Across the networks of the FEDUP and ISN, local communities are creating local industries around the arts and crafts, food production units and local businesses. These include the Vukuzenzele savings groups in Section B, Khayalitsha, Cape Town. These groups are producing clothes, handbags, and other apparel. CORC’s livelihoods coordinator is supporting this group by researching product development and access to markets, as well as new trends to appeal to a (post-) modern market, such as AfroChic. Sowing skills need to be developed in order to upscale production and develop new products.
In Oukasie (North West) FEDUP groups are packaging and distributing fortified porridge to other savings schemes. The product is called “FEDUP Pap”. They have set up a facility to distribute at scale, and even looking at providing to formal markets.
Savings groups in Orange Farm (Gauteng) and Oukasie (North West) have secured parcels of land from the local municipality and are planning to set up internet cafes and ICT hubs. These projects are being planned by the youth.
In Kwandebele (Limpopo), the youth visited a large poultry business to learn about farming. After learning about the construction of the farm, the feeds, procurement, operational expenses, regulations, health considerations and other lucrative aspects, they set up a small scale farm on a plot of land owned by FEDUP. Today this groups has a stock of about 1,500 chickens. The Kwandebele groups also started a local production facility to design and manufacture tradition attire, accessories and other ethnic clothing.
Organge Farm (Gauteng) savings collective started an events management cooperation, which specialise in traditional weddings and events. This group also produces traditional attire, but also does hair, make-up, and photography.
In the arid areas of the Western and Northern Cape, the Merweville group is exploring options for income generation through animal husbandry, the agricultural practice of breeding and raising a diverse variety of livestock. These groups have also set up a local production facility to produce cheaper bricks that they could procure from the formal market in the context of people’s housing.
These local initiatives are all rooted in the collective, and therefore the circulation of goods and services has a communal impact. The value-added activities therefore multiply beyond the immediate sphere of impact.