Greater Good South Africa

A Cape-based NPO is achieving remarkable successes in diversity training and assisting victims of prejudice and abuse, using non-threatening, lifelike dolls to break down barriers and encourage interaction. Their unusual model, which provides solutions while helping women generate income through the manufacture of the figurines, has received interest from as far afield as Uganda and Belfast.

Persona Doll Training (PDT) is becoming known internationally for its programmes addressing many of the social issues we face in South Africa today. These issues include the unholy trinity of unemployment, poverty and inequality, which in turn spurn a host of related social problems including crime, HIV and AIDS and the abuse of women and children.

Inclusion, diversity, identity

The ‘Persona Dolls’ are used as a workshop tool to help vulnerable women and children to share or talk about issues that affect them. The Persona Doll approach is an innovative, interactive way to raise and address issues of inclusion, diversity and identity for both children and adults. Through its doll creation project, PDT has also quietly been creating sustainable employment for many unemployed local women (particularly in rural areas).

“The Dolls are really sounding boards. They are ‘friends’ to which children and adults alike can relate. They help people to talk about issues that are difficult to talk about. This includes HIV and AIDS stigma, gender, racism, language, culture, faith, social class and living with disabilities,” explains Carol Smith, Founder and Director of PDT.

Training the educators

PDT trains and supports community workers, early childhood development (ECD) practitioners and trainers, primary school teachers, childcare workers and young children to build self-esteem and identity, pride in their cultural heritage, challenge unfairness and prejudice, xenophobia and strengthen language and emotional intelligence.

“We are quite adaptable but our main focus is to engage with as many educators and trainers as possible .We’ve concentrated on working in the education and community development sphere, particularly on building capacity in the early childhood development (ECD) sector,”   explains Carol.

Skills shortage

However, despite their good work and successes to date, like many NPOs the organisation struggles with inadequate facilities, lack of volunteers, lack of sewing materials and the challenge of finding and retaining qualified staff. Research shows that there are not enough individuals with the right skills and competencies to supervise non-profit organisations which can have a major impact on the quality of services offered to disadvantaged communities. Carol agrees with this, saying that the lack of proper financial management capabilities and severe skills shortages are some of the major challenges that NPOs face. She believes that NPOs need support structures or programmes that will help them improve in areas where they need improvement most.

For that reason, Carol applied for the Legends programme, a national SMME and non-profit business incubator implemented by Fetola and sponsored by Old Mutual, which offers mentorship, business support and other resources to non-profit and for-profit organisations nationally. Carol points out that since getting selected on the programme, she has gained invaluable knowledge that has helped improve her management skills in the areas of finance, marketing, staff management as well as how to access funding.

Transforming the sector

“The workshops they host have allowed us to network with similar organisations like ours; this has really helped identify and resolve some of the challenges we face on a daily basis as a collective. If there were more effective programmes such as Legends, I think it would help transform our sector for the better,” adds Carol.

Find out more about PDT 

Abram Molelemane is a third year journalism student at the Tshwane University of Technology. He has written for various publications such as Wealthwise magazine and Reckord newspaper. In 2011 he was nominated for the Reckord print journalist of the year award. He is currently a media officer at Fetola.