Real Conversations.
Real Change.
Community Conversations bring people together in communities most affected by poverty and the legacy of apartheid – to find practical solutions to the harsh realities of hunger, joblessness and exclusion from opportunity. We invite affluent individuals to join them on their turf, to build real connections, take hands across the divide, and help grow a more just and equal society.
Each Community Conversation is built around a prepared theme and supported by practical discussion guides and resources. These provide structure and shared reference points, while leaving space for participants to shape the conversation around what matters most in their community.
Our Conversations are more than just discussions. They lead to action that helps people become more resilient and self-sufficient. From growing food and creating sustainable livelihoods to standing up for their rights, taking charge of their health and becoming active citizens, we equip communities with the knowledge to break cycles of poverty and despair.
Local Teams | Earn income as a facilitator, videographer, security guard, caterer, advertising salesperson or as a venue.
Attendees | Connect with your neighbours, share solutions and build strength as a community.
Advertisers | Gain goodwill with up to 80% of your advertising spend flowing into local communities.
Find your place in the conversation – and in the solution.
South African Conversations touches on issues that most South Africans are afraid to talk about. It gives people a reality check on what’s truly happening here. It creates a platform for people who are not afraid to talk about sensitive issues. It promotes tolerance and equality amongst human beings, regardless of who they are, what they are and where they’re from.
– Alvin Motsisi
This Community Conversation offered feasible solutions and made people think. It offered perspectives and options that had not been considered before. It gave (the community women) the opportunity to come together and build something that will allow them to leverage on each other’s skills and support each other in creating opportunities.
– Olwethu Pudumo
It is amazing to see a group of people giving individuals the platform to discuss issues relating to them and the nation at wide and then sharing the money with them.
– Mbasa Tsetsana
South African Conversations makes all of us the same. Black people and white people and people who are nobody and important people.
– Ngqiliyomzi
It opened the path to community cohesion. Neighbours recognised that they belong together and wish one another well. That goodwill is a lifeline to each resident and their endeavours. These conversations will enable neighbours to become a true village.
– Mu-Aalima Amyna Fakude
I really like that it is a platform for people to share their experiences and thoughts.
– Innocent Ndlovu
Bring Change and Income to Your Community
Start or join a Community Conversations team in your township, informal settlement, inner city or rural area – an opportunity to earn money leading discussions, filming events, providing food and security, selling advertising or making a space available for these information-rich events.
Each local team needs:
- A Facilitator to lead discussions.
- A Videographer to film the event.
- Security Guard/s (if required.)
- A Caterer to prepare simple, healthy food.
- A Venue – space where the event can take place.
- An Advertising Salesperson to secure local advertising partners.
Start by selecting your role and we will guide you through the next steps.
Attend a Conversation.
It is free.
When we take time to truly understand others – beyond the clothes, manners, speech, financial status, education or any of the yardsticks we use to measure individual worth and define ourselves – then we have a chance to discover our common humanity and find ways to coexist peacefully.
Community Conversations foster meaningful engagement, bringing diverse people together to find common ground and explore solutions to problems.
- Held on the first Sunday of every month from 14h00 to 16h00.
- Open to everyone – all are welcome.
Expand Your Reach with Advertising that Matters
Community Conversations offers brands unique access to audiences in townships, informal settlement, inner-city and rural areas, while simultaneously creating meaningful income-generating opportunities for local teams.
- Reach and build trust in new markets, engaging people where they live and work.
- Strengthen goodwill towards your brand by supporting local income generation.
- Contribute to social stability and economic empowerment.
- Roughly 70% of advertising revenue goes directly to local teams.
Partner with us in any province, at one or more monthly Community Conversation. Or choose a 12-month tiered partnership to earn greater value.
How it All Started Then. A Message from the Founder
Community Conversations started as a way to explore the challenges faced by low-income communities, ensuring that our magazine content was informed by the lived experiences of the people we write about. With the help of friends in Soweto, we’d organise informal gatherings to discuss pressing issues like youth unemployment, teen pregnancies, disability, hunger and food insecurity. I’d bring food and together we’d explore solutions.
These conversations were eye-opening and humbling, and changed me from being a condescending do-gooder to ‘them’: ‘the poor,’ ‘the homeless’ and ‘the historically disadvantaged’ to seeing PEOPLE who are poor, PEOPLE who are homeless, PEOPLE who are marginalised because of the way our country works – PEOPLE who are just like me and you, needing access to opportunities, information and work. I also saw how hungry poor people are for meaningful engagement and for a chance to be heard.
The following, roughly transcribed comment, is from a young participant during a conversation where we discussed the problems faced by young people, after he embarrassedly admitted that he’d been in jail:
“Most whites don’t know about jail, but it is something that every black person knows about. Either we’ve been there ourselves or we have family who’ve been there or we know someone who has been there or is still there. People should talk about jail … white people should learn what is happening because it affects the children, the families. They should know what it is doing to our society. It’s not just about people being ‘bad’. When people are hungry and don’t have money and don’t know what else to do, stealing is something real. It would be better to help people than to shut them up in jail.”
Affluent people need to hear these things. By attending our Community Conversations they can gain a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by marginalised communities, learn to be part of the solution and, through their free attendance, help generate valuable advertising revenue of which up to 80% flows directly to the participating community.
