Barloworld partners with Men on the Side of the Road to brighten the lives of CIDA's students
Men waiting on the pavement each day, hoping for piece jobs or work as day labourers, now have renewed hope following the success of the Men on the Side of the Road (MSR) project.
The organisation was launched six years ago to help unemployed men standing on the roadside to earn a living. Uniting them through education, skills development and the provision of basic infrastructure, the national project is run at a number of sites, where the gathered men are picked up by people offering them work.
One of the most imaginative challenges for the men at one Johannesburg site has been to paint and brighten up the eight storey CIDA Life Skills campus in West Street, Johannesburg, using R100 000 worth of paint supplied by Barloworld subsidiary, Plascon.
With funds from the Barloworld Foundation, Plascon undertook to train 48 MSR men, pay them during training and then pay them again to paint the interior of CIDA’s campus, providing work for these men for about a month.
Says Patrick Seager, a Plascon CSI manager: “Besides training the men, we also hired seven men, who we had previously trained through a project, to supervise. Once they were fully acquainted with the products and methodologies of painting, they began the task of beautifying the CIDA building with the Plascon Professional Range Pure Acrylic paint, a hard wearing paint that will withstand the wear and tear of the students.”
Charles Maisel, founder of MSR, which operates in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, said the training and painting kits its candidates received would enable them to generate additional business because of their new-found skills.
As a spin-off to the project, CIDA hired eight MSR to paint a number of creative Ndebele designs around the campus. The men will also be commissioned to complete additional jobs around the campus in the near future.
Says Jennifer Smith, head of Barloworld’s Corporate Social Investment: “Men waiting on the side of the road each day for piece jobs is a symptom the high unemployment rate in South Africa - about 27%. Millions of poorly educated and under-skilled people struggle to survive as casual labourers, and are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. The Men on the Side of the Road organisation works to provides access to work and basic skills to improve their chances of finding suitable employment, hears their concerns and gives labour and human rights advice. However, solutions need to be sustainable, which is why we provided training as well as supplied the men with equipment to establish themselves as painting contractors. Everybody involved benefited from this project, including CIDA, which now has a sparkling, newly painted campus.”
Jennifer Smith
Head: CSI
Barloworld Limited
Tel +27 11 445 1268
Fax +27 11 445 1581
Cell 082 808 5911
| 2008-12-12 Barworld -- no change & AGM meeting |
| 2008-11-17 Barloworld final results September 08 |
| 2008-11-04 Barloworld -- trading statement |
Syndicate
news feed 
| Home | Site map | Disclaimer | Help | Accessibility | Links | Glossary | CEO online forum |  |