Annual Report - JD Group

Social citizenship
“. . . and our responsibility
to the planet and the communities
we live in.”
Social impacts
Corporate objective
To meet our social responsibilities through providing a better life
for the disadvantaged and less fortunate members of the
communities in which we trade.
Policy
The focus of the JD Group Corporate Social Investment
Programme is on the development of individual and community
self sufficiency through education and training, skills development
and job creation.
Projects are selected on the basis of sound management,
sustainability and the potential to be replicated.
We attempt, in certain instances, to forge partnerships with other
stakeholders to maximise funding.
A percentage of budget is allocated to smaller, once off annual
donations to organisations which are acknowledged as providing
specific services to their community.
Funding is allocated to secular organisations only.
No funding or sponsorship is granted for individual endeavours.
To ensure openness and transparency, no funding or sponsorship
is granted to political parties.
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Lerato Love Home
Funding and sponsorship
JD Group remains aware of the need to participate in community
projects. In a country like ours, where such enormous disparity
exists between the “haves” and the “have nots”, it is incumbent
on us to participate in activities that would normally be
undertaken by governments in developed countries.
JD Group is also aware that no South African Government, of
whatever political persuasion, has the practical means to provide
the social services equivalent to those enjoyed by developed
nations, nor will it have the means in the foreseeable future. For
this reason, the contributions of the private sector are absolutely
vital to the development and upliftment of the disadvantaged
majority of the South African population.
The Techno-agricultural Innovation for Poverty Alleviation (Tipa)
project is based on the concept of the African Garden Market,
part of the Food Security for Africa initiative presented in 2002 at
the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in
Johannesburg by the Israeli Department of Foreign Affairs.
Both Tipa and the African Garden Market make use of the Family
Drip Irrigation System (FDIS). The FDIS, state of the art irrigation
technology, developed in Israel, has been combined with gravity
powered low water pressure, which allows traditional farmers to
enjoy all the advantages of drip irrigation at low cost. Without the
need to introduce any further technology, each FDIS project is able
to cover an area up to 500 m 2 .
JD Group, together with Ikamva Labantu and The Embassy of
Israel in Pretoria, established a Tipa demonstration project in
Cradock in the Eastern Cape. Three local people were selected by
the community to be trained to support the local farmers.
Tipa has established a business orientated co-operative of farmers
who each maintain their independence, while sharing training,
the buying of necessities, security arrangements, and possible
marketing. The co-operative can then establish business initiatives
on its own, or participate as a supplier to existing enterprises.
Following the achievements of Tipa in Cradock, JD Group has
asked the Embassy of Israel and Ikamva Labantu to roll out