A few years ago, I was invited to represent my NGO at a ‘Wealth Conference’ in Switzerland. The venue was set deep in the Alps where the snow above the tree line is solid all year round; the scenery was breath-taking. Except for a handful of NGOs, all 300 attendees had personal wealth in excess of $100million (about R2bn).
The conference provided a platform for the world’s super wealthy to consider how, where and why to invest in philanthropic endeavours that could make a difference and shift the needle. Let’s rewind the clock to the 1700s and the famous ‘invisible hand’ theory of philosopher, Adam Smith.
Smith posited that the economic model of free markets and capitalism will optimise market behaviour in the best interests of everybody. While the free market system often delivers on that – and certainly gave birth to the ‘American dream’ – some 300 years later we live in a world where the vast majority of people have very little, do not own assets, and struggle to feed and educate their families.
Often referred to as the ‘working poor’, families hold down multiple jobs to try and make ends meet. In most countries, the top 20 per cent of people own almost half the world’s wealth.
What was defined as a free-market system 300 years ago, somehow slowly skewed exponentially in favour of those who initially had access to capital; unsurprisingly these were the people who already held generational wealth, royal title and property in the feudal system.
The statistics in South Africa today are even starker. With a Gini coefficient of 0.63, we are the most unequal country in the world where 90 per cent of all wealth is in the hands of 10 per cent of the people. We posit that it is the generational wealth, preserved through social and cultural capital, that forms the barrier to entering the economic milieu and participation in the world of business.
What is social capital?
Social capital is the degree and power of connectedness between people, clustering and cohesiveness, and civic engagement and trust. Where such connectedness intersects with economic connectedness, economic mobility occurs.
The strongest predictor of economic mobility is economic connectedness, a subset of social capital. The degree of interaction across wealth lines can influence this positively but it is scarce, and therefore, stimulating economic mobility is difficult, especially in very unequal societies. The higher the Gini index, the lower the economic mobility and the higher the barrier to escape inter-generational poverty.
As children’s aspirations are heavily influenced by whom they interact with, there is potential to influence policy and curriculum to enable greater connectedness between young children to be able to build friendships across the wealth divide and, by extension, improve chances of economic mobility. Interaction across wealth lines is a thus powerful predictor of economic mobility.
Simunye (We are One) – Bridging divides through school partnerships
At Christel House South Africa, in Cape Town, we have seen at first hand the transformative power of school partnerships, through our Simunye project. For the past four years, Simunye has united our school with Die Duine Primary School, Mzamomtsha Primary School, Rondebosch Boys’ Preparatory School, and St Cyprian’s School – schools across the wealth divide – to tackle the challenge of social capital in our unequal society.
Simunye was born from the idea that if Christel House wants to play a meaningful part in helping to level the field of wealth inequality, then our children need to be exposed to, and involved in, activities across the wealth divide. Schools serve as the primary arena where students engage and interact, yet without connections between schools, disparities persist.
By fostering structured interactions across socio-economic lines, Simunye has empowered students to bridge divides and cultivate essential skills beyond the classroom.
As economic and social divisions grow wider, we should utilise non-conventional curriculum items to create the conditions to deliver on the promise that, ‘education is the most powerful weapon with which we can change the world’. We must see education as a holistic endeavour that is multiple times bigger than the three ‘Rs’ activities in the classroom.
Foundational as it is, education cannot deliver economic mobility without enabling factors such as food and the provision of health and psychosocial care around it. Equally, a good education needs a growing economy to participate in. Lastly, and in my view most importantly, the path to economic mobility is by building a bridge between one’s social capital and economic capital.
Today, four years later, Christel House has compiled our learnings and proposals into a book for educators, corporations and community leaders interested in shaping healthier societies, more diverse workplaces and stronger economies.
Support is key
Christel House South Africa’s Simunye project is supported by the Julius Baer Foundation, which is committed to reducing wealth inequality. In 2021, it launched its digital initiative The Wealth Inequality Initiative, which is a global collaborative platform to awaken interest in the topic, circulate knowledge, mobilise stakeholders and drive action towards more equitable societies. It features practical knowledge and in-depth expertise on the topic and links global independent experts with role models, grant-makers and the public.
In conclusion
The power of social capital in shaping economic mobility cannot be overstated. By embracing holistic education strategies like Simunye, we can equip our students with the skills and connections needed to thrive. Through collective will and strategic action, we can turn this vision into reality, ensuring a brighter future for generations to come.
Some of our learnings
Through implementing Simunye for four years, we have learned some important lessons. These are some of them:
1. Smaller groups and project-based learning fosters deeper connections
Recent research by Prof Raj Chetty from Harvard University highlights the importance of social interactions in shaping children’s aspirations and economic mobility. His research findings, optimising big data, confirm that interactions across wealth lines are powerful tools for upward economic mobility, particularly when they occur in smaller settings with regular interaction. We have experienced our greatest success when aligning with Professor Chetty’s research by fostering connections through smaller group experiences with a project-based focus.
2. Transportation: a critical hurdle for equitable participation
While we recognise the importance of access to Wi-Fi and mobile data, Simunye prioritises transportation, because the programme’s core impact lies in the transformative power of lived experiences. These experiences foster a deeper understanding that cannot be replicated solely through online interaction. Lack of transportation is a significant barrier to connection for students from under-resourced communities. To ensure that we kept the playing field level, transportation was provided to all schools for all events.
3. Over-burdened schools and the need for strong leadership
Simunye’s multifaceted concepts need to be deeply embedded within the ethos of participating schools. To achieve this, early scheduling is crucial. This allows schools ample time to incorporate Simunye into their broader annual calendars, ensuring a smooth integration without disrupting existing internal goals. Therefore, leadership buy-in, dedicated teachers and consistent support year-on-year from all participating schools are essential.
These are just some of our learnings. We have produced a book for all schools with a very detailed outline of learnings, how to run a Simunye programme and how to get involved in Simunye 2.0.