CASE STUDY

Effective partnerships: The Titirheleni Community Gardens Project

The Titirheleni Community Gardens project in South Africa provides a useful example of a mining company - the Palabora Mining Company - working in partnership with local people to promote local economic development.

The project was established when local women presented proposals to the Palabora Foundation’s Community Development Committee. The project had existed for about two years, but faced collapse. The women had few tools, no infrastructure, and no financial, technical, or marketing skills.

The Palabora Foundation sourced R150,000 from an external donor for pumps, pipes, and other infrastructure, and provided training in financial management and technical skills. Women were given plots to cultivate. This provided incomes, produce to feed their families, and vegetables and seedlings to sell to local residents. Each woman pays R50 a month to cover electricity, pesticides, equipment, and fertilizer. The women are currently planning to diversify into making preserves from their produce and to expand their market, with the adjacent Namakgale Township a possible market for fresh vegetables.

The Palabora Foundation’s involvement in the initial stage of the project was intense, but was gradually scaled down as the project became more established. In September 2003 the foundation ceased funding the project and handed it over to the community. The foundation will continue to offer advice and mentoring with the local department of agriculture. This project was so successful that a second vegetable gardening project was started on adjacent land. A group had watched the progress of the first garden and the benefits it brought to the local women involved. Although the Palabora Foundation expected the second group to approach it for assistance, learning-by-watching had made the second group self-reliant.

Among the lessons learned are:


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CASE STUDY DETAILS

Published
27 March 2008
Company
Rio Tinto
Location
Africa

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Principle 09:

Contribute to the social, economic and institutional development of the communities in which we operate.

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