In the recent
Sustainability Report, renewable energy company, BTE Renewables, which has a
footprint of clean energy projects in three provinces in South Africa and across
the border into Kenya, has demonstrated the importance of education in its
approach to uplifting communities.
Thanks to BTE
Renewables’ multiple targeted interventions which includes school lunches for
the matriculants at Lonwabo High School in Bedford and a vegetable garden to
help the school become more self-sufficient, learners received support and opportunities
were created for small businesses.
This
resonates with our former president, Nelson Mandela’s ethos, “Education is the
key to eliminating gender inequality, to reducing poverty, to creating a
sustainable planet, to preventing needless deaths and illness, and to fostering
peace.”
The renewable
energy company reportedly spent $1.76 million on community development in 2022,
with the principal focus being on education, where 73% of this budget was
allocated.
Taking a long-term
view to investing in host communities, BTE Renewables’ “Lifetime of Learning” approach
aims to achieve a transformational impact in communities, through education and
integrated interventions at each life-stage. This approach to education, is linked
to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 4, which aims to “ensure
inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all”.
Studies indicate
that access to quality education helps to promote long-lasting, inclusive
economic growth and social-cohesion.
In the South
African context, BTE Renewables believe this is particularly pertinent for
children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. If a child either
does not have access to education, or has very poor education at any phase in
their path of education, this can stunt the remainder of the process. It snowballs, resulting in a lack of
confidence, exclusion, and a lack of access to economic opportunities, perpetuating
the cycle of poverty.
Libby
Hirshon, Sustainability Director at BTE Renewables said over the 20-year
operations of the company’s wind and solar power plants, this long-term approach
to education and harnessing development opportunities has the potential to
impact beneficiary communities in a meaningful way.
“An analysis
of the socio-economic context and root causes of exclusion in each community
gives us an insight into the barriers or gaps in the learning and development
opportunities throughout their whole life journey. By understanding this, we can
address barriers and gaps at each identified stage of development. In the long
term this means that the beneficiaries of the community investment can build on
the investment in their education, learning and development throughout their
whole learning journey, resulting in an economically active individual able to take
up livelihood and employment opportunities. Without this, longer term
educational improvements through early-stage interventions such as at the ECD
stage, could be hindered by a gap in the primary or literacy stage of
development.”
“We are
expecting to see the most significant impacts over time when some of the longer-term
programmes start to show deep and meaningful impact. In the meanwhile, short
term outputs and outcomes include 48 learners in our communities receiving
bursaries, nearly 1 500 students gaining access to ICT, over 2 000 students
with access to study guides, 36 small businesses receiving business support and
many other beneficiaries at various stages of the ‘Lifetime of Learning’
journey,” added Hirshon.
Celiwe
Mabaso, the company’s Senior Social Performance Manager said, “As one example,
we have introduced multiple targeted interventions at Lonwabo High School,
ensuring support to learners, but also creating opportunities for small
businesses and interlinkages between them. Now organisations such as the
women’s co-operative who established the food garden at the school, and the
supplier who provided the fencing, are involved in providing both voluntary and
paid services to the school. Everything that’s being done now forms part of a
whole-school transformation programme. In turn, these initiatives are assisting
in making the community thrive.”
The long term
impact will certainly take time to quantify, but already, just two years into
the programme, results are clear.
“We see
education as a tool to positively impact lives in a sustainable manner. Though
this lifetime approach, we aim to provide communities with the opportunity to
build a good, strong foundation of learning and development so that they can
take up and create livelihood opportunities that are available to them in
becoming active participants in the economy,” concluded Hirshon.
