THE FATHERS HEART CURRENCY PROGRAM
Towards the end of September each year, we have our annual Strategic meeting where we look at all that is happening in our organisation to ensure we are still aligned with God’s vision and purpose for Fisantekraal as well as assessing where any issues may have arisen and how to mitigate those factors to ensure impact and success.
We have always prided ourselves on A HAND UP, AND NOT A HANDOUT model, but we realised that slowly, in some respects, we were slipping away from this principle, even though well intentioned. For example, when our beneficiaries needed things, we would do a call out for items, or over MandelaDay when we were gifted items for our beneficiaries, but we realised again how much hand outs, in any form just keep people stymied in the cycle of poverty, inequality and hopelessness & we refuse to do that.
And so, The Fathers Heart Currency Program was born, as a way to still provide our beneficiaries with the things they require, but in a way that it is done with dignity and agency and also fairness to all.
HOW IT WORKS:
We launched the adult, child and teens currency programs at the beginning of the year.
All our adult beneficiaries get opportunities to earn a number of points when attending any of our training & development programs, whether it be personal development or leadership classes, bible study, parent training, parent support groups etc. These accumulated points are then exchanged at the end of every monthly for things like non perishable food staples, toiletries, home ware items, clothing etc.
In the same way with the child and teens program, they can earn their currency points by attending afterschool programs every day, honouring the Code of Conduct, being on time to class, being on their best behaviour etc. The teens and kids get to enjoy shopping with their points for snacks, toys, books, clothing, hair care, airtime vouchers etc. every second week.
We are currently also working on extending this model to providing points for recycling collected in this high waste area, but we will share that as soon as all the details are finalised.
With only a few months into the program, we have already seen amazing results: all our adult programs have been full, there have been incredible testimonies from our volunteers & facilitators as to the behaviour of the kids and teens on our afterschools, and we have had such positive feedback from all of the beneficiaries who are loving being able to earn their points and buy what they want/need.
If you are a corporate, organisation or church that would love to get involved in making an impact in this way, by giving a Hand up and Not a Hand out, be it a once-off or monthly donation, a Mandela Day drive or quarterly partner, please contact megan@thefathersheart.org.za for more information on how you can get involved.