The Good Economy (GE), a social employment fund, has welcomed the extention of funding received from the Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES) until October 2023. Funding was initially granted until June this year.
The GE announced in a statement on 10 March that the four-month extension would positively impact the lives of people in the programme.
Managed by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the fund was established in October 2020 with the aim to create “work for the common good”, to enable a “whole of society” to approach employment opportunities and improve their livelihoods.
The social economy includes all enterprise activities with a deliberate and focused social or environmental outcome, which combine social goals with market-based strategies.
The GE is an affiliation of ten foundations and charitable organisations that together employ 1 175 people in a variety of roles through the funding of the PES.
The extension of funding applies to all the programme’s beneficiaries. These include, but are not limited to, early childhood development (ECD) centres, recycling initiatives, social housing projects and disability employment initiatives.
Pascale Henke, founder of Brownie Points – which is the lead implementor for the GE programme – said that the extension would afford beneficiaries more time to find additional employment opportunities or start entrepreneurial ventures in their communities.
According to Henke, since the PES was launched it has created opportunities for over 1 million direct beneficiaries across South Africa.
It was introduced by Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa as part of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan, with a range of measures to address the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The aim of the PES is to utilise public funding to create jobs and support livelihoods while the labour market recovers.
“The GE aims to unlock shared value for all stakeholders involved, through cross-sector collaboration and working towards the common goal of sustainable and meaningful employment,” said Henke.
