SCALABLE BENEFITS TO COMMUNITIES
The initiative focuses on addressing some of the most economically vulnerable areas in our country, where job opportunities are few or non-existent, and if any, these would mostly be focused on the basic services required to sustain a small town or community, such as health or old age care, small retail and civic institutions, tourism and farming. This is especially relevant to sparsely populated small towns and communities such as those in the Northern Cape, where little hope exists for substantial economic growth and job creation, beyond the few mining disruptions that have taken place in parts of the north-western part of this province, leaving a trail of social and environmental destruction in its aftermath at the end of life of mine.
This is also very relevant to the job losses in manufacturing driven economies in cities like Gqeberha and Cape Town, leading to vulnerable communities on the suburban edges of cities like these – due to the extreme shortening of our, in this case, agricultural value chains, due to most if not all raw material, and with it manufacturing jobs, being exported to other parts of the world – the extremely short local wool value chain a case in point.
Two pilot projects have been initiated, to be launched in the Klein Karoo and in the Eastern Cape respectively, to then be scaled (replicated) to literally hundreds more such communities across the country.
SOLID RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION
The EQGO initiative has been developed in response to many years of on-going research into socio-economic challenges in some of our most vulnerable communities, as well as national and international developmental policy, closely aligned with much of the policy direction of TIPS (Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies), the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town, and similar global policy initiatives, such as the green industry and circular economy development work of UNECE, the Dutch Circularity Report initiatives, the work of the Partnership for Action in the Green Economy(PAGE), the Green Economy Coalition (GEC), Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Eco-Innovation work, and a wide range of Green Finance Platforms, to mention a few.
The implementation of a Just Transition in the EQGO initiative is enabled through two particular agricultural value chains, namely the prickly pear and wool value chains, further enabling the promotion of green and inclusive industrial development, fostering inclusive business ownership models – the sustainability of the wool value chain to be strengthened, and the prickly pear value chain to be formalised and established as a new endeavour of a relatively old and alienated crop – repositioning both within extended green economy value chains.
Immediate job creation is made possible through the clearing of aliens in ringfenced areas, environmental restoration and the development of new farmers within a controlled cultivar environment, addressing ownership of agribusinesses and land restoration. In this process we are collaborating with experts from the University of the Free State who have developed a centre of excellence in research and development of prickly pear cultivation, management, production and product innovation as an alternative and very feasible high growth agricultural crop in especially, but not only, arid and semi-arid regions of our country, with significant value creation opportunities.
We are also working closely with the Centre for Biological Control at Rhodes University (Dr Philip Ivey) in addressing the decades long potential of conflict between land-use, farming practices and biodiversity control, also working closely with the University of Fort Hare (Prof Luvuyo Wotshela) around the social history of prickly pear in the Eastern Cape, as well as the history of land-use and associated challenges.
STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT WITH CLIMATE CHANGE & ESG
We have specifically selected poverty and drought-stricken areas vulnerable to climate change and adaptation, with the aim of creating greater social, environmental and economic resilience through the selection of appropriate agricultural cultivars and products.
Agribusiness ownership, environmental stewardship and progressive self-sustainability may transform current labour market dynamics, allowing inclusivity and diversity in skills, gender and age groups to participate.
It has direct reference to the draft Presidential Climate Commission Report: Framework for a Just Transition in South Africa (February 2022), the South African Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, as well as the New Agriculture Agro-processing Masterplan, and the latest BFAP Baseline Report 2022 officially launched 17 August 2022.
Through the reach of the extended value chains, from farmer to market, including extensive green product innovation and development, from food to fibre, our work is further directly aligned with SDGs 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,15, and 17.
CLIMATE IMPACT
Mitigation (reduction of greenhouse gases) are achieved through
Type of crops:
⦿ New cacti plantations with a positive net impact on greenhouse gases
⦿ Requiring minimal water (grows in arid and semi-arid conditions)
Sustainably green manufacturing:
⦿ Collaborating with the Lean Institute Africa at the UCT GSB for guidance on low resource processing and manufacturing facilities, also due to the introduction of distributed smaller facilities, reducing both energy and transport costs and impacts versus singular centralized high-intensity industrial developments.
⦿ The particular product value stream and locality will determine the size and type of facility.
Types of beneficiaries:
⦿ Sustainable new enterprise developments (new farming enterprises as well as agro-processing and green product development enterprises)
⦿ Productive, sustainable, and equitable land use
⦿ Sustainable new job creation opportunities for all genders, and any work-ready age groups across a broad range of skill levels, from basic land work to value-added industries and support services
The work of the Footsteps Foundation provides a wide range of opportunities for inclusion in corporate CSI, GRI, and ESG strategies, demonstrating a tangible commitment to sustainability.
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