7.2%, including 90 murders, 139 rapes, 196 kidnappings and 994 aggravated robberies. Drug-related crime rose by 290 cases to 1,146. Tembisa is a priority station for gender-based violence, and unemployment in the district stands at 34.6%.

WHAT RESIDENTS SAID

Residents worked in four groups, on the safety of women and girls; streets, places and getting around; reporting and getting help; and young people and families. Thirty-five participants also completed an evaluation questionnaire. Their responses paint a clear picture:

• 83% said concern about physical danger often or sometimes stops them from doing things they would otherwise do;

• 60% said they do not feel able to speak openly without fear of intimidation, and half did not know where to seek support;

• residents named dark streets and unsafe paths, taverns open all night, drugs, gender-based violence, slow police response and children unable to report abuse as their main concerns; and

• unemployment, and age limits that exclude adults with dependents from opportunities, were repeatedly linked to vulnerability.

Fear of retaliation and of being judged were the reasons most often given for staying silent. One participant wrote: “If you speak the truth your life could be in danger.” Another described a “lack of trust with relevant stakeholders: things reported and no response.”

A COMMUNITY READY TO ACT

Despite this, residents see real strength in Tembisa.

80% could name people, organisations, skills or spaces that already exist in their community, and 86% believe these could be better connected. No respondent said they had nothing to give: 71% offered their time, 69% their skills and 66% their ideas. They pointed to churches, halls and sports spaces, stokvels, women’s groups and youth clubs, community patrollers and GBV brigades, clinics, schools and parents and young people willing to lead.

Residents proposed practical solutions: trusted organisations helping children report abuse, a safe temporary space for women and girls, accountable street lighting and patrols, using halls and churches for youth activities, skills training linked to real jobs, and support for people returning from rehabilitation.

Between 80% and 89% of participants rated the dialogue positively. Their strongest message was a call to continue: “We need more of these, not just a once-off.”

QUOTES

“Tembisa’s residents have told us, honestly and courageously, what it feels like to live with fear, and they have also shown us how much they are ready to give,” said Lesley Ann van Selm, Founder and Managing Director of Khulisa Social Solutions. “Our responsibility now is to return to them, as we promised, and to turn what they have said into action, with clear owners, deadlines and evidence of change.”

“Sakhisizwe means ‘we build the nation’, and we believe a nation is built from the grassroots up, one community at a time,” said Sakhisizwe, a project of Kululeko NPC. “Tembisa has shown us that the will to make the community safer is already there. What residents need is a network that connects them to each other, to support and to the institutions responsible for their safety, and that keeps showing up. Tembisa is now part of that network, and we are committed to being here for the long term. Tembisa’s name means promise, and we intend to keep ours.”

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Khulisa, Sakhisizwe and Get Informed! will return the findings to participants, and plan to reconvene residents in late November 2026 to agree priorities and named owners for each action. The partners propose to test a small, measurable pilot connecting residents to help, making a priority route safer and linking young people to real opportunities. Progress will be tracked on Impact Outcomes, Khulisa’s community evidence and action platform. Khulisa will also invite SAPS, the City of Ekurhuleni and other government departments to take part, as residents requested. Sakhisizwe will work with Get Informed and other local organisations on a longer-term plan for Tembisa, so that this dialogue is the start of an ongoing presence in the community rather than a once-off event.

ABOUT THE PARTNERS

Khulisa Social Solutions NPC is a South African non-profit company established in 1997. It works in restorative justice, crime prevention, social cohesion, youth development and NGO capacitation across South Africa. www.khulisa.org.za

Sakhisizwe is a project of Kululeko NPC that works at grassroots level, helping communities help themselves by building a network of residents, community organisations and partners for safer, more connected communities. Its name means “we build the nation”. Sakhisizwe is active in Kayamandi, Alexandra and Tembisa. www.kululeko.org

Get Informed! Youth Development Centre is a Tembisa-based youth organisation working in psychosocial support, GBV prevention and referrals, economic activation, digital literacy and mentorship. Khulisa has worked with Get Informed for more than 13 years.

Note to editors: Findings reflect the views of participants in the dialogue and the 35 people who completed the evaluation. They are not a statistical survey of all Tembisa residents. Crime figures are drawn from publicly available SAPS data compiled in Khulisa’s Tembisa Security Fact Sheet (7 October 2026).

About us

Khulisa Social Solutions is a South African social cohesion and community development organisation founded in 1997. The organisation works nationally to strengthen vulnerable communities through restorative practices, NGO capacity-building, dialogue processes, youth development, psychosocial support, skills development, and collaborative ecosystem partnerships. Khulisa’s work focuses on addressing the systemic root causes of social dysfunction by building stronger relationships among communities, government, civil society, and the private sector.

For more information, contact:

Lesley Ann van Selm | Managing Director and Founder

Khulisa Social Solutions

082 601 2299

lesleyann@khulisa.org.za:

http://www.khulisa.org.za

The post “WE NEED MORE OF THESE, NOT JUST A ONCE-OFF” TEMBISA RESIDENTS SPEAK OUT ON SAFETY appeared first on Khulisa Social Solutions.

With 60,000 cases stuck in the courts, a proven South African answer is twenty years old

Khulisa Social Solutions — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 13:38:16 +0000

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With 60,000 cases stuck in the courts, a proven South African answer is twenty years old

Khulisa’s Justice and Restoration Programme reduced court rolls by half and gave victims a voice. Its founding mediators say it is needed now more than ever.

Johannesburg, 29 October 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

South Africa’s criminal courts are under severe strain. A reply to a parliamentary question in September 2026 shows that 60,405 criminal cases were on the backlog roll in the country’s regional and district courts at the end of March, that criminal cases take an average of 522 days to finalise, and that 351 magistrate posts are vacant. In May, the Minister of Correctional Services told Parliament that the country’s prisons are 58% overcrowded, holding more than 169,000 people, of whom 63,194 are still awaiting trial.

The responses on the table focus mainly on appointing magistrates and filling court posts. Yet South Africa already has evidence of another answer, tested in its own courts and communities almost twenty years ago.

The proof from KwaZulu-Natal

In 2006, Khulisa Social Solutions launched the Justice and Restoration Programme (JARP) in Phoenix, Durban, with the National Prosecuting Authority and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. Prosecutors referred suitable cases to trained community mediators, who brought victims and offenders together to talk about what had happened, repair the harm and agree on a way forward. The Department of Justice later recognised JARP as a best practice model, and the European Union funded its expansion to six sites across KwaZulu-Natal from 2010 to 2012.

The independent evaluation, compiled by Dr Hema Hargovan of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, found that:

• the Phoenix court roll fell from 5,567 to 2,748 cases between 2006 and 2007;

• 84% of cases in the evaluation were finalised through mediation and withdrawn from the court roll, even though most involved assault;

• by the final evaluation, 97% of victims said justice had been done, and more than 99% of victims and offenders would recommend mediation to others;

• one rural court did not need to appoint a third magistrate, and the two Wentworth courts saved an average of 11 and 15 court days in seven months; and

• 82.6% of community members said JARP had made justice more accessible to them.

“The JARP evaluations highlighted the value of giving victims a meaningful voice and creating opportunities for offenders to acknowledge and repair harm,” said Dr Hargovan. “Community mediators were central to putting those principles into practice.”

A reunion, and a call to act

On 24 October 2026, JARP’s founding mediators gathered in Umhlanga Rocks for a reunion Dialogue Circle hosted by Lesley Ann van Selm, Founder and Managing Director of Khulisa. Almost twenty years on, they still use the skills they gained, and several continue to do peacemaking work in their communities. Their message was clear: mediation is needed everywhere, and most urgently in schools, where bullying, fighting and drugs are taking hold.

“Where is a mediator most needed today? I would say all over,” said one of the original mediators. George Lai Thom, the programme’s master trainer, summed up its impact: “Everyone who came into contact with it benefited. There were no losers.”

“Our courts and prisons are carrying cases that communities could resolve themselves, safely and with dignity, if the right support were in place,” said Lesley Ann van Selm. “JARP proved that restorative justice works in South Africa. It reduced backlogs, it gave victims a voice and it held offenders accountable. We do not need to invent a solution. We need to invest in one that already works.”

The work continues

Khulisa has continued to provide mediation services since JARP began. Through its partnership with the Society of Mediators, it has trained more than 30 NGOs as master mediators, and it delivers restorative justice programmes as part of its diversion services. Over the past 15 years, Khulisa has successfully completed more than 30,000 cases.

Khulisa is calling on government, the justice sector and funders to make community-based mediation and restorative justice a standard part of the response to court backlogs and prison overcrowding, and to bring restorative practice into schools.

About us

For more information, contact:

Lesley Ann van Selm | Managing Director and Founder

Khulisa Social Solutions

082 601 2299

lesleyann@khulisa.org.za:

http://www.khulisa.org.za

The post With 60,000 cases stuck in the courts, a proven South African answer is twenty years old appeared first on Khulisa Social Solutions.

MITCHELLS PLAIN COMMUNITY GROUPS UNITE TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE AND UNEMPLOYMENT

Khulisa Social Solutions — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 09:49:58 +0000

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MITCHELLS PLAIN COMMUNITY GROUPS UNITE TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE AND UNEMPLOYMENT

Report to government calls for an NGO Forum, more social workers and safe spaces for survivors of gender-based violence. Findings to be presented at a World Cities Day webinar on 29 October 2026

Mitchells Plain – Western Cape, 26 October 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Soup kitchens, crèches, churches and community workers in Mitchells Plain are feeding, counselling and protecting thousands of residents every month, often from their own homes, yards and garages, and often paying for food out of their own pockets. Now they are joining forces to tackle the problems that have outlasted years of investment in the area.

On 22 and 23 October 2026, Khulisa Social Solutions brought together community organisations from Beacon Valley, Tafelsig, Eastridge, Rocklands and Freedom Park for Mitchells Plain Impact Connect. Their message was clear: unemployment, gangsterism, substance abuse and gender-based violence (GBV) are not separate problems. They are one cycle, and it can only be broken if the people and services working in the community are connected.

Investment is working, but the cycle continues

Mitchells Plain has seen real progress. The City of Cape Town has reported a 33% year-on-year drop in murders in the precinct, and government programmes in safety, health, schools and victim support are active in the area. Yet residents still describe families under pressure from poverty, trauma, addiction and violence, and support that breaks down between services: delayed responses, unclear referrals, fear of reporting and cases that are withdrawn.

“Mitchells Plain does not need more disconnected programmes. It needs the programmes that already exist to reach the families who need them, and someone to follow through until they do,” said Lesley Ann van Selm, Founder and Managing Director of Khulisa Social Solutions. “The organisations in that room meet families long before a case reaches a police station or a court. If we connect them to the system, we start dealing with root causes, not just the consequences.”

GBV and unemployment: a tied vote

When participants voted on where to start, GBV and unemployment tied with eight votes each. GBV was rated the more urgent, described by one group as the most prevalent issue in the community, affecting the employed and unemployed alike. Unemployment was linked directly to substance abuse, gangsterism and violence in the home.

The organisations agreed five quick wins of their own, to be delivered within 30 days:

a WhatsApp network connecting participating organisations;

a feedback and planning session with the community;

a new Mitchells Plain NGO Forum, with an elected committee;

a collective approach to government;

a request for vandalized municipal buildings to be turned into safe spaces for survivors of GBV.

Eight recommendations to government

Khulisa’s report to government, released today, sets out a 90-day implementation plan and eight recommendations. These include recognising the NGO Forum within existing safety structures, increasing social worker and victim support capacity, strengthening follow-through on GBV cases, making suitable municipal buildings available, connecting existing programmes such as Safe Zones, Planet Youth and Thuthuzela to community organisations, and building a skills-to-livelihoods pathway for young people.

The engagement builds on Khulisa’s July 2026 research, in which 92 Dialogue Circles reached 995 Mitchells Plain residents, including 548 young people. Their accounts are analysed with Khulisa’s AI-supported InsightHub and tracked on its Impact Outcomes platform, so that community voices are turned into evidence, and commitments can be followed until results are verified.

Map Us In: Safer Cities webinar on 29 October

Mitchells Plain will be presented at MAP US IN: Safer Cities Through Community Data Intelligence, a World Cities Day webinar hosted by Khulisa and the University of the Free State on Thursday 29 October 2026 at 15:00, online. World Cities Day falls on Saturday 31 October.

“No city becomes safer while its communities stay invisible,” said Van Selm. “Mapping communities in means putting their voices, their strengths and their solutions on the map where decisions are made and keeping them there until change reaches them.”

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

About us

For more information, contact:

Lesley Ann van Selm | Managing Director and Founder

Khulisa Social Solutions

082 601 2299

lesleyann@khulisa.org.za:

http://www.khulisa.org.za

The post MITCHELLS PLAIN COMMUNITY GROUPS UNITE TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE AND UNEMPLOYMENT appeared first on Khulisa Social Solutions.

WHAT RUSTENBURG’S COMMUNITIES REVEAL ABOUT THE MISSING LINKS BETWEEN INVESTMENT, COLLABORATION AND MEASURABLE IMPACT WE KEEP INVESTING. BUT ARE WE CHANGING LIVES?

Khulisa Social Solutions — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:06:47 +0000

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WHAT RUSTENBURG'S COMMUNITIES REVEAL ABOUT THE MISSING LINKS BETWEEN INVESTMENT, COLLABORATION AND MEASURABLE IMPACT WE KEEP INVESTING. BUT ARE WE CHANGING LIVES?

Rustenburg, 20 October 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Daily Investor highlighted the extraordinary contradiction between the North West’s platinum wealth and its devastating unemployment levels. Despite producing around half of the world’s platinum, an estimated seven out of ten residents cannot find work.

While mechanisation, skills shortages, and limited employment opportunities contribute to this crisis, our experience in Rustenburg reveals another critical challenge that extends across South Africa: fragmented resources, investments, and institutional efforts that should work together to achieve meaningful change.

What the community evidence reveals

Since 2022, Khulisa Social Solutions has facilitated 362 Dialogue Circles across Rustenburg’s mining communities, reaching more than 26,000 people. Far from being conventional consultations, these are structured data-generation processes designed to identify underlying causal factors, systemic blockages, recurring patterns and existing community assets.

Through systematic analysis and AI-supported data intelligence, we examine how challenges are interconnected, distinguish between symptoms and underlying causes, and generate evidence to inform more effective interventions.

Our analysis of youth unemployment, drawing on the experiences of 188 young people, identified six interconnected blockages: training disconnected from employment opportunities, limited work experience, unaffordable transport, poor coordination between employers and training providers, procurement barriers facing emerging businesses, and fragmented investment.

These findings raise an uncomfortable question: are we addressing the causes of persistent economic exclusion, or repeatedly funding programmes that treat the symptoms?

Where is the collective impact?

Rustenburg benefits from substantial mining investment, community trusts, corporate social investment and government programmes. Yet their potential is diminished when organisations operate in isolation, duplicate efforts or fail to connect their activities to shared, measurable outcomes.

At a stakeholder engagement convened by Khulisa on 29 September 2026, more than half of respondents identified silos, competition and weak collaboration as significant challenges. Although 28 participants recorded commitments to future action, only three attached specific dates.

This reflects a wider national challenge. We cannot keep measuring success by programmes delivered, people trained, or funds disbursed without showing whether these investments are changing the conditions communities experience.

Connecting evidence to accountability

Khulisa’s Collaborative Implementation Model (CIM) addresses fragmentation by connecting community intelligence, existing resources, stakeholders and commitments within a shared framework for action.

Our Dialogue Circles generate evidence of underlying challenges, our AI-supported Insight Hub identifies recurring patterns and systemic blockages, while Impact Outcomes maps resources, stakeholders and commitments and supports the measurement of progress.

The intention is not to create competing programmes, but to strengthen existing efforts through collaboration and shared accountability. Encouragingly, 89% of respondents at our Rustenburg stakeholder engagement supported establishing a collaborative forum, demonstrating a willingness to work differently.

On Thursday, 29 October 2026 at 15:00 Khulisa Social Solutions and the University of the Free State will host MAP US IN – Safer Cities Through Community Data Intelligence, demonstrating how community-generated evidence and AI-supported analysis can help identify systemic blockages, connect investments and measure collective impact.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

South Africa has committed organisations, considerable investment and communities determined to shape their futures. Yet without stronger collaboration, shared accountability and evidence of measurable outcomes, we risk perpetuating the very challenges we are trying to overcome.

The question is no longer simply how much we invest, but whether we are prepared to connect what already exists and take collective responsibility for results.

Ultimately, we should judge development not by how much we spend, but by how many lives we change.

About us

For more information, contact:

Lesley Ann van Selm | Managing Director and Founder

Khulisa Social Solutions

082 601 2299

lesleyann@khulisa.org.za:

http://www.khulisa.org.za

The post WHAT RUSTENBURG’S COMMUNITIES REVEAL ABOUT THE MISSING LINKS BETWEEN INVESTMENT, COLLABORATION AND MEASURABLE IMPACT WE KEEP INVESTING. BUT ARE WE CHANGING LIVES? appeared first on Khulisa Social Solutions.

KHULISA USES WORLD HEART DAY TO CALL FOR A MORE CONNECTED RUSTENBURG DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM

Khulisa Social Solutions — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 07:07:21 +0000

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KHULISA USES WORLD HEART DAY TO CALL FOR A MORE CONNECTED RUSTENBURG DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM

Rustenburg, 02 October 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Khulisa Social Solutions marked World Heart Day through its H.E.A.R.T. Year 1 Impact Event, Heartbeat Rustenburg 2026, funded by the Sibanye Rustenburg Community Development Trust, calling for a more connected, evidence-led response to Rustenburg’s social challenges.

The event opened with a special song, “One Heart, One Future,” performed by AJ/Aobakwe, a Khulisa diversion graduate. The song captured the spirit of the day: bringing together community voices, partners, NGOs, and local leaders to restore trust, strengthen social cohesion, and turn shared challenges into collective action.

Under the theme “One Community. One Heart. One Future.”, the event focused on a central finding from Khulisa’s work in Rustenburg: communities are not short of effort, organisations or interventions. What is missing is alignment.

Over the past four years, Khulisa and its partners have reached 26,466 people across Rustenburg’s mining communities, facilitated 362 Dialogue Circles, and enabled 1,560 people to participate in structured community conversations. Between July 2025 and July 2026 alone, Khulisa facilitated 13 Dialogue Circles with 886 participants on issues including gender-based violence, youth unemployment, senior citizens, conflict, men’s mental wellness, trauma, unemployment, environmental challenges and women’s economic empowerment.

Despite the different topics, the same root causes kept emerging. Across the 13 conversations, communities repeatedly named unemployment and economic exclusion, family breakdown, trauma and unresolved grief, inadequate psychosocial support, isolation and silence, substance abuse, skills gaps, service delivery failure and limited ability to affect change.

Khulisa’s presentation showed that Rustenburg’s challenge is not simply a lack of services, but a fragmented system in which many actors are working hard, often with limited visibility of one another’s efforts. One family may be counted by five different organisations, through five different intake forms, with five different files, yet still have no shared support plan.

The presentation also highlighted the scale of fragmentation in the wider development landscape. South Africa has 295,051 registered non-profit organisations, yet approximately 69% had not filed the annual report required by law. In Rustenburg, researchers identified around 25 organisations across mine-host communities, but only four had dated evidence of being active today. At the same time, significant investment flows into social development, including R1.85 trillion in state spending on five social functions, R13.1 billion in corporate social investment, and an estimated R4.9 billion in mining social investment in its communities.

Yet there is no consolidated investment map showing who is investing where, in what, for how long, through which implementer, and against which outcome.

“This is the heart of the problem,” Khulisa said. “Rustenburg does not lack effort. The beat Rustenburg keeps missing is connection.”

The H.E.A.R.T. event presented Khulisa’s Collaborative Implementation Model, which brings community voice, existing research, socio-economic data, community assets, government plans, corporate and mining investment, NGOs, local businesses and systemic blockages into one shared evidence base. The model is designed to help stakeholders see the whole community before funding or implementing projects.

The aim is to move from duplicated activity to coordinated action. Instead of measuring only money spent, projects delivered, or beneficiaries reached, Khulisa is calling for partners to measure what changes in people’s lives, whether commitments are kept, and whether collective investment shifts outcomes over time.

Communities themselves proposed practical responses, including psychosocial support, parenting and family dialogue, skills linked to real opportunities, better use of unused community spaces, engaging men and boys in violence prevention, strengthening first responders, and connecting retired professionals such as nurses, teachers and engineers to community needs.

By September 2027, Khulisa aims to support Rustenburg stakeholders towards a shared evidence base, a community evidence dashboard, a stakeholder investment map, a verified NGO/CBO database, a commitment tracking system and an annual accountability review process.

The message of the day was clear: no single organisation can solve Rustenburg’s challenges alone. But with shared evidence, visible investment, aligned commitments and measurable outcomes, Rustenburg can begin to move forward as one community, with one heart and one future.

About us

For more information, contact:

Lesley Ann van Selm | Managing Director and Founder

Khulisa Social Solutions

082 601 2299

lesleyann@khulisa.org.za:

http://www.khulisa.org.za

The post KHULISA USES WORLD HEART DAY TO CALL FOR A MORE CONNECTED RUSTENBURG DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM appeared first on Khulisa Social Solutions.

WORLD HEART DAY UNITES RUSTENBURG

Khulisa Social Solutions — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:48:06 +0000

MEDIA RELEASE

WORLD HEART DAY UNITES RUSTENBURG

Rustenburg – 25 September 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Community members and local innovators will meet in Rustenburg for Khulisa Social Solutions’ HEARTBEAT event for World Heart Day on the 29th September 2026, to explore solutions and opportunities for their communities. Convened by Khulisa, the event will bring residents into conversation with community organisations, government, business and other local partners. Together they will consider how to respond to local challenges through Khulisa’s Collaborative Implementation Model (CIM).

Khulisa has worked in Rustenburg for 26 years. The gathering builds on four years of more intensive community engagement, during which Khulisa and its partners have reached more than 15,000 people and facilitated more than 200 Dialogue Circles. These conversations have brought forward residents’ experiences of family wellbeing, safety, education, employment, substance abuse and access to support. They have also identified local strengths, ideas and people who can help shape the response.

“We want community members to be active partners in deciding what happens next,” said Lesley Ann van Selm, Founder and Managing Director of Khulisa Social Solutions. “Rustenburg has knowledge, creativity and commitment within its own communities. Heart Day offers a chance to bring that energy together with the resources and experience of other stakeholders.”

The event is designed as a working conversation. Community members and innovators will be invited to describe promising ideas, identify what would help them grow and explore where different organisations can contribute. The aim is to make connections between people who see the same challenge from different positions: a young person seeking work, an NGO supporting families, a school, a local enterprise or a public service provider.

CIM provides a way to move from those conversations to collaborative action. Participants first examine evidence from the community and agree which issue they want to address. They then identify existing assets and opportunities, decide what each partner can contribute and agree how to follow progress. The model is intended to turn a shared concern into a practical commitment, with clear responsibilities and a way for residents to see what follows.

Khulisa uses Systemic Inventive Thinking in its Dialogue Circles to ask what lies beneath a problem and what could change it. AI-assisted analysis helps organise the many accounts and themes; Khulisa researchers check the results against the original community voices. This approach helps participants recognise connections between challenges and consider responses that draw on more than one sector or organisation.

For example, a young person’s path into work may depend on suitable training, transport, local employers, mentorship and opportunities to gain experience. Family wellbeing may depend on safe spaces, accessible support, income and effective referrals between community organisations and services. CIM helps the people responsible for different parts of that picture plan together within the specific place where residents live.

Local innovators may bring ideas for enterprise, food and water security, arts, education or community wellbeing. At the event, the focus will be on exploring which ideas answer priorities identified by residents, which partners can help test them and what support would make them viable. Existing initiatives can also be connected so that a useful service or opportunity reaches more people without having to start again in every neighbourhood.

The meeting will not be expected to resolve every issue in a day. Its intended outcome is a foundation for continued work: a clearer picture of the opportunities people wants to pursue, relationships between those able to act, and a route for turning promising proposals into defined activities. Khulisa will encourage participants to distinguish actions they can begin locally from those that require further planning, resources or decisions by other institutions.

The discussion will also consider how to strengthen the local organisations already serving residents. Khulisa’s national NGO capacitation work supports community organisations to improve the quality of their services, develop skills, use evidence and build effective partnerships. By connecting those organisations with innovators, institutions and investors in Rustenburg, the event aims to create a stronger local ecosystem of support.

“Our hope is that participants leave with more than inspiration,” van Selm said. “We want them to identify opportunities they can pursue together, name the people who will take the next steps and remain connected as the work develops. The people of Rustenburg should be able to see how their ideas influence action.”

Under the theme “One Community. One Heart. One Future,” HEARTBEAT Rustenburg will highlight how community knowledge and place-based partnerships can turn local challenges into opportunities. Khulisa hopes the relationships and commitments formed there will continue beyond World Heart Day and provide lessons for similar work elsewhere in South Africa.

About us

For more information, contact:

Lesley Ann van Selm | Managing Director and Founder

Khulisa Social Solutions

082 601 2299

lesleyann@khulisa.org.za:

http://www.khulisa.org.za

The post WORLD HEART DAY UNITES RUSTENBURG appeared first on Khulisa Social Solutions.

CHILDREN ARE TELLING US WHAT IS HAPPENING — ARE WE LISTENING?

Khulisa Social Solutions — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 12:05:26 +0000

MEDIA RELEASE

CHILDREN ARE TELLING US WHAT IS HAPPENING — ARE WE LISTENING?

Alexandra – Gauteng – 16 September 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

72% of 647 children aged 9–17 participating in previous Khulisa Social Solutions research mainly in Alexandra, Gauteng, reported that they had witnessed crime in their communities. But statistics tell only part of the story. Through Khulisa’s diagnostic Dialogue Circles, children and young people are now telling us what it actually feels like to grow up within environments shaped by fear, peer pressure, bullying, social media, expectations around gender, the need to belong and, sometimes, the feeling that adults do not listen.

Recent Dialogue Circles with girls and boys in Alexandra have provided a particularly revealing window into these lived experiences.

Girls spoke about bullying, gossip, jealousy, body shaming, social-media pressure and the fear of being excluded. They understood the importance of personal boundaries and the right to say no, but described something far more complicated: sometimes standing up for yourself can mean losing friends, being judged or becoming the subject of gossip.

They also raised an issue that should concern every parent, teacher and organisation working with children: some girls felt that adults do not always take their concerns seriously. When a child expects to be disbelieved, blamed or dismissed, silence can become the safer option.

The boys described a different but connected reality.

They spoke about the expectations placed on boys to be strong, to fit in, to hide vulnerability and to conform to particular ideas of masculinity. Family, friends, culture and social media were all identified as powerful influences on how boys believe they are expected to behave.

Yet the boys also challenged some of these assumptions themselves. They rejected the idea that genuine respect comes from fear, money, popularity or physical strength, instead associating respect with character, ethics and the way people treat one another.

Taken together, the voices of the girls and boys reveal something important.

Children often already know what adults tell them they should do. They know they should say no. They know bullying is wrong. They know they should resist negative peer pressure and ask for help.

The deeper issue is whether the environment around them makes it possible to do so.

“A child may know the right decision but still face an enormous social cost for making it,” said Lesley Ann van Selm, Founder and Managing Director of Khulisa Social Solutions.

“A girl may know that she has the right to set a boundary but fear losing her friends. A boy may know that he needs help but fears being regarded as weak. If we only give children information without understanding the world in which they are trying to apply it, we are missing the point.”

This is why Khulisa increasingly uses diagnostic lived-experience Dialogue Circles before determining what intervention is required.

The purpose is not simply to ask children what they need. It is to understand what they are experiencing, what is influencing their behaviour, why particular problems continue, where relationships or support systems are failing, what protective resources already exist and where earlier intervention may be possible.

The Alexandra dialogues showed that belonging is particularly powerful. For both girls and boys, behaviour is influenced not simply by knowledge or individual choice but by the need for acceptance within peer groups, families and wider society.

They also showed that peers themselves can become part of the solution. Girls spoke positively about sisterhood and supporting one another. Boys demonstrated an ability to redefine strength and respect in healthier ways. Both groups identified family members, teachers, trusted adults, role models and community structures as potential sources of support.

Van Selm said this is precisely why listening to lived experience matters. “Children can tell us where the system is beginning to fail long before that failure becomes a crisis. Dialogue gives us an early-warning mechanism. Their experiences can show us where family relationships, peer culture, schools, digital environments and community support systems are either protecting children or placing them at greater risk.”

Khulisa’s approach is to convert this lived experience into community intelligence that can guide prevention, programme design and investment.

Rather than waiting until a young person presents with school failure, violence, substance abuse, mental-health difficulties or conflict with the law, the objective should be to understand the pressures surrounding that child much earlier.

The full combined Dialogue Circle Report, capturing what the girls and boys told us and the implications emerging from their lived experiences, can be accessed here.

About us

For more information, contact:

Lesley Ann van Selm | Managing Director and Founder

Khulisa Social Solutions

082 601 2299

lesleyann@khulisa.org.za:

http://www.khulisa.org.za

The post CHILDREN ARE TELLING US WHAT IS HAPPENING — ARE WE LISTENING? appeared first on Khulisa Social Solutions.

KHULISA AND EDF ADVANCE EVIDENCE-LED MODEL FOR COMMUNITY ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT IN NOUPOORT

Khulisa Social Solutions — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:42:52 +0000

MEDIA RELEASE

KHULISA AND EDF ADVANCE EVIDENCE-LED MODEL FOR COMMUNITY ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT IN NOUPOORT

Noupoort, Northern Cape – September 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Khulisa Social Solutions is implementing an Enterprise and Strengthening Programme in Noupoort aimed at helping local community organisations become stronger, more sustainable and better positioned to create lasting social and economic opportunity.

The programme, developed in the context of EDF’s community development work in Noupoort, starts from a simple premise: sustainable development requires more than allocating funding. It requires understanding what is preventing progress, strengthening organisations first, testing whether proposed enterprises are viable, and only then determining what capital is genuinely required.

The initial assessment covers 12 community organisations in Noupoort and has identified 12 recurring systemic barriers to sustainable development. Nine of the 12 organisations have already identified potential enterprise opportunities, while three require further opportunity and market assessment before any enterprise investment can responsibly be considered.

The organisations are already reaching significant numbers of local residents. Aluta Development Network reports reaching approximately 120 people a month and 657 during the previous year, while Cosmos Sport Academy reports around 60 beneficiaries a month and approximately 1,000 over the preceding year. Natasha’s Community Development reaches approximately 150 to 200 people each month, Simanye Soup Kitchen approximately 150, and Azingce Day & Aftercare approximately 90 young children every month.
Despite the breadth of community activity already taking place, the baseline shows that the central challenge is not simply a shortage of money. Across the 12 organisations, the assessment identified recurring constraints including weak governance and compliance, inadequate financial systems, limited monitoring and evaluation, grant dependency, poor access to markets and capital, infrastructure constraints, unemployment and weak alignment between community organisations, government and business.

“Too often the first question in community development is how much money an organisation needs,” said Lesley-Ann van Selm, Founder and Managing Director of Khulisa Social Solutions. “We are asking a different question: what is preventing progress, what can capacity building resolve, and what capital is genuinely required once there is evidence that an opportunity can work?”

A number of potential community enterprises have emerged through the assessment process, including poultry farming, food production and catering, digital service centres, agriculture, branded-product printing and youth-led property maintenance. These opportunities originate from the organisations themselves, but they will not automatically receive investment. Each must first be tested for demand, costs, organisational capability, customers and commercial viability.

Under the programme’s structured nine-stage development model, capital is introduced only at stage six. Before reaching that point, an organisation must progress through baseline assessment, systemic blockage analysis, capacity building, funding readiness and enterprise feasibility. Capital investment is then followed by market validation, partnership development and evidence-based decisions on whether an initiative should be scaled, redesigned or stopped.

Khulisa’s role is therefore not to distribute funding. It is to strengthen governance, compliance, financial management, monitoring and evaluation, sustainability, enterprise development, market access, partnership development and accountability so that investment is directed towards organisations and opportunities capable of using it effectively.

This approach seeks to address one of the recurring weaknesses in community development: capital being committed before organisations, markets and implementation systems are ready to sustain it.

It also changes the way success is measured.

Rather than focusing primarily on how much funding has been allocated, the programme will measure whether organisations become more compliant, accountable and funding-ready; whether viable enterprises secure real customers and generate income; whether beneficiaries move into skills, work and income opportunities; whether productive capital generates measurable results; and whether partnerships develop around initiatives that have demonstrated their value.

The longer-term ambition is to build a stronger local development ecosystem in Noupoort in which community organisations are connected not only to funding, but also to markets, public institutions, private-sector partners and one another.

Where an organisation and its enterprise become genuinely investment-ready, an appropriate public-private partnership may then be developed around the proven opportunity. Community organisations bring local knowledge, trust, skills and implementation capability; the private sector and funders can bring capital, technical support and commercial networks; market partners provide customers and procurement opportunities; and the public sector can support regulatory alignment, infrastructure and services. Khulisa’s role is to help ensure that this partnership is built on evidence, capability and accountability.

“The partnership should come after the proof,” Van Selm said. “We want to help create credible, accountable and investment-ready propositions around which communities, business, government and funders can confidently align.”

The ultimate objective is to help move participating organisations from fragmented, vulnerable and grant-dependent structures towards stronger, evidence-driven and increasingly sustainable institutions that can continue delivering social value while also creating local economic opportunity.

The programme encapsulates this approach in one principle:

“Capital follows readiness. Readiness follows strengthening. Partnership follows proof.”

About us

For more information, contact:

Lesley Ann van Selm | Managing Director and Founder

Khulisa Social Solutions

082 601 2299

lesleyann@khulisa.org.za:

http://www.khulisa.org.za

The post KHULISA AND EDF ADVANCE EVIDENCE-LED MODEL FOR COMMUNITY ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT IN NOUPOORT appeared first on Khulisa Social Solutions.

Eastern Cape NGO Programme Shows Measurable Gains in Grassroots Capacity as Youth Unemployment Reaches 47.4%

Khulisa Social Solutions — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:38:08 +0000

MEDIA RELEASE

Eastern Cape NGO Programme Shows Measurable Gains in Grassroots Capacity as Youth Unemployment Reaches 47.4%

Eastern Cape | 24 August 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Against the backdrop of South Africa’s youth unemployment rate reaching 47.4%, a 12-month NGO capacity-strengthening initiative in the Eastern Cape has shown the potential of investing not only in community programmes, but in the organisations that deliver them.

Implemented by Khulisa Social Solutions, the initiative worked with 10 core community-based organisations across three Eastern Cape programme areas: Great Kei Local Municipality, the Grassridge beneficiary communities and Makana Local Municipality, including Makhanda. An additional community organisation participated in specialist grant-writing and programme-management training in Great Kei.

Significantly, each of the three programmes was funded by a different wind farm community trust, demonstrating how locally focused renewable-energy trusts can invest not only in individual community projects but also in strengthening the institutional capacity of the civil-society organisations that serve their beneficiary communities. The three programmes followed a common capacity-strengthening approach while responding to the specific needs and circumstances of the NGOs in each area.

The results are particularly relevant in the context of South Africa’s latest labour-market figures. Statistics South Africa reported this week that the official unemployment rate had risen to 33.6%, representing approximately 8.5 million unemployed South Africans. Youth unemployment remains considerably higher, highlighting the urgency of building stronger local systems that connect people to economic, educational and developmental opportunities.

The Eastern Cape programme shows that strengthening these local systems begins, in part, with strengthening the organisations already embedded in communities.

Across the Grassridge and Makana programmes, all seven participating NGOs demonstrated measurable improvements in governance and financial management. All seven also developed comprehensive monitoring and evaluation frameworks, while board functionality improved across every participating organisation. Five of the seven organisations, or approximately 71%, secured new funding during the programme period. In the Grassridge programme, two of the three participating NGOs secured new funding (67%), while in Makana, three of the four organisations secured new funding (75%). Participant satisfaction averaged 4.33 out of 5 in Grassridge (86.6%) and 4.75 out of 5 in Makana (95%).

In Great Kei, all three core participating organisations completed the full organisational development pathway, achieving a 100% completion rate. Participant satisfaction averaged 4.67 out of 5, equivalent to 93.4%. An additional organisation also participated in the final grant-writing and programme-management training.

These figures matter because the organisations involved are responding directly to some of the challenges reflected in South Africa’s national statistics. Their work includes support for youth employment and work-readiness, disability services, mental health support, food security, education, psychosocial assistance and broader community development.

The programme was deliberately designed to go beyond one-off training. Over 12 months, organisations progressed through organisational assessments, governance and board development, financial management, strategic planning, safeguarding, monitoring and evaluation, fundraising, programme management and grant writing, with mentoring, coaching and technical assistance.

The organisational changes reported by participants illustrate what these statistics mean in practice. One organisation reported moving from struggling with basic governance and financial systems to having a functional board, proper financial controls and a strategic plan guiding its work. Another reported that improved financial management capability enabled it to produce proper financial reports, manage budgets more effectively and demonstrate accountability to prospective funders. 

Lesley Ann van Selm, Founder and Managing Director of Khulisa Social Solutions, said the results highlight the need to rethink how NGO capacity strengthening is viewed.

“When we strengthen governance, financial accountability, monitoring and evaluation, fundraising and leadership within a community organisation, we are not simply strengthening an NGO. We are strengthening a part of the social infrastructure through which communities respond to unemployment, poverty and exclusion.”

She said South Africa’s unemployment crisis makes this particularly urgent.

“We cannot continue to respond to complex social and economic challenges with fragmented, short-term interventions. Local organisations understand the lived realities of the communities in which they work, but they need strong governance, credible data, financial systems, leadership and the ability to mobilise resources if they are to become sustainable development partners.”

The Eastern Cape initiative also illustrates the potentially important role that renewable-energy community trusts can play in building sustainable local development ecosystems. Rather than funding only stand-alone projects, investment in the capacity of existing community organisations can leave behind stronger local institutions that can attract additional resources, account for funding, demonstrate impact, and continue serving communities beyond an individual funding cycle.

For Khulisa, the Eastern Cape results demonstrate why organisational development should be treated as an investment rather than an administrative cost. When a community organisation becomes more accountable, more financially capable, better able to measure its results, and more successful at mobilising funding, the benefits extend beyond the organisation to the people and communities it serves.

At a time when South Africa is grappling with unemployment on an extraordinary scale, particularly among young people, investing in strong, locally rooted civil-society organisations should form part of the country’s broader response.

Strong communities require strong local institutions, and sustainable development depends on ensuring those institutions have the capacity to remain active long after an individual project or funding cycle has ended.

About us

For more information, contact:

Lesley Ann van Selm | Managing Director and Founder

Khulisa Social Solutions

082 601 2299

lesleyann@khulisa.org.za:

http://www.khulisa.org.za

The post Eastern Cape NGO Programme Shows Measurable Gains in Grassroots Capacity as Youth Unemployment Reaches 47.4% appeared first on Khulisa Social Solutions.