Poverty Stoplight SA
A movement towards poverty eradication in South Africa
Poverty Stoplight is an approach that helps people progress out of poverty by empowering them to understand and map their own choices. It encourages households to participate and own their journeys out of poverty, and provides a clear line of sight of how to get there; at the same time allowing organisations delivering support to measure progress against their programme objectives.
“It has opened our eyes to what is really happening in the community. Once you know this, you can really start helping the people … and we’ve now noticed a lot of things we’ve never known about our community”
– Chery Abrahams, PS Facilitator, Learning In Reach
“We have no idea what goes on in people’s lives …and we had no way of finding this out until we came across Poverty Stoplight. Up till then, there had been a lot of assumptions made about people’s lives. At the end of each (survey) session, it seemed really positive and empowering … more of a celebration than anything else. It’s changed the way we see each other. You can feel the difference when you walk into a store that has had Love My Journey (PS) and one that hasn’t. The energy is different. They become accountable to each other. It’s changed the dynamic”
– Kate Marais, CSI Manager, Food Lover’s Market
“Poverty Stoplight acts as a mirror to those issues discussed in our Life Skills sessions … being reflected and played back to our beneficiaries in real life. We are excited to understand what individual poverty looks like … and at family level … to see those shifts as we teach people to become economically active, but focusing strongly on healing”
– Aleks Jablonska, Project Manager, Learn to Earn
“People are actually using PS results in their day to day lives. Individuals have taken much more ownership of their lives. They are making plans and changing what they don’t like”
– Funeka Plaatjie-Njobeni, independent coach
“This last financial year, when we had to do our annual financial report, it was the easiest annual report we’ve ever done, because we had so much data. When you can quote that the women on your programme are taking home (amount), that’s music to your donors ears … you can extract data quickly in real statistical terms and be able to present that to any interested party”
– Tracey Chambers, CEO, The Clothing Bank
Listen Up!
“Instead of aggregating data for decision-makers at the top, we do it for decision-makers at the bottom.”
Journalist Nick Dall wrote and published an article for Ozy.com entitled The Stoplight battling to End Poverty. It’s a good piece that provides a quick summation of how fast this methodology is getting traction across the world. Enjoy!
Our Members
- The Clothing Bank
- Habitat For Humanity
- FoodForward South Africa
- Beautiful Gate
- Shonaquip and Uhambo Foundation
- Drakenstein Foundation
- Learn to Earn
- Container World
- DevCom
- Food Lover’s Market
- Westlake United Church Trust
- Izulu Orphan Projects
- Sappi Southern Africa Ltd
- Township Patterns
- Belgotex Floorcoverings (Pty) Ltd
- Ranyaka Community Investment Managers
- Jewels of Hope
- The WDB Trust
- Bowler Plastics (Pty) Ltd
- Afrika Tikkun
- Learning In Reach
- Fair Trade Trust
- The Sustainability Institute
- Refilwe Community Project
- TLP Services
- uThungulu Community Foundation
- Seed of Hope
- Pinotage Youth Development Academy
- Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Endowment
- Fix Forward
- Careerlinx Empowerment Solutions
- Vastfontein Community Transformation
- African Beekeeper Trust
- Sinapi biomedical (Pty) Ltd
- Domino Foundation
- Fisantekraal Centre for Development
- gold Youth Development Agency (gold-youth)
- Black Umbrellas
- Africa Co-operative Action Trust (ACAT)
- Africa Foundation
- TechnoServe
- Harambee
- Rural Development Support Programme
- Mosiamise
- SaveAct
- Inuka Fine Fragrances (Pty) Ltd
“The Poverty Stoplight tool has been introduced nationally to all branches of TCB and it has exceeded all expectations. We are delighted. We now do home visits with each family (during the recruitment phase) and have integrated this tool into our programme. We have seen significant changes in the way families are taking responsibility for their own journeys out of poverty and are encouraged by the results we are observing.”
Tracey Chambers
“When TCB came to do the Poverty Stoplight, it was good because my 18-year-old daughter was there to answer some questions, and it helped her to feel part of it. My business is doing well and I am achieving my goals that I set in coaching when we looked at my Stoplight colours.”
Sheila
“Poverty Stoplight provides us with a roadmap on how to engage further with focused inputs and priorities. By understanding our clients better - their poverty situation, their real needs - we are able to design and use our programmes in such a way that we optimise impact and assist our clients in eradicating poverty from their lives.”
Emma Sexton
