The Poverty Stoplight Conference

The Poverty Stoplight Conference Cape Town, South Africa

October 2014

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The South African Poverty Stoplight Conference

October 2014 Report

The first Poverty Stoplight conference in Africa was hosted by The Clothing Bank (TCB) on Monday, 27 October 2014 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, in the Roof Terrace Room. This was a full day event from 09h00 – 16h30.

Introduction

The purpose of the conference was to:

1. Share The Clothing Bank’s and The Business Place’s findings and success in using Poverty Stoplight with other NPOs and Social Enterprises in Cape Town.

2. Acquire an indication of how many NPOs and Social Enterprises would be interested in using the PS tool and joining a PS Forum.

3. Acquire feedback on how the PS Forum should be constituted, run and possible rules of engagement. The conference was coordinated by representatives of TCB and co-sponsored by The Saville Foundation and Fundación Paraguaya.

Possibly the biggest question facing organisations working to alleviate poverty is “How do we know if we are moving the needle of transformation?” Through monitoring and evaluation, TCB knows that their holistic 2-year Enterprise Development training programme is successful at empowering unemployed mothers to start small retail businesses that allow them to transition from a life of dependence to becoming financially and socially independent. However, is poverty being permanently eradicated from the lives of these unemployed mothers? Additionally, the following questions have been haunting the programme’s impact and the team has been determined to find these answers:

Background to hosting South Africa’s first conference on Poverty Stoplight

• How do we know if our programmes are successful unless we define what “not poor” means? • Why are some beneficiaries stuck below the national poverty line despite years of financial inclusion? • What is the intrinsic difference between the beneficiaries who overcome poverty and those who do not?

TCB was looking for a tool that allowed their beneficiaries to participate and own their journeys out of poverty, that provided a clear line of sight of how to get there, and that allowed TCB to measure the organisation against its objectives. These were questions that TCB was asking itself last year at about the same time that TCB’s CEO, Tracey Chambers, met up with Martin Burt of Fundación Paraguaya at an event in Paraguay.

Martin and his team have developed an innovative, practical methodology and self-evaluation, visual survey tool that allows poor families to self-diagnose their level of poverty as a first step in developing a personalised strategy to lift them

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permanently out of poverty. It’s called Poverty Stoplight and is experiencing huge success in Paraguay, which has led to much interest from other countries.

In February 2014, TCB started to develop and localise the Poverty Stoplight approach for a South African context. After piloting the tool for six months TCB was so excited and encouraged by the results that they decided to hold a conference in Cape Town in order to share the findings and success of measuring aspects of multidimensional poverty in the families of the beneficiaries that they served.

372 people were invited to the conference, of which 164 accepted (44%).

Conference Statistics

The conference was attended by 144 people (87% turnout) representing non-profits, social enterprises, corporates, foundations, academics and government agencies.

(See Appendix 1 for list of attendees and Appendix 2 for conference brochure)

The following people were invited to address the conference:

Presenters

• Martin Burt and Luis Fernando Sanabria from Fundación Paraguaya, a self-sufficient social enterprise founded in Paraguay in 1985 that seeks to develop innovative solutions to poverty and unemployment, and proactively disseminate them throughout the world

• Katharina Hammler, a teaching and research assistant and PhD student at Tulane University’s Payson Centre for International Development

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• Michael Green, Executive Director of the Social Progress Imperative • Tracey Chambers, CEO of The Clothing Bank • Nicky Edwards, Enterprise Development Programme Manager for The Clothing Bank • Emma Sexton from The Business Place Philippi, a facilitator and designer of adult learning, specialising in the

development of coaching, mentoring, and life skills • Laura Bergh, an independent Sustainability Leadership professional, who has been assisting in the development and

localisation of the Poverty Stoplight approach for a South African context

Opening: Gary Shearer

Conference Presentations

Gary Shearer of the Saville Foundation opened the conference, welcoming attendees and conducting an exercise in visualisation and breathing in order to ‘ground’ the audience in the present moment and encourage awakened consciousness.

Presentation 1: “Poverty Stoplight: Context and History” - Martin Burt

Martin presented on the philosophy of Poverty Stoplight and how it came to be developed in Paraguay. He quoted Ken Wilber who wrote about integral theory in his book, A Brief History of Everything, who said that it is advisable to simultaneously consider the multiple viewpoints and perspectives inherent in any debate. Wilber proposed that four quadrants can be drawn to help address the four major factors that affect any given issue. He assigned the following names to these quadrants: behaviour, system, culture, and intention. The first two quadrants represent

views external to a person, and the latter two represent internal views. Martin said that behaviour and intention are personal views, while the system and culture are collective views shared by a community. In this way, behaviour can be analysed to understand poverty.

Martin then used the example of a client who had no front teeth. He said that we could formulate four questions that would assist in finding the answer: Is it because she does not take care of her teeth and does not go to the dentist (i.e., a behavioural issue)? Is it because there is no dentist in her village (a systemic problem)? Is it because in her community a complete set of teeth for an older woman is not really valued (cultural)? Is she afraid of going to the dentist (intention)? We can understand why she is missing teeth and come up with an effective solution only if we can answer these four questions. Applying similar questions to a person’s income or lack thereof, or to their access to drinking water, housing, vaccines, education, and other similar poverty indicators would assist us to understand the context and reasons behind poverty. Using this conceptual framework allows us to consider a much broader set of possible explanations for poverty.

Martin also mentioned another author who influenced his thinking, Joseph Grenny, co-author of several books, including Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. Grenny’s research showed that, for people to change, they must answer yes to two questions: Is it worth it? Can I do it? These relate to motivation and skills, which apply at the individual level, the group level, and the structural level. Grenny says that six sources of influence must be addressed if personal change is going to be permanent.

And so the Poverty Stoplight approach was born. According to this approach, to understand a problem from all standpoints it is necessary to include the valid perspectives of everybody involved: the poor person, their family and community, the social activist, the non-profit attempting to aid the poor, the microfinance institution, the social entrepreneur, the government agency, and the international donor, etc. We need to contrast poverty with non-poverty and then take action to address the

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difference and we need to understand that the poor can be motivated to pull themselves out of poverty. The Poverty Stoplight approach is based on the following principles:

• Being poor is not who you are; it’s a set of circumstances that you find yourself in • The poor are not “empty vessels to be filled up” but rather their wealth energy “tapped and released” • Poverty has many dimensions • Reducing or alleviating poverty is not good enough; it must be permanently eradicated • Poverty does not affect families uniformly, therefore solutions out of poverty will differ for each family • The main protagonists in eliminating poverty must be the poor themselves. Additionally, an individual must adopt

certain behaviours and attitudes in order to overcome poverty in all its dimensions and to maintain a standard of living that is not poor

• A poverty-elimination strategy must be scalable, which implies that it must cost very little to implement and, ultimately, must be financially self-sustaining

• Additionally, definitions of poverty – who decides what it means to ‘progress out of poverty’ – should be decided through democratic participation with the poor in describing their experience /situation

Poverty Stoplight assesses six poverty dimensions (income & employment, health & environment, housing & infrastructure, education & culture, organisation & participation, self-awareness & motivation) and uses 50 indicators, with three conditions for each poverty indicator: non-poor (green), poor (yellow), and extremely poor (red). Thus, the tool uses stoplight colours, photographs, maps, electronic tablets, and simple software to create innovative maps that enable the poor to see and understand the ways in which they are poor.

Martin encouraged the users of this tool to find “positive deviants” in rural and urban communities. These are the people who should be poor, given their background and the communities in which they live, but are not and as such can serve as examples of how to permanently eradicate poverty, in spite of their circumstances. Martin went on to show how working with individual life maps translates Poverty Stoplight into mini goals, including results experienced to date from Paraguay.

Presentation 2: “Poverty Stoplight at The Clothing Bank” - Tracey Chambers

Tracey opened her session by introducing TCB using a brief video clip. She spoke about TCB’s concern and lack of certainty about whether they were achieving their goal of assisting single mothers to eradicate poverty from their lives. Although they had many measurement tools in place, they were disjointed and sometimes contradictory. Additionally, things they measured and analysed didn’t involve the women in their own pathway out of poverty. Tracey described a typical story of poverty that could well be the story of many of the women participating in TBC’s programme; a story that included an absent father, abandonment, hunger, failure to finish school, teen pregnancy,

drug abuse and cycling poverty. She explained TCB’s business and value chain and then described the philosophy behind their holistic development model and how it fitted in with the change framework for breaking the cycle of poverty. The change framework consists of 3 levels (personal “I”, group “We” and structural “Them”) and relates these levels to Motivation and Knowledge. At the individual level, motivation entails learning to do things one does not normally like to do, and skills required to overcome personal limitations in terms of know-how. At the group level, motivation involves harnessing group pressure to motivate the poor to persevere in the pursuit of their goals, and skills involve enlisting group support so that others (e.g. friends, family, and other members of the community) can help them achieve their goals. At the structural level, motivation entails using strategies such as incentives and rewards to motivate the poor (as well as our loan officers), while skills relate to changing things about the physical environment or the system that prevent the poor from acquiring the skills needed to achieve their goals.

This change framework has informed TCB on the way forward and their adoption of Poverty Stoplight as a methodology and metric for permanently eradicating poverty.

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Presentation 3: “Poverty Stoplight: Application in a South African Context” - Laura Bergh

Laura set the scene by providing a snapshot of the current poverty scenario in South Africa and the various measures and surveys that were being used by government. She described how she researched and interrogated the Poverty Stoplight approach for robustness and suitability for a SA context. Her findings were positive and showed that the tool allows for examination of specific indicators or dimensions that are at play in affecting the poverty situation of individual families as well as being a complementary measure to money-metric measures and other indexes such as the Social Progress Index and Multidimensional Poverty Index. She indicated that there were still many

questions and variables to consider, such as the possibility of standardising the tool for a specific sector/area or weighting of various indicators or limitations that an urban vs rural application might reveal. However, for the current needs of TCB, the Poverty Stoplight approach was highly credible. She expressed that one of the most powerful attributes of the tool was that the definitions of poverty – who decides what it means to “progress out of poverty” - was obtained through democratic participation by the poor in describing their own experience / situation.

Laura provided insight into the results obtained by using the Poverty Stoplight approach for a period of 6 months at TCB. Five entry groups had been baselined as well as two exiting groups of graduates. Highlights of the interesting points included:

• There seems to be a general profile of poverty for the women entering the TCB programme but this is not the case for those exiting as graduates. Graduates are all doing very well in the income & employment poverty dimension (an affirmation of TCB’s programme success) but the rest of their scorecards are individualised, showing specific issues of poverty remaining according to the unique profile of the family.

• The importance of conducting home visits (so that the family is involved and engaged) using well-trained and carefully selected facilitators.

Laura shared the details of TCB’s finding for each of the poverty dimensions and added that comments overhead while administering the survey included:

“I’m not as poor as I thought I was!” “I was not aware how much I’m responsible for what’s happening in my life.” “I can change this.” Laura indicated on the process side that TCB had signed a Collaboration Agreement with Fundación Paraguaya, agreed to terms and conditions of use for HP’s software, bought a Samsung tablet and loaded software for testing. The next step was to map TCB’s data onto Google maps.

Presentation 4: “Using Poverty Stoplight as a Process Tool: From Recruitment to Exit at The Clothing Bank” - Nicky Edwards

Nicky spoke to the process of using the Poverty Stoplight approach at TCB, as both a methodology and a metric, and how it integrates into TCB’s development framework. The tool is applied as a selection instrument for entry into the programme, as a framework and scorecard to enable coaching and mentoring interventions throughout the year and as an impact assessment instrument at programme exit.

Much emphasis was placed on the skillset and experience of the Poverty Stoplight facilitators and how much the success of the tool depended on their input.

Nicky used examples of a woman with credit issues and a woman with no savings to show how TCB applies Poverty Stoplight to identify these issues, sets goals for the next 2 years, and mentors and coaches the women from red to green, out of credit / savings poverty. She explained how candidates talk through their goals (which are very visual and clear) and develop action plans that are monitored through bi-weekly coaching sessions.

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Presentation 5: “Poverty Stoplight at The Business” - Place Emma Sexton

Emma started her presentation with a comprehensive introduction to The Business Place in Philippi, outlining the business model and development objectives. She shared information about the Business Builder Programme that was currently being run for Trade-Mark’s team of artisans as well as for the team from Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU). Emma indicated that they are using Poverty Stoplight for the final selection stages and to inform goals, particularly for coaching and mentoring purposes.

Emma highlighted some interesting points that were different from TCB’s experience. She shared that most of their clients were already “green” and that the power of the survey was to affirm the lack of poverty and pin-point specific areas that informed goal-setting (she called this the “value of the green light”). Considering that most of their clients were not poor, she questioned if there was an opportunity to explore and develop another version of the tool that looked at the next level of self-actualisation and personal growth - the indicators were comprehensive yet flexible and their definitions could be tweaked for another level. Another evolution that BBP would like to see is the development of a gender-neutral survey as the current version tends to be more female-focused.

Presentation 6: “Poverty Stoplight in Africa” - Luis Fernando Sanabria

Luis presented on how the Poverty Stoplight approach has been adapted to different institutional and geographic settings. Fundación Paraguaya has partners in 18 countries and it appears that the Poverty Stoplight approach is gaining traction across the world and seems set to become a global movement. Partners include private enterprises, governments, universities, NPOs, Entrepreneurship programmes and schools. He gave examples of how various families in poverty responded to the tool in countries such as Uganda, Nigeria and Vietnam. He stated that he believed the power of this approach lay in some fundamental attributes:

• The ability to define poverty thresholds for all indicators • Friendly and easy to use technology • Intuitive and engaging methodology • Based on available resources • Flexible - gather information at the household level, it can be easily adapted to other existing poverty

measurements and indexes • Open source

He added that the PS approach is sustainable as it requires little extra effort, leverages on existing resources and is based on the families’ input and effort (the results belong to the family and are acted on by the family).

Luis shared results obtained when Poverty Stoplight was applied with peasants and indigenous communities in Curuguaty as well as in businesses, industries and universities.

He went on to describe the steps required for replication, of which the first is to adapt the indicators and definitions to the local background. He gave some thought-provoking examples of the differences between indicators and definitions of South Africa, India, Nigeria, Paraguay and Tanzania. Thereafter, steps to be followed include preparing the team, preparing technology, identifying participants, setting goals, applying the visual survey, developing action plans, identifying strategies and switching on referral pathways, and monitoring progress.

Luis took a moment to capture everyone’s attention for a very important point: the protection of client information. He stated that this is one of the most important requirements for gaining trust and credibility when using the tool. He gave a number of examples of procedures and actions that needed to be followed in order to ensure compliance and good governance.

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He ended off the presentation with a summary of points that highlighted why the Poverty Stoplight approach was so successful:

• Multidimensional and comprehensive - 6 dimensions, 50 indicators • Family protagonist; untapped energy • Visual, self-assessment, using technology • Filling gaps in understanding of poverty • Based on research - integral and influencer theories • Involved personalised mentoring • Engaged with a menu of solutions • It is both a Methodology and Metric tool • It is not an index, but can feed into one • Adaptability and sustainability

Presentation 7: “Does Poverty Stoplight complement existing poverty indexes such as the Multidimensional Poverty Index and Social Progress Index?” - Katharina Hammler, featuring a cameo appearance by Michael Green (video)

Kathi gave an academic and research-orientated presentation on how Poverty Stoplight complements existing poverty indexes such as the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and Social Progress Index (SPI).

She explained how MPI works and that the measure captures both incidence and intensity of poverty, thereby allowing for a distinction between deprivation and poverty (deprivation = lack of welfare in one indicator; poverty = deprivation in a predefined number of indicators). She went on to show (a)

what the M0/MPI can and Poverty Stoplight can’t do, and (b) what Poverty Stoplight can and the MPI can’t do, and concluded that a combination of the two was possible and a good fit.

• The Poverty Stoplight is a dashboard of poverty measures, the M0/MPI an aggregated index • Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages, but: • Once the Poverty Stoplight is implemented, a multidimensional poverty index can easily be calculated as a “bonus”.

Finally, she showed an example of how data collected through Poverty Stoplight was used to calculate a Multidimensional Poverty Index / an M0 (and associated measures).

Two short videos were shown: A cameo appearance by Michael Green and a short introduction to the Social Progress Index (SPI).

Kathi stepped up to explain how SPI works and that the measure captures exclusively social and environmental indicators (no economic) and only works with outcomes, not inputs. She established that SPI is based on a framework where social welfare is aggregated through robust statistical methods (Principal Component Analysis). She then revealed the synergies between SPI and Poverty Stoplight and showed how there was a convergence of frameworks. She concluded that SPI and Poverty Stoplight are:

• Two different approaches to measure human welfare • Come from different perspectives, but methodologies can be combined • The calculation of an SPI is relatively easy even after the Poverty Stoplight has been implemented

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Interview with Facilitators and Beneficiaries

Two sessions of arm-chair interviews were held. In the first session, TCB’s Funeka Plaatjie-Njobeni interviewed Aunty Dolly and Amanda about their experience in having someone come to visit their homes and family and how they felt about being asked ‘sensitive’ questions using the Poverty Stoplight survey. In the second session, BBP’s Emma Sexton interviewed Karabo Makgoane, a trained Stoplight Poverty facilitator, about her experience in visiting client’s homes. Both interviews were very interactive, engaging and well received by the audience.

Presentation 8: “Introduction to the Poverty Stoplight Forum” - Laura Bergh

In this last presentation, Laura introduced the concept of a Poverty Stoplight Office and Forum, and asked the attendees to consider the benefits of establishing such entities:

• Aggregate data and offer a better perspective of the real issues at hand • The more policy-relevant information there is available on poverty, the better equipped policy-makers will be to

reduce it • Enable organisations to measure outcomes against a common framework • Create referral pathways that will ultimately inform stakeholders of priority areas for engagement • Forum could meet every 2 months as a community of practice to discuss results and address findings and

issues/challenges • Enable organisations to collectively engage in the evolution of a tool that is gaining traction in Africa

She then asked attendees to consider the role of a PS Office and Forum, how it would be run and the possible rules of engagement. The attendees were instructed to divide into breakaway groups to discuss three questions. Feedback was required to be written down and handed back after 50 minutes. This input was then presented back to the attendees after a tea break and a brief discussion ensued around some of the points.

Feedback to three questions

Q1: How important do you think it is for poor people to understand their ‘poverty status’ and be encouraged to make changes in those areas of their lives that they are in control of?

• Very important • Only useful if have tools and opportunities to affect change • Tool must use appropriate language • Assists to identify current “unknown” family assets • It’s important to involve and engage with the individual • Changes mindsets • Focus more strongly on women vs men? • Acknowledgement that poverty is not just about having money • Individuals taking responsibility for their own lives

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• Emphasis on the need for a positive tool – poverty is always seen in a negative light, and hence the people in poverty are viewed same

• Hand up instead of hand out • Buy-in from beneficiaries and involves the family unit • The power of the “green light” • Prioritise engagements and have action plans • Important to engage, NOT control! • Builds personal dignity when beneficiaries are involved –

gives sense of control over own lives • You don’t know what you need until you know what you

have! • Gives people choices • Releases trapped potential • Releases energy

Q2: Is there value in using an approach such as Poverty Stoplight?

• Very practical and easy to use • Unjudgemental • Value in baselining and how to approach poverty issues

from there • Relevant • Gets families to talk – communication tool • Great for referrals • Q: how standardised would the tool need to be? • Great that it can be aggregated to help government • Provides granularity of the issues • Promotes collaboration • Love the technology! • NPOs already have assessment tools … how can we combine? • Home visits essential • NO, there is a need to quantify such results and extrapolate • Like the holistic angle • Less barriers in terms of cultures and language (pictures) • Need to have guidance from peers and coaches to

manage the process • Aggregation of data is very valuable • Assist both beneficiary and service provider • Measures impact vs effort • Low cost • Helps to explain change and impact to funders • Common format for comparison of poverty • Personalised poverty therefore personalised plans

Q3: If a PS office and Forum was constituted, how should it be run and what would be the rules of engagement?

• Must be independent • Must register all organisations using tool • Membership based • Regular updates of tool • Collaboration of users • Ensure ethics around data management • Pool of facilitators • Source of funding – commercial? • Data sharing rules must be clearly defined

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• No sharing if no contribution of data • Data analysis as a service offering • Enlist university students or personnel? • Satellite offices? Virtual? • Would like representatives from different

sectors • Must be accessible • Roll-out plan (pilots?) • Commitment and consequences? • Need doers to act on this Forum and key

decision-makers • Clear mandate • Safety of facilitators • EDP could fill role as a PS Office? • Will link SA to international developments • Transparency • Manage referral network • Working groups to take the tool to the next level of actualisation (past poverty) – From Poverty Stoplight to

Prosperity/Progress • Play advocacy role • Marketing plan and strategy • Concern around cost of PS office and funding sustainability

As the conference wrapped up, Laura asked those attendees who were interested in joining a Poverty Stoplight Forum to fill out an Expression of Interest form available on the tables and to submit them after the conference.

Tracey closed the conference by saying thank you and expressing her appreciation to all attendees, speakers, sponsors and helpers for supporting the event, for sharing their input and voicing their ideas and encouragement.

Results of the Expression of Interest Forms submitted after the conference event

Would The Poverty Stoplight tool be relevant for your organisation? How? For example: as an impact measurement tool or to assist with other processes such as profiling and recruitment.

33 x Yes

Would you be interested in joining a PS Forum?

30 x Yes 3 x possibly

Are you willing to share your data?

27 x Yes 6 x possibly, with conditions

Would you be willing to contribute to the running costs of a PS office in order to ensure sustainability?

3 x No 5 x Yes

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25 x possibly, depending on amount and T&C Are you willing to sign a Collaboration Agreement with the founders of the tool, Fundacion Paraguaya?

20 x Yes 12 x possibly, depending on fairness, Board agreement and T&C 1 x not applicable

29 unsolicited emails were received after the conference, providing positive and enthusiastic feedback. A number of respondents wanted to know how soon they could start using the tool.

Conference Feedback

“I would just like to thank you for allowing ERC to be part of the poverty stoplight conference. We had a great time and learnt so much, it definitely was an eye opening experience. We are looking at ways of incorporating the stoplight into the work we do. We wish you everything of the best to everyone at the Clothing Bank, keep doing the great work you do.”

Danielle Grebe and The ERC team

“Just a note to say thank you for the great conference yesterday. Apologies that I had to leave for another appointment before the session where you discussed the forum and collaboration. Please include us in the list of follow ups if such are planned. Khulisa works closely with the Department of Social Development and we would be keen to collaborate with them on a pilot in one the areas in the province that we render services in.”

Jesse Laitinen, Manager: Strategic Partnerships, Khulisa Social Solutions

“Thank you for the invitation for today. I’m sorry I couldn’t stay the whole day. However, it has been a long time since I was so inspired by the content of a conference. I thoroughly enjoyed this morning. I look forward to engaging with you further on the Clothing Bank in the near future (next week if you are available).”

Bridgit Evans. Manager: SAB Foundation

“Thanks for organising this great conference. It was very interesting and well organised. The poverty stoplight is something we want to get involved with.”

Morgane Cariot, Operations Manager, Township NPO

“I am very glad I could attend. As discussed, I have copied in Rulleska my coms specialist. I would like to include an article on Clothing Bank and the poverty spotlight in our next newsletter. Laura iro our conversation I would also like to see how many of the Jobs Fund Partners we can introduce to the PST and encourage them to implement and in so doing begin to develop a baseline for the Jobs Fund. Please give some thought on how we can spread the word to the Partners. As indicated if you provide the material I will happily take it forward with the JFP. Thank you for the link to the presentations. Thank you so much for inviting me.”

Najwah Allie-Edries, Head: Employment & Social Security PMU

“Thank you! I have been sharing with my colleagues and am very excited!!!” Judy Abrahams, Senior LED Manager, IDC

“Thank You for an amazing conference. I don’t know when last I attended a conference and learnt so much….about something so simple but with SUCH HIGH VALUE/IMPACT. The Poverty Spotlight is truly a tool that I believe I can implement at home, with friends & family as well as at work. I think we were all ready to hear about it, as we are all searching for something to bring meaning and sustainability in the lives of people we engage with. Thank You for the presentations.”

Ursula Jeptha, Western Cape Community Development Foundation

“We just want to thank you on behalf of Khula Development Group for the invitation to your Poverty Stoplight Conference. It was amazing and we are really looking forward to our working relationship with Tracey Collins of your Winelands Branch. Please give our thanks to Tracey Chambers and all the staff involved!”

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Daleen Labuschagne, Khula Development Group

“Just wanted to extend our gratitude for inviting us to a very informative, well organised conference at which you shared your successful and adorable achievements towards the eradication of poverty and empowerment of women. The flow of the presentations was logical and the presenters very knowledgeable in their respective fields. The Poverty Stoplight is a must have for all organisations working towards the eradication of this social evil. The initiative to form to forum as a vehicle to drive this tool, in a collective effort, must not only be commended but fully supported by concerned parties. The benefits to be derived from this initiative are enormous. Well done once again to you and the entire team at The Clothing Bank.

Wesley Banda, Beads N Leather Creations

“Thank you very much for the links to the presentations. I am very excited about the possibilities this tool offers for organisations such as ours working on alleviating poverty. Looking forward to future interactions.”

Ignatius France, Hope Africa

“A belated thank you for a very informative day. Although not directly relevant to our work, it certainly shed light on a few aspects of what we do and sparked some thoughts for the future. I really enjoyed learning a little more about TCB – an amazingly forward thinking organisation doing such valuable work.”

Haidee Kingston, Unilever Institute Research “Indeed it was a very insightful and inspiring day. I am looking forward to hear what the future would look like as far as implementation is concerned. Please keep us on the loop.”

Vuyelwa Jacobs, Habitat for Humanity

“Thank you very much! I will be meeting with my manager this morning and I hope to be able to join in with the forum.” Geneviève Kruger, ED Facilitator, Learn to Earn

“Thank you so much for a wonderful conference last Monday, it was truly inspiring! You mentioned that you might create a dropbox with the powerpoints used that day, are those files already available? Would be great to be able to share them with my colleagues.”

Lieke Hallegraeff, Fetola “I attended your Poverty Stoplight conference on Monday and am very interested to learn more about using the survey for our projects at ARG Design. We are a design and development company and do a lot of projects for the City to redevelop townships and poorly functioning low income areas. Our projects tend to be quite integrated and holistic in approach, and this type of tool would be invaluable in working with the community and collecting data to contextualise the solutions we formulate and recommend to the City. I understand the Clothing Bank has put a lot of effort into South African-ising the survey. I am curious to learn what the possibilities are for our company to use PS, and conditions around ownership, costs, rights, etc. Please let me know if you are available to discuss this, as well as any updates around the creation of a forum.”

Elizabeth Ward, Development Project Professional, ARG Design “I just wanted to say thank you for inviting me to the conference on Monday and huge congratulations for all the work you and TCB have done on this. It's really exciting and I hope you got some real interest in the forum. All the best with everything and thank you again!”

Refilwe Mokoena, VisionFund International “Firstly, I would like to congratulate you on a job well done. The conference was amazing and informative. Secondly, it was a pleasure meeting you both. You make me want to do more and offer more of myself. Thirdly, can you kindly forward me the poverty Stoplight process tool? I would like to share it with my colleagues.”

Lerato Motshekga Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority (W&RSETA) “Congratulations with an excellent workshop. The pioneering work you have done will do much for our country if we can convince government to use the PSL and MSI. Thanks again for the invite. I am looking forward toward further exploring sharing ideas and leanings.”

Carel Venter, COO, Micro Enterprise Development Fund (MEDF)

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“I just wanted to congratulate you and Tracey about the great work you've done testing the Poverty Stoplight in SA. I believe this is an amazing tool very complementary to other tools that are in existence today. Major achievements can be done by better understanding how people see themselves today within the complex layered world of poverties. I have also studied the Social Progress Imperative (SPI) for South Africa last year and presented it at a small presentation I delivered at Alliance Francaise. There is indeed a strong

Alex Lemille, Wizeimpact

correlation between SPI and the Gini Coefficient. I also believe working with Arnaud on his Last Mile for BOP could make a lot of sense to creating a powerful tool for Governments and private sector companies.My current focus is to find ways to make a living (unfortunately) but I'll be glad to look at ways to collaborate on the tool with a definite strong interest.

“Thanks, we did attend and it was very useful.”

Mzwandile Hewu, Chief Director, Service Delivery Management & Co-ordination, Social Development, WCG

“Finally I managed to come to the conference yesterday! I wanted to speak to you but you were very busy… Congratulation to TCB for organizing such a great event. It was really interesting and I met some very inspiring people!”

Marie Delorme, Societal Coordinator, Total E&P South Africa

“I really enjoyed the conference today. Thank you again for inviting me. The Poverty Stoplight is an amazing tool. Everyone I spoke to today was really excited about it!

Hannelie Coetzee, ex - National Association of Child Care Workers

“Just want to thank you for including Business Place and myself in Martin & team’s visit. I appreciate and thoroughly enjoyed it – a great group of people (as is the TCB team!). Looking forward to all the PS development to follow and keen to stay involved. Well done & all the best in taking it further!”

Egbert Wessels, The Business Place Philippi

“Thank you so much for hosting an awesome conference, it was a pleasure to work with you on this. It was a great launch of wonderful things to come I'm sure! Looking forward to being involved in future. Also, thanks for including TBPP for the sharing of experiences so far with PSS, it is great to be pioneering this with TCB, and part of the PSS community of practice! We are about to start another round of surveys as one of the final selection stages with the Mama Mimi groups (3), will keep you posted on the results.

Emma Sexton, The Business Place Philippi

“Regarding the impact measurement tool, Lana and I are keen for Simanye to be part of this forum. I have a board meeting with the Phakamani Foundation at the end of the month and can see if they are also keen. How do we take this forward? Do we email Tracy directly?”

Alana Bond, Simanya

“Thank you for the great conference on Monday. I am sure you have been swamped with queries and work so understand if you can only get back to me in a while. The NPOs that attended from the Winelands region were very impressed and although many had to leave early in the afternoon expressed keen interest on utilising the tool but wanting to have an idea re costs involved even though the software is open source and how to.”

Tracey Collins, The Clothing Bank, Winelands “What an honour it was to attend the inaugural International Poverty Stop Light Conference today. Thank you. I thought that Martine summed it up so well with his closing comments, that the difference between this model on poverty and others, is that we are not just map drawers but that we are also a part of the map, inside, playing both the role of problem and solution, and all on a journey.”

Jane te Water Naudé, National Training Manager, The Clothing Bank “My word - how remarkable! Well done!! A defining moment... Acknowledging your hard work and the generosity of vision!”

Nicola Wilson-Harris, TCB Coach

“Thank You for making the successful day possible.”

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Sharon Cloete, TCB Coach “Just to say a huge ‘well-done’ for your very first international conference!! It was amazing and the feedback on the floor was extremely positive and people wanting to get on board. The flow/order of events was so smooth. Congratulations!!”

Nicky Edwards, Life Skills Manager, The Clothing Bank “Well done for a superb conference! Even though I knew quite a bit about the model, I found the conference really informative and everyone at my table thought the model was a "must" to use.

Julia Milligan, CFO, The Clothing Bank

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Appendix 1: List of Conference Attendees

Name Organisation Category Attended

Aniela Batschari TCB The Clothing Bank 1

Anne Marie Shutte TCB The Clothing Bank No show Funeka Plaatjie-Njobeni

Coaches at TCB, TCB Board Member The Clothing Bank 1

Geraldine Martin Coaches at TCB The Clothing Bank 1 Jane Naude TCB The Clothing Bank 1 Jean Alfied Coaches at TCB The Clothing Bank 1

Jill Hosking Coaches at TCB The Clothing Bank 1

Joyce Nkosi TCB The Clothing Bank No show

Julia Walker Paarl Trainer The Clothing Bank 1

Jullia Milligan Financial Director The Clothing Bank 1

Karen Edwards Coaches at TCB The Clothing Bank 1

Laura Bergh Contractor The Clothing Bank 1

Lisa de la Hunt Paarl The Clothing Bank 1

Lisa Voortman MFA The Clothing Bank No show

Magda Benade TCB The Clothing Bank 1

Mary Kelly Coaches at TCB The Clothing Bank 1

Moya Wolf Marketing The Clothing Bank 1

Najmah Mohamad Paarl The Clothing Bank 1

Nicky Edwards TCB The Clothing Bank 1

Sam Wilcox-Diedericks project Manager - wholesale shop The Clothing Bank 1

Sharon and Ronald Cloete Coaches at TCB The Clothing Bank 2

Sue Andrew TCB The Clothing Bank 1

Tracey Chambers CEO The Clothing Bank 1

Tracey Collins Paarl Manager The Clothing Bank 1

Tracey Gilmore COO The Clothing Bank 1

Trish Neill Coaches at TCB The Clothing Bank 1

Yolande Davey Paarl The Clothing Bank 1

Aleks Jablonska Learn to Earn Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Allister Lightburn plus 1 (Atlantis Community Action Team)

Rural Development Support Program

Non Profits and Social Enterprises No show

Anne van Niekerk NOAH Non Profits and Social Enterprises No show

Arnaud Blanchet Last Mile for BoP Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

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Barbara Miller Etafeni Day Care Centre Trust


Barbara Stemmert Ikhamva Labantu Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Bulelwa Ndibongo Ikhamva Labantu Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Carien van Zyl Khula Development Group

Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Charles Nyakurwa Deaf Hands @ Work ( DHW)


Charmaine Morrison Mosaic Non Profits and Social Enterprises No show

Christelle Cornelius Ikhamva Labantu Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Daleen Labuschagne Khula Development Group


Danielle Grebe Edmund Rice Camps (ERC)


Debbie Blignaut – Silikamba HS


Dee Wills The Carpenters Shop Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Emmerentia Goliath

Witzenberg Rural Development Support Program


Eric Atmore

Centre for Early Childhood Development


Eugene Jackson Rural Development Support Program


Francisco Naude Monte Christo Miqlat


Gabriel (Gawie) Hugo

Total Change Drakenstein Transformation


Genevieve Kruger Learn to Earn Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Hettie Blom Khula Development Group


Jackie Saaiman and friend Lima


Jacky Mbete Edmund Rice Camps (ERC)


Janine Roberts Ukama Holdings Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Jesse Laitinen Khulisa Social Solutions


Jolanda van der Lingen Khula Development Group


Josephine Mclallen Ikhamva Labantu Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Josh Cox Trade-Mark Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Joyce Carstens Right 2 Know Non Profits and Social Enterprises No show

Karen Cain The Carpenters Shop Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

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Kim Molefe Edmund Rice Camps (ERC)


Lauren van Niekerk



Lean Terblanche Grootbos Foundation


Levonia Carstens Mitchells Plain Community Forum


Lulama Sigasana Ikhamva Labantu Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Mathekodwa Mqomboti

Edmund Rice Camps (ERC)


Michaela Ashley-Cooper



Morgane Cariot Township NPO Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Mthunzi Funo Ikhamva Labantu Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Naomi Betana

Witzenberg Rural Development Support Program


Nicola van der Merwe Khulisa Social Solutions


Nonko Banda BL Creations Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Olin Kiewiets (Care Company)

Rural Development Support Program


Olivia Molteno Sols Sandals Non Profits and Social Enterprises No show

Portia Ndengezi Beautiful Gate Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Randal Oliphant Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Rayleen Williams Monte Christo Miqlat


Rev Nkosinathi Geja

Resident Minister of Langa Methodist Church


Roseanne Shields Rural Development Support Program


Rosetta Stander Zimele Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Shona McDonald Shonaquip Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Soraya Matthews WHEAT Non Profits and Social Enterprises No show

Tasneem Adams Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Tendai Mudzamba Habitat for Humanity Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Tinashe Marange

Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU)


Vainola Makan Right 2 Know Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

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Vicky Kumm True North Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Vijay Mitha Shakti Energy Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Vuyelwa Jacobs Habitat for Humanity Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Vuyisile Dlavuza Habitat for Humanity Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Warren Lee Pillay Edmund Rice Camps (ERC)


Wesley Banda BL Creations Non Profits and Social Enterprises 1

Dumisani Ncapayi City of Cape Town Government and Municipalities 1

Judy Abrahams IDC Government and Municipalities 1

Khulukazi Zimba

Community and Partnership Development - Department of Social Development

Government and Municipalities 1

Lerato Motshekga

Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority (W&RSETA)


Lyndon Metembo

Economic Development Partners


Mzwandile Hewu



Najwa Edries

Jobs Fund Employment & Social Security PMU


Ntutu Mtwana City of Cape Town Government and Municipalities 1

Ruweida Lakay City of Cape Town Government and Municipalities 1

Sonja Kingsley


Government and Municipalities No show

Ursula Jeptha

Western Cape Community Development Foundation


Clare Digby Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Foundations No show

Dr Precious Motsepe Foundation Foundations No show Gabeba Gaidien DG Murray Trust Foundations 1

Gary Shearer Saville Foundation Foundations 1

John Wallace Ilima Trust Foundations 1

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Julie Mentor DG Murray Trust Foundations 1

Leonora Sauls Ackerman Pick 'n Pay Foundation Foundations 1

Lynn Witten Ilima Trust Foundations 1

Marguerite van Niekerk DG Murray Trust Foundations 1

Nicky Shaw The Saville Foundation Foundations 1

Renisha Naidoo DG Murray Trust Foundations 1

Samantha Braithwaite Tshikululu Foundation Foundations No show

Dorothy Burt Fundacion Paraguay International 1 Dr. Margee Ensign or Prof. Fidelis Ndeh-Che (Nigeria) Nigeria International No show

Katharina Hammler Tulane University International 1

Luis Fernando Sanabria Fundacion Paraguay International 1

Martin Burt Fundacion Paraguay International 1

Rosi Sanabria Fundacion Paraguay International 1

Haidee Kingston Unilever Institute Research Academics No show

Khethiwe Cele

Bertha Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship Academics 1

Louise Albertyn


Masana Ndinga-Kanga SALDRU Academics No show

Micah Sarkas


Patrizio Piraino

UCT - School of Economics and SALDRU Academics No show

Alan Fleming The Business Place Support Organisations 1

Alex Lemille Wizeimpact Support Organisations 1 Anthony Marshall-Smith Greater Capital Support Organisations 1

Carel Venter

SASMEF (South African Small Medium Enterprises Federation) Support Organisations 1

Carron Howard Cadiz Asset Management Support Organisations 1

Christina Christophi The Business Place Support Organisations 1

Cristiana Falcone World Economic Forum Support Organisations No show

Dalya Levin Cadiz Asset Support Organisations 1

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Management

Dylan Edwards Greater Capital Support Organisations 1

Egbert Wessels The Business Place Support Organisations 1

Elena Mancebo

Creative Consulting and Development Works Support Organisations 1

Elizabeth Ward ARG Design Support Organisations 1

Emma Sexton The Business Place Support Organisations 1

Gaby Ritchie Inyathelo Support Organisations No show

Gina Levy Supernews Support Organisations No show

Hannelie Coetzee

ex - National Association of Child Care Workers Support Organisations 1

Jacqueline Meki SASSA Support Organisations 1

Johanna Stamps Evolve Support Organisations No show

John Collins

Premium Social Care Paulus Joubert Secondary School Alumni Support Organisations 1

Karabo Makgoane The Business Place Support Organisations 1

Larry English Support Organisations 1

Lauren Smith

Premium Social Care Paulus Joubert Secondary School Alumni Support Organisations 1

Lavendra Naidoo The Business Place Support Organisations No show

Lieke Hallegraeff Fetola Support Organisations 1 Martin Fernandez Lombana Fetola Support Organisations 1

Michelle Matthews Trialogue Support Organisations 1

Natasha Nel Insideout Research Support Organisations No show

Nico Zeelie Business Success Solutions CC Support Organisations 1

Nyatsa (Clinton) Masalesa The Business Place Support Organisations 1

Pule Keswa TTBISA Support Organisations 1 Rahman Murtuza TTBISA Support Organisations 1

Refilwe Mokoena VisionFund International Support Organisations 1

Roxanne Newman TTBISA Support Organisations No show Salma Seedat Greater Capital Support Organisations 1

Solomon Willis The Business Bridge Initiative Support Organisations 1

Thandeka Tshabalala

Community Development Resource Association Support Organisations 1

Zakiyya Murtuza-Peerun TTBISA Support Organisations 1

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Bridgit Evans SAB Corporates and Businesses 1

Haley Williams Edcon Corporates and Businesses 1

James Turner Claytile Corporates and Businesses 1

Mandla Khupe Atlantic Specialised Finance Corporates and Businesses 1

Manqoba Mkhabela Atlantic Specialised Finance Corporates and Businesses 1

Marie Delormie Total Corporates and Businesses 1

Mercia Maserumule Edcon Corporates and Businesses 1

Nomfundo Mlungwana ABSA Corporates and Businesses No show Taasha Davey KWV Corporates and Businesses 1 Zubeida Adams Nedbank Limited Corporates and Businesses No show

Gill Hoskin Unknown 1

Julian Williams Unknown 1 Steve Carver Unknown 1

Teresa Kleinmond Unknown 1 Werner Van Kets Unknown 1

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Appendix 2: Conference Brochure

On behalf of The Clothing Bank, you are invited to attend the

Poverty Stoplight Conference

What’s it all about

The Clothing Bank invites you to attend a one-day conference in Cape Town. We would like to share with you the findings and success of a pilot project we are running where we have been using an innovative approach called “Poverty Stoplight” to measure aspects of multidimensional poverty in the families of the beneficiaries that we serve.

The Poverty Stoplight approach is a self-evaluation, visual survey tool that was developed in Paraguay by Martin Burt and his team at Fundación Paraguaya (an established non-profit development organisation that works in Latin America and Africa). It’s a practical methodology and tool that allows poor families to self-diagnose their level of poverty as a first step in developing a personalised strategy to lift them permanently out of poverty.

The Clothing Bank has been developing and localising this approach for a South African context, which is assisting us to create a clear line of sight into specific aspects of the challenges each family in poverty faces, as well as enabling us to encourage beneficiaries to make changes in those areas of their lives that they are in control of.

Depending on interest shown, we think it would be a good idea to form a Poverty Stoplight Forum to assist those organisations working in the area of poverty alleviation to aggregate data and offer a better perspective of the real issues at hand. A forum will enable us to measure our outcomes against a common framework as well as create referral pathways that will ultimately inform stakeholders of priority areas for engagement. Additionally, as Poverty Stoplight is gaining attraction in Africa and looks to becoming a global movement, a forum would enable us to collectively engage in the evolution of this tool.

Who’s coming

Our friends from Fundación Paraguaya will be joining us to present the success that Paraguay’s government, non-profits and social enterprises are achieving with this approach. Not only is it a valid and useful monitoring & evaluation (M&E) tool for impact assessment but it has other applications and spin-offs that we are only just starting to realise.

Please join us for a fun day of sharing and engaging with colleagues and peers from non-profits and social enterprises, corporates, foundations, academics and government.

Conference details

Date: Monday, 27 October 2014

Time: 9:00 – 16:30

Venue: Roof Terrace Room, Cape Town International Convention Centre, Convention Square, 1 Lower Long Street, Cape Town

Dress code: Informal

Parking: Free parking is available at the CTICC but we encourage you to use public transport or carpool

RSVP: To book your seat, RSVP via return email to Laura Bergh at

Dietary requirements: If you have any dietary requirements, please include this information in your RSVP

laurabergh@theclothing bank.org.za

Please note: Seating is limited; if you would like to extend the invitation to a colleague, please forward contact details to laurabergh@theclothing bank.org.za

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Poverty Stoplight Conference Agenda

Monday, 27 October 2014

8:30 am to 9:00 am REGISTRATION 30 min 9:00 am to 9:10 am Welcome Gary Shearer, The Saville

Foundation 10 min

9:10 am to 10:00 am Poverty Stoplight: context and history Martin Burt, Fundacion Paraguaya

50 min

10:00 am to 10:30 am Poverty Stoplight at The Clothing Bank Tracey Chambers, The Clothing Bank

30 min

10:30 am to 11:00 am BREAK 30 min 11:00 am to 11:30 am Poverty Stoplight: application in a South African

context Laura Bergh, Poverty Stoplight Project Lead for The Clothing Bank

30 min

11:30 am to 11:45 am Using Poverty Stoplight as a process tool: from recruitment to exit at The Clothing Bank

Nicky Edwards, The Clothing Bank

15 min

11:45 pm to 12:00 pm Poverty Stoplight at The Business Place Emma Sexton, The Business Place Philippi

15 min

12:00 pm to 12:30 pm Poverty Stoplight in Africa Luis Fernando Sanabria, Fundacion Paraguaya

30 min

12:30 pm to 12:45 pm Perspective from a beneficiary The Clothing Bank 15 min 12:45 pm to 13:30 pm LUNCH 45 min 13:30 pm to 14:15 pm Does Poverty Stoplight complement existing

poverty indexes such as the Multidimensional Poverty Index and Social Progress Index?

Katharina Hammler, Tulane University Michael Green, Social Progress Imperative (video)

45 min

14:15 pm to 15:15 pm Introduction to the Poverty Stoplight Forum, followed by breakaway discussions

Laura Bergh, Poverty Stoplight Project Lead for The Clothing Bank

60 min

15:15 pm to 15:30 pm Perspective from a Poverty Stoplight survey facilitator

The Business Place 15 min

15:30 pm to 15:50 pm BREAK 20 min 15:50 pm to 16:30 pm Feedback and way forward Tracey Chambers and Laura

Bergh, The Clothing Bank 40 min

CLOSE OF CONFERENCE Map of Conference Centre Location

Roof Terrace Room CTICC (Cape Town International Convention Centre) Convention Square, 1 Lower Long Street, Cape Town, 8001, Western Cape, South Africa +27 21 410 5000 GPS co-ordinates:-33.915141,18.425657

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About The Clothing Bank …

Founded in 2010, The Clothing Bank (TCB) is an award winning, South African social enterprise that is internationally recognised as a best practice example of an Enterprise Development training programme. Their vision is to “Inspire, skill and support unemployed women to eradicate poverty in their lives”.

TCB’s primary focus is their holistic 2-year Enterprise Development training programme which empowers unemployed mothers to start a small retail business so that they go from a life of dependence to becoming financially and socially independent, making at least R4,000 per month. Excess stock of clothes and retail items are donated by major clothing retailers and used as the tool of trade to teach and practically apply business skills. To date, TCB has trained 637 unemployed mothers to start businesses who have collectively generated profits in their business in excess of R20.9 million.

Additionally, TCB supplies non-profit organisations with clothing free of charge. Clothing is supplied on a needs basis, whereby charities and government make specific requests for clothing and TCB can meet those needs within a 48 hour turnaround time.

For more information visit our website at www.theclothingbank.org.za.

http://www.theclothingbank.org.za/�

The Poverty Stoplight Conference

Documents

Transcript of The Poverty Stoplight Conference