Gauteng Together is an initiative that calls for the establishment of Community Action Networks (CAN) across Gauteng to address the social impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The project, which was pioneered by Cape Town Together, is being adopted in Gauteng in response to growing concerns over food insecurity, hunger and other social challenges impacting negatively on the lives of people due to the lockdown.
Gauteng Together will mobilise ordinary people to initiate Community Action Networks (CAN) in their neighbourhoods; to identify community needs, and to work towards addressing them through co-ordinated, sustained localised action.
The project will map out what aid and humanitarian work is happening in the province, both through CANs and existing NGOs, and point out where there are gaps.
CANs are not funded by Gauteng Together. This should be done through partnering with local businesses or pairing up with better resourced CANs, philanthropists, existing NGOs and residents in neighbourhoods.
What CANs do will differ from community to community depending on the needs. For many, food security may be the primary issue. However, individual CANs should look beyond this, to ensuring that rights based issues are monitored and addressed.
Gauteng Together initiative will create a province-wide network of CANs able to work together and share learning experiences, resources and best practice methodology to address social and economic needs in communities.