Client: Business Trust
Country: South Africa
Year: 2010-11
The Buisness Trust is a privately funded trust in South Africa which was established in 1999 to help to create jobs and build capacity while enhancing trust and building co-operative relationships between business and government.
The Shared Growth Challenge Fund (SGCF) is a private sector funded Challenge Fund established in 2009 to incentivize commercial activity by private companies that have a positive impact on the lives of the poor. The Fund therefore has the objective of overcoming barriers that historically excluded poor South Africans.
Services provided
Triple Line conducted an evaluation to measure the impact of the fund and review the 11 grants (ZAR 20 million) awarded. The following key questions were examined:
- Has the fund stimulated interest in drawing members of the poor community into their core operations as consumers or suppliers?
- How successful has the fund been in finding commercial ventures with the potential for a positive impact on the poor?
- Has the competitive nature of the fund improved prospects for the selection of high potential investments?
- Do the projects display the potential for sustainability and pro-poor impact?
- What is the potential of the Challenge Fund mechanism for enhancing the business contribution to poverty reduction?
Triple Line worked with the 11 businesses in supporting their efforts to measure impact and select the appropriate indicators. A cost-benefit analysis of 4 projects was produced and a framework was established for assessing the extent to which pro-poor impacts will be achieved.
Achievements
- Triple Line supported the businesses to understand about the measurement of pro-poor impacts in their supply chain, many of whom stated that this knowledge helped them to understand their overall business better.
- Triple Line developed a framework for measuring the costs and wider development benefits of the projects.
- Triple Line provided support to the learning from this pilot fund for wider replication by Government and donors in South Africa in trying to address the structural inequalities and underemployment of the poor and marginalised. This learning was presented at an event in Johannesburg in March 2011.