Turning the Tide of Political Violence Against Innocent People in South Africa

Las Vegas, NV, October 22, 2009 --(PR.com)-- The violent political scenario of the late 80’s in South Africa resulted in a whole generation of underprivileged, destitute people. Rampant crimes primarily perpetrated by political groups set innocent people in the line of fire.

Born as a response to this hostility, Project Gateway, a church-based organization, began various programs to bring relief to the victims of these crimes.

“Project Gateway began as a reaction to the violence in the area where innocent people were caught in the crossfire of political unrest and many fled their homes,” General Manager Di Milford said. “At this point, the local churches began questioning, ‘how they should be helping those whose lives were affected.’”

The group began its program in the late 80’s, based out of Pietermaritzburg in South Africa, Project Gateway is currently running ten projects –all aimed at meeting the needs of the poor and empowering the disadvantaged.

The turning point for the organization came when Di Milford connected with Business Coach Patrick Greenaway at the Pietermaritzburg Chamber of Commerce. The timing was perfect as the ActionCOACH business coaching franchise had recently announced Coaching for a Cause, its first global pro bono coaching program to help the non-profit and charitable sector of the economy. As part of the program, top Business Coaches pledged to donate coaching hours to this sector –a value of $1.9 Million. The overall goal of the program is to have an additional 5 million in charitable donations from October 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010.

Di Milford is grateful for the time Greenaway spends with the organization and provides testimony to the fact that ActionCOACH’s systems work.

“We in turn spend time with 20 staff members who are encouraged to implement the lessons learnt through this coaching process; the results have been powerful,” he said.

“Finances are always a problem in South Africa as the need of the poor is so great. We have embarked on a sustainability program to try and help us with this issue,” Di Milford said. “Through this coaching process, we would like to be able to build sustainable businesses that will fund our organization.”
Project Gateway is governed by a set of core values and a statement of faith developed by the co-working churches.

“These values are intrinsic to the structure of the organization and define how it is managed and governed on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “We currently run programs to develop people and assist them better the quality of their lives through care ministries, education and empowerment programs.”

According to Di Milford, the vision for Project Gateway is currently far from the norm in South Africa.

“Our vision is to see poverty eradicated and have every household able to sustain themselves with the basic necessities of life such as food, clothing and shelter and to give people the opportunity to study and follow an education path that will enable them to start sustainable businesses to support themselves and their families,” he said.

Coaching for a Cause is an innovative, new program from ActionCOACH, the world’s number one business and executive coaching firm that makes pro-bono coaching available to charities and non-profits worldwide. To learn more, go to coachingforacause.org or subscribe to RSS news feeds at news.actioncoach.com.

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