UCT-SDG-Report-Draft06 - high - Flipbook - Page 8
1
High standard of
living, quality of
life & well being
for all
SDG 1: NO POVERTY
South Africa is a country that suffers from high levels of poverty and inequality. University
attendance and graduation, however, is a potential route out of poverty. UCT recognises
the financial barriers to education and financial hardships faced by so many of our
students who come from the lowest quintiles of the South African economy. The university
is committed to enabling access for students where otherwise it would be prohibitive – for
example, through financial aid, free transport between UCT campuses, the laptop loan
programme, student wellness services, and legal services.
Part of UCT’s Vision 2030 includes being a university in Africa for Africa. UCT is dedicated
to supporting communities by, among other things, providing mentorship and training in
starting up financially and socially sustainable businesses. The case study in this chapter
is on the work of the Bertha Institute, which is just one example of this type of support.
Empowering South Africa’s
grassroots community
networks for a sustainable
future
Community Action Networks (CANs) sprang up from
the grassroots in South Africa to respond to the
many and varied humanitarian crises of the COVID-19
lockdowns. These community-driven groups joined
together to start food kitchens to feed the hungry and
homeless, organised community clean-ups, established
food gardens, and worked to address many of South
8 – University of Cape Town
Africa’s most pressing socioeconomic problems at the
community level. As the pandemic passed, so did much
of the ad-hoc funding that was supporting these CANS,
but the socioeconomic needs remained the same. In
2022, UCT’s Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and
Entrepreneurship worked with around 18 CANs in Cape
Town to help them become financially sustainable to
continue their good work.
UCT’s Bertha Centre is the first specialised centre in
Africa dedicated to advancing social innovation and
entrepreneurship. As part of this mandate, the Systems
Justice & Innovation (SJI) team within the Bertha Centre
