The Accenture Foundation (SA) Trust (Foundation)

The foundation is governed by a board of trustees, the majority of whom have no link with the company, thereby ensuring objectivity and independence in the foundation's key decision-making. The foundation is registered with the Master of the Supreme Court and has been granted tax exemption by the South African Revenue Services. The board operates in accordance with the foundation’s charter and reports to the board of Accenture (SA).

The recipients of foundation funding support in 2010 are:

• The Accenture (South Africa) Education Trust Scholarship Programme. Accenture (South Africa) runs an independent education trust to assist financially disadvantaged students with strong academic ability who intend pursuing a career in information systems, computer science, information technology, informatics or computer, electrical (light current), electronic, electro-mechanical or industrial engineering. Graduates in these disciplines are in increasingly short supply in South Africa and are critical for the future economic development and growth of the country.
  
  
• The Angus Gillis Foundation is a charitable trust that was established in the Eastern Cape in January 2002. Its goal is to strengthen families living in rural areas by using an integrated and holistic social development approach (education, health and economic development) that empowers individuals and families to become self-reliant and independent. With the award from the Accenture Foundation, the Angus Gillis Foundation is funding projects in adult literacy, computer literacy and a leadership course.
  
  
• Bergzicht Training in the Western Cape is a leading South African non-governmental organization with a proud history in adult education. Its objective is to impart skills to unemployed women, for the most part, who have had limited education. The trainees are taught a variety of skills through the following programmes: Home Management, Cater Care, Educare (early childhood development) and Frail Care. Bergzicht has trained over 9000 students of whom 96 percent have found permanent employment through the organisation’s in-house placement bureau. Some of the 'graduates' who have demonstrated entrepreneurial skills now run their own businesses.
  
  
• Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE). The University of the Witwatersrand and the City of Johannesburg, in partnership with government and industry in the information and communication technology sector, have established a centre for Software Engineering at Wits. This centre aims to become the focal point of a software development cluster that will draw both on academic and research programmes at Wits, and expertise within established ICT companies. The concept strongly supports the City’s “Joburg 2030 Vision” which sees Johannesburg as the hub of Africa’s software development sector.
  
  
• The Khulisa Crime Prevention Initiative operates in prisons, places of safety, schools and communities across South Africa. It provides programmes and activities to discourage young people from criminal activity, personal and skills development to sentenced offenders to reduce recidivism and help them to play a positive role in their families, communities and society at large. The funds provided by the foundation are being used to train approximately 30 youths on the Make It Better Programme to develop and implement community-based projects and provide them with skills to create sustainable employment in the community.
  
  
• The Men on the Side of the Road Project provides a bridge to enable its members to move into the mainstream economy. This is done primarily by facilitating employment opportunities through the Men on the Side of Road-branded and organised job sites, as well as other job creation initiatives and training.

• The National Business Initiative focuses on supporting and advising companies, including small and medium enterprises, on how best to manage global competition; to improve their black empowerment structures; to increase their corporate social investment spending; to reduce the costs of doing business; and to contribute to the country’s future sustainable development.
  
  
• Nisaa Institute for Women’s Development is a community-based non profit organisation that focuses on the abuse of women and women’s issues in Lenasia, Orange Farm and Soweto. Established in 1994, Nisaa has touched the lives of tens of thousands of women and children by providing shelter, counselling, life-skills training and support services. The organisation is actively involved in promoting public awareness and education about violence against women to relevant stakeholders and to the boarder audience locally, nationally and internationally. The funds provided by the foundation are being used to develop a Girls’ Leadership Programme with the aim of promoting girls’ individual and collective leadership skills.
  
  
• Penreach Whole Schools Development Programme was established in 1994 and is the largest school-based outreach programme in Africa. Based in Mpumalanga, it provides quality in-service training and development to schools to improve the quality of teaching and the culture of learning in historically disadvantaged schools. The programmes focus on hard and soft skills. Hard skills are the methods of teaching science, maths and English literacy. Soft skills are self-development, classroom management, environmental education, life orientation and civics education. More than 750 organised Penreach skills development events are held each year and thousands of educators, from as far as 200 kilometres away, regularly attend workshops at Penryn College.
  
  
• The READ Educational Trust. The READ organisation operates in all nine provinces. Accenture supported READ many years before the establishment of the foundation. In recent years the foundation has been one of the sponsors for Rally to READ. Annually, during the weekends of May, convoys of off-road vehicles deliver educational materials to some of the country’s most neglected schools across the country. Once at the schools, Rally participants meet and interact with the learners and teachers who benefit from the deliveries as well as the subsequent professional development that is provided for three years by the READ Educational Trust. Several Accenture employees participate in the rallies.
  
  
• The South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency (SANCA), Western Cape. There has been a rapid increase in the levels of alcohol and drug abuse in South Africa over the past decade and as a result, resolving the substance abuse problems of South Africa has become both a national as well as a provincial government priority. The foundation’s donation is being used to sponsor peer counsellor training in three high schools in Khayelitsha.
  
  
• Siyathuthuka, a programme initiated by Accenture’s Facilities & Services personnel to use our IT training facilities to provide introductory courses on Microsoft products and other business skills to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. As none of these young people have had access to computers, they have difficulty in securing any form of employment. Tuition is provided, on a voluntary basis, by Accenture personnel from all divisions. The students are also taught basic business skills including the preparation of CVs and how to manage interviews. The foundation provides funding for logistical support of the programme.

• Twenty30 seeks to encourage volunteerism and works with professional people who volunteer at schools in Gauteng that are under-resourced. The interventions are non-curricular and focus on developing the resources that support a quality education and in so doing respond to problems of literacy, nutrition, trauma, skills inadequacies and school infrastructure.
  
  
• The Women’s Hope Education And Training (WHEAT) Fund was created by women for women. It is a grant-making and fund-raising organisation launched in 1998 to assist women leaders to develop their communities. The fundamental goal of the WHEAT Fund is to attract donations to provide seed money for community-based organisations led by women to meet education and training needs. To qualify for support, projects need to demonstrate that the local community supports the project, that it is a going concern and that it is sustainable.
  
  
• The Zikulise Community Upliftment Project seeks to uplift the local community in Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal by creating and sustaining new and existing small enterprises that have a real potential to contribute to the local economy, with particular emphasis on the creation of black-owned small enterprises. This is done through the provision of incubator and short-course skills training, support, advice and mentorship. Zikulise was founded in 2004 and to date has successfully trained 110 direct beneficiaries, with an estimated 990 indirect beneficiaries benefiting from the training programmes.