Makers Valley Partnership (MVP)
Makers Valley educator and kids' entertainer leads a community tour clean-up campaign (Lassie on stilts).
In this post we offer a snapshot of the incredible work done by Makers Valley Partnership (MVP) – a non-profit community organisation that supports social and creative enterprises in Makers Valley – a diverse, entrepreneurial neighbourhood stretching across five suburbs in Johannesburg’s inner city.
Historically home to industrial manufacturers, Makers Valley is now a pioneering hub for a new generation of makers: artisans, cooks, crafters, artists, carpenters, clothing designers and more. A unique mix of entrepreneurism and unemployment, ethnicity and religions, its inclusive community culture makes it the perfect spot for a UN Live Global We portal.
Young people take the initiative at the Makers Valley Youth Expo.
The Makers Valley transformation is remarkable and its roots lie in South Africa’s recent history. The post-apartheid transition was a momentous achievement, yet the nation still experiences high rates of inequality. Joburg – the ‘city of gold’ – attracts thousands from the African continent who come seeking livelihoods, and many find their way to Makers Valley. Indeed, some 60% of its residents were born outside of South Africa.
The Makers Valley Partnership (MVP) is the focal point for this network of people, organisations and partnerships and its goal is to help scale their activities. It began, in 2018, as an informal movement driven by passionate changemakers, and quickly developed through networking, partnerships and financial investment.
We were excited to meet Hector Dibakoane and Thobile Chittenden, MVP’s Community Lead Manager and CEO respectively, at their base in Victoria Yards, a ‘hidden gem’ of brick buildings in the heart of Makers Valley. Vic Yards has its own fascinating story. Originally built as a steam laundry in the 1940s, it’s now a buzzing community of tenants who nurture initiatives on urban farming, food security, skills development, greening, arts and education.
Thobile Chittenden (Makers Valley CEO), Markus Hipp (BMW Foundation), Thandi Dyani, Hector Dibakoane (UN Live Portal Guardian) and Siphokazi Jonas (award-winning poet).
Today, there are some 30 communities in Makers Valley and their growth has been fully organic. Indeed, Hector and Thobile stress that the beauty of Makers Valley lies in its homegrown success: “These active citizens just got on with it!” Says Thobile, “It was a truly bottom-up process. The community has a voice, and it has day-to-day solutions. Everything we do comes from the community itself.” Hector adds, “Makers Valley offers a safe space for people to truly be themselves. To explore and to dream. It enables them to be authentic.”
Hector and Thobile say the big issues here are food security and ECD (early childhood development). They’re passionate about training and empowering young people to become strong leaders, use their artistic gifts and energy to start their own enterprises, impact social issues, grow economic culture – and take action for their own lives and communities. Hector tells us, “Our superpower is our diversity and our young people”.
Social entrepreneur Andile Mnguni.
The first opportunity to connect these vital voices to the global conversation arrived when the Global We portal – a roomy soft-top structure which fits neatly into the MVP offices – initiated its first sessions at COP27 in November 2022. Highlights include Thobile’s conversation with Per Heggenes, CEO of the IKEA Foundation, who wanted to hear about life on the ground in Joburg. “What are people saying? How are they concerned about climate change? And what are the most important issues that face them at the moment?”
Thobile’s response came from the heart: “As you know, with climate change, our food insecurity has been heightened….And one of the things that we really work hard towards is saying that climate justice is social justice. Because in a community like ours... Day-to-day, you are living in a crisis mode. It's like a poly-crisis because there's no education, there's no access to food, there's no access to jobs. When somebody's telling you about recycling or anything to do with being climate conscious, it's difficult to resonate with that when you're just struggling to eat”.
Community feeding scheme.
Topics range far and wide but, says Hector, “It always comes back to climate change….I grew up in the village, and even when I visit there now, some of the rivers that used to be so full, now they're running dry. And it affects a whole lot of the ecosystem because now the livestock can't go to the river to drink water, and now they're struggling.” He reckons he’s facilitated close to 50 sessions since (with Egypt, Gaza, Mexico and India) and he laughs as he refers to himself as the ‘Guardian of the Portal’.
Caleb Macamu (student) and Hector Dibakoane (UN Live Portal Guardian).
Hector marvels at how much he’s learned about facilitating, and a three-way conversation with Mexico, Ethiopia and Denmark has a special place in his memory. “It was a beautiful journey. I learned how to hold a space, meet different parts of the world. Share stories, hear how other people live, hear their creative ideas. It was mind-blowing.”
Thobile recalls the warmth of every cross-border conversation. “No matter where people are, they’re super-curious, super-genuine. They want to understand how we are changemaking. The ‘why’ of our work, our purpose. There was such a variety of people. Not just academics, activists, but artists, community members. We could be vulnerable, open, real. There was so much connectedness”.
To close our conversation, we asked Hector and Thobile to share messages they’d like to pass on to global decision-makers:
UN Live thanks everyone at Makers Valley and Victoria Yards for their generous support of the Global We programme.
You can find the Makers Valley portal at Victoria Yards (by the main entrance), 16 Viljoen Street, Johannesburg, GP, 2094 (Tel: 72 520 7432).
The Global We programme is supported by IKEA Foundation and powered by Shared Studios.
UN Live portals facilitate connections between people, collectives, initiatives, NGOs, organisations and leaders from all over the world. Join the Global We for Climate Action.