“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” ——Speech from the Dock quote by Nelson Mandela on 20 April 1964
Mandela Day is the biggest volunteer day in South Africa. The essence of Mandela Day is “take action, inspire change, and make every day a Mandela Day”. The global theme for this year is “Do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are.”
In order to better launch our app and engage more users to join us and provide feedbacks, we held two workshops with 25 companies which could be our virtual focus groups and introduced our Kwanele App. We want to use this day to get these companies familiar with our organization and develop sustainable relationship. I researched on the background of different companies and found out who is the best person to reach out in these companies. For example, I emailed Coca-Cola’ Consumer Response Co-Ordinator who is passionate about gender issues and women empowerment. Just like what I have learned in negotiation course, we need to find the person who has the same passion as us and leverage the previous cooperation and connection.
We also launched a Mandela Day campaign on our social media account to fundraise for abuse survivors to cover the legal costs. We encourage people to donate R67 to help survivors get legal support and achieve justice. Some posters of our fundraising:
