PTC joins forces on community upliftment project

Post date: Oct 18, 2013 7:13:35 AM

Two associates of PTC, John Cato of the Church of St John Parish Justice and Peace Ministry and IACT-Africa and Steve Banhegyi (CommunityLED) along with Dr Peter Tobin of PTC engaged recently with a range of stakeholders through the guidance of Trevor Davies of the Zandspruit Community Connect body, a not-for-profit organisation which addresses a range of community development needs in the Zandspruit informal settlement, located north-west of Johannesburg. "We were exploring how to support the needs of the community in a number of ways: job creation; improving household incomes; improving health and safety in the community and leveraging renewable natural resources" says Steve, "where we help community members to understand the many and diverse potential benefits from the use of solar power, in particular for lighting, as well as the opportunity to become entrepreneurs in partnership with CommunityLED". "There is clearly a need for a reduction in shack fires, cleaner air in the domestic environment and social upliftment through job creation" adds John, "and this small first step will no doubt lead the various partners involved to a clearer understanding of the needs and priorities of the community members involved". "Trevor helped to gather the workshop delegates and provided the meeting venue, while I helped to bring the various role players together and used some of my experience in storytelling and verbal communications to enhance the workshop experience, so it really was a team effort," comments Peter.

Pictured below are members of the workshop which explored the use of solar energy to create job opportunities and community upliftment.