- The strategic position of the DBSA’s CSI provides for alignment of CSI initiatives to the core mandate and operations of the Bank. Community involvement in any community development project is critical. Partnership with Habitat for Humanity in the Nelson Mandela Centenary build initiative aligned with the Bank’s aim to encourage engagement of volunteerism of the DBSA staff, which is also core to the CSR programme. The construction programme provided for ten volunteers per house per day. The DBSA staff had opportunities to volunteer in the construction of houses.
- Key to the DBSA’s CSI participation is human settlement infrastructure – construction of houses for the indigent. The Bank sponsored the construction of five houses in Lawley in support of the government’s provision of houses for needy families supported by DBSA volunteers.
- The DBSA collaborated with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Habitat for Humanity, an NPC dedicated to the long term development and sustainability of South Africa’s formal and informal housing sector. Contributing to the Mandela Centenary celebrations of building 100 houses for needy communities – particularly child and women headed households, the DBSA CSI participated in contributing towards closing the infrastructure backlog of 1996 through sponsorship of five homes as part of the Centenary celebrations of 100 homes for 100 families.
- The DBSA collaborated with Habitat for Humanity and embraced the operating model that entails consultation with community leaders and empowering the community. Young people from the community of Lawley had opportunities to become team leaders coordinating and overseeing construction processes for the houses sponsored by the DBSA. Small constructors subcontracted to the main construction service provider for the duration of the build process. Habitat for Humanity briefed beneficiaries on the home ownership process, trained them on caring for their houses, and engaged Councillors to promote buy-in of all stakeholders.
Development impact
The DBSA successfully transformed and achieved a positive and lasting social and economic change. Not only did the DBSA sponsor the construction of a superstructure, the DBSA went the extra mile to further improve the houses and raise the families’ living standards. This the DBSA did by tiling floors of all rooms, tiling walls in the kitchens and bathrooms, installing gutters and water tanks for harvesting rainwater as well as installing sinks and kitchen cabinets, providing fridges, stoves and microwaves for all five families. The transformative impact was evident in the jubilation and expressed appreciation by the recipients of houses at the handover ceremonies.