Mpho Putu's notes

  Mpho is regional development manager for FoodBank South Africa (FBSA) in the north region. His role is to help grow the organisation’s footprint and to manage stakeholder relationships, including relationships with FBSA’s agencies. Mpho is the former director of Boundary Crossing, a non-profit organisation that promotes and supports citizen leadership. Community development is Mpho’s passion. He worked for the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) for almost nine years, first as a training coordinator for Idasa’s Community Policing Unit, then as the manager of Idasa’s Community Participation Unit, and later as manager of the Citizen Leadership Unit. He has also worked as a training and development manager for The Aids Consortium, a non-profit human rights organisation committed to openness and non-discrimination of people living with HIV/Aids. His community work includes serving as chairperson of the Labour Forum for the South African Police Service and as a board m

V ulnerability is a major obstacle to social and economic development in South Africa. Poor people are especially vulnerable as they have few resources to cope with hazards or shocks. Yet they are significantly more likely to be affected by HIV and Aids, unemployment, trade shocks, climate change, famine and conflict. Sustainable poverty reduction can only be achieved and managed effectively if vulnerability is better understood.  Hunger and poverty in South Africa is almost certain to grow both deeper and more widespread until a robust and sustained recovery takes hold, which may not happen in the next five years or more, unless something drastic is done. In the meantime, the poverty rate will tend to move in step with the unemployment rate, as it always has.  The government – and civil society to a lesser extent – is under pressure to come up with an effective response to these cascading problems. Firstly, where is the best place to allocate government, business, civil and public re