FOCUS
Ending hunger and poverty
Ensuring a healthy future

MDGs ADDRESSED
MDG 1: Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education
MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
MDG 4: Reduce child mortality
MDG 5: Improve maternal health
MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
MDG 8; Create a global partnership for development

OVERVIEW
Despite having vast natural resources and great wealth, over 50% of South Africa’s people live in poverty. The legacy of inequality from apartheid, coupled with deadly rise of HIV/AIDS, traps millions of black South Africans in impoverished communities. The unemployment rate is 25%, with the majority of unemployment concentrated among the historically disadvantaged groups. Women earn less than half of the average wage for men.

In addition, South Africa has 5.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS—the highest number of any country in the world. Approximately 22% of the population in the 15-49 age range is infected, and every day 1,700 more individuals become infected. Life expectancy has dropped to 43 years, and over one million South African children have been orphaned due to HIV/AIDS.

Our PARTNER
ERD is partnering with HOPE Africa, the social development program of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa. HOPE Africa builds partnerships with dioceses,
government departments, and international organizations to alleviate poverty and suffering in Southern Africa.

Our CURRENT PROGRAMS
ERD is caring for communities and people suffering from HIV/AIDS and working supporting for the children left behind. By providing prevention education through churches and community networks, ERD is also fighting the spread of the disease. These activities are focused in the Diocese of Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape.

With a primary focus on improving agricultural production, ERD is working in ten communities in the rural Diocese of Umzimvubu, where the land has suffered from poor farming practices, overgrazing, and drought. In the Dioceses of Mthatha and Grahamstown, ERD is creating opportunities for women and young people to gain job skills and develop small businesses so they can support and feed their families.

Another important component of ERD’s work is training Anglican clergy. Priests and lay leaders learn about development issues and how to promote public policy initiatives that address the needs of the marginalized. A curriculum, developed in consultation with clergy and key stakeholders, covers four modules: theology and development, community development, leadership and public policy.

ERD supports the campaigning voice of the Archbishop of Cape Town in his work as advocate on poverty and health issues both in Southern Africa and on the global stage by staffing a public policy office to research and respond to issues and developments in this complex area.

Primary Health Care Initiatives
ERD is reaching people affected by HIV/AIDS and their families, while working to prevent the spread of the virus through awareness and education.

• A home-based program provides personal care for people living with HIV/AIDS and ensures that all patients are referred for anti-retroviral treatment.
• Support groups educate and encourage caregivers and relatives of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
• A poverty and development curriculum educates and motivates clergy to lead community development and advocacy initiatives in their communities. After consultations with clergy and other stakeholders within the church,
• HIV/AIDS awareness workshops train clergy and community leaders to teach prevention methods, provide counseling to those affected by AIDS including orphans, and encourage people to seek voluntary testing and treatment.
• A legal assistance program helps people affected by HIV/AIDS and family members access social grants and resolve inheritance issues.

Food Security Initiatives
ERD fights malnutrition and poverty by providing access to quality food sources and opportunities to earn income.

• Agricultural training and improved farming methods increase the food supply and provide new sources of income.
• Sewing cooperatives allow women to participate in the economic development of their community while earning income.
• Management and marketing training provides women with skills to develop business plans and expand into new markets.
• Computer courses and job skills training help young people obtain jobs in the mainstream economy.

Our PAST PROGRAMS
ERD has supported a significant number of programs that have had a tremendous impact in South Africa. These include:

• Caring for children with HIV/AIDS and others who have been orphaned by the disease at a community-based program in Johannesburg.
• Developing parish-based programs at Rearbilwe and Carryou where home-based care givers and social workers cared for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
• Providing voluntary HIV testing and counseling, along with mentors to support people who tested positive through the Itipini Health Clinic in the Diocese of St. Johns. The clinic also provided health care to treat opportunistic diseases, offer vitamins and antibiotics along with food to individuals with HIV/AIDS.
• Serving 50,000 households with 24-hour access to community health care workers at the medical clinic at Brown’s Farm Township in Cape Town.
• Pioneering a successful women’s quilting cooperative that employed women living with HIV/AIDS. The group received orders from department stores internationally, which increased the incomes of all the women and allowed their children to remain in school.
• Establishing a women’s group that made beaded AIDS pins in Brown’s Farm Township. The work provided enough money for the women to care for their families, while funding to common account to support the children after their mothers died.
• Developing a Bed and Breakfast Chalet and Conference Center in Arniston, and a similar project Hawston, which provided jobs for community residents and helped build their skills.
• Training young people from impoverished townships in Cape Town in computer skills so that they could obtain higher-paying professional jobs.