The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic on Southern Africa’s shores, and the inevitable disruption to lives, social and economic systems and work has forced us all to rethink our work priorities, our ways of working, and consider our own role in halting the spread of the virus, as well as responding to its consequences.
The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic on Southern Africa’s shores, and the inevitable disruption to lives, social and economic systems and work has forced us all to rethink our work priorities, our ways of working, and consider our own role in halting the spread of the virus, as well as responding to its consequences.
Like many in South Africa, we are concerned with both how inequality will fuel the spread of the virus, and be fuelled by it. Unemployment, poverty, precarious work, unpaid work, excessive rates of violence against women and children, widespread disease burden and malnutrition, woefully inadequate public transport and health systems and miserly social safety nets mean that covid-19 will further test and erode the resilience of those with the fewest reserves the hardest.
Just as our efforts must be redoubled, long-standing modes of political mobilisation and education, particularly at grassroots level, will have to be reconfigured so as to prevent transmission.
As we face this immense challenge, we would like to assure all our partners that our support will continue in these challenging times.
While the focus of our work remains in the previously identified programmatic areas of Democracy, Sustainable Development and Human Rights, we are - together with many of our partners and with other civil society collectives – also resolved to:
- Channel support to those who need it most;
- Prioritise mobilisation approaches that are inclusive, that centre the voices of those who have been marginalised, and that learn from the most vulnerable communities,many of whom have lived in crisis for years;
- Expand our knowledge of digital organising resources and tactics, share political analysis, networks and strategies to rethink the impossible into the possible.
With regards to our operations, we have implemented the following measures:
- All staff is working remotely. This will be re-assessed and/or adapted to respond to any measures implemented by the government.
- Our own meetings have shifted to online platforms. As the HBF boardroom is currently not available for use, we welcome those who regularly use our offices to get in touch with us should you need support in finding alternative means/resources to continue with your engagements.
- All our staff remain available via email you can find everyone’s email address at https://za.boell.org/en/contact
- You can also reach us by phone:
- Carmelita Witbooi, Office Manager 073 619 0988
- Neila Pillay, Finance Manager 072 422 2991
- Katrin Seidel, Director 066 413 4697
We believe that together with many others our resolve can contribute to ensuring that this crisis is able to bring about some positive changes in the way we relate to each other, to the causes that we are committed to, and the environment on both local and global levels.
With the very best wishes,
Katrin, Keren, Neila, Carmelita, Vuyo, Lynn, Qondile, Lamese, Paula, Thoko and Claudia.