Khulisa Social Solutions is demonstrating that lasting solutions to complex community challenges emerge through social cohesion — when people, systems, and resources align to address problems at their root. As it marks 25 years of work in Rustenburg, Khulisa will showcase how it is capacitating communities to resolve their own conflicts, break cycles of violence, and remove systemic blockages that stand in the way of progress.

The celebration will highlight how Khulisa’s Collaborative Implementation Model (CIM) and Systematic Inventive Mediation (SIM) process are generating evidence-based, community-led solutions to issues such as gender-based violence, service delivery breakdowns, and barriers to education and safety. These approaches, tested and refined in Rustenburg, are now being rolled out nationally.

HOW IT STARTED
In 2000, Khulisa initiated a single youth-focused initiative in Rustenburg, aiming to promote entrepreneurship among young people. This early programme—Make It Better—offered life skills, leadership development, and peer support, which in turn prevented many young people from entering the criminal justice system and helped foster safer, more cohesive communities.

What began as a small-scale intervention in one mining town soon evolved into a dynamic ecosystem of programmes addressing crime prevention, restorative justice, mental health, GBV response, youth employability, and community capacity building. Over the years, Khulisa has introduced pioneering approaches, including victim–offender mediation, narrative therapy, large-scale dialogue circles, and economic empowerment projects.

From November 2023 to July 2025, Khulisa facilitated 25 dialogue circles in Rustenburg, engaging 686 participants across diverse community groups. These included GBV-focused sessions with stakeholders, youth, and community members; training workshops for NGOs on dialogue facilitation; discussions on youth unemployment and civic duty; farmer-focused engagements; and school-based dialogues addressing safety, social challenges, and GBV among learners. In 2025, five dedicated conflict resolution dialogues brought together teen boys, children, youth, and women to address the causes of conflict and develop community-led solutions. This wide-reaching programme has fostered open dialogue, built local capacity, and strengthened social cohesion across the region.

Today, this work has matured into a multifaceted, evidence-based approach that unites government, corporates, NGOs, and residents in designing and delivering sustainable change—anchored by Khulisa’s belief that lasting transformation comes when communities themselves are capacitated to lead the solutions.

WHO WILL BE FEATURED
The event will profile the people who bring this work to life:

• Programme graduates who have turned lives once marked by incarceration, addiction, or crisis into stories of leadership and hope.
• Community champions from GBV coalitions, youth groups, and grassroots NGOs are driving local transformation.
• Stakeholders and partners from government, mining, and corporate sectors whose collaboration has amplified impact.
• Khulisa staff whose commitment and skills have built trust and driven innovation in some of Rustenburg’s most challenging spaces.

Through a documentary, panel discussions, and first-hand accounts, these voices will show the power of communities leading their own change, supported by systems that listen, adapt, and respond.

“Rustenburg holds a special place in our journey,” says Lesley Ann van Selm, Managing Director of Khulisa Social Solutions. “It’s where our innovations have been tested, refined, and proven — and it’s from here that we’re taking them nationwide. Our evidence shows that when communities lead and systems align, lasting change is possible.”

The celebration will close with the unveiling of Khulisa’s HEART Vision, a three-year plan to expand the CIM model’s reach, ensuring every intervention is grounded in community ownership and designed to address root causes rather than symptoms.

EVENT DETAILS

Date: Friday, 22 August 2025

Time: 09:00 to 13:30

Venue: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

152 Rustenburg Bethlehem Drive

Rustenburg