South Africa: Climate Solutions Forum and commitment to food security

As a co-host of the Foundations 20 Climate Solutions Forum and by supporting a pioneering food security project in South Africa, the Wilo-Foundation demonstrates how it fosters transnational collaboration on sustainability.

At the invitation of the Wilo-Foundation, five young water entrepreneurs from South Africa had the opportunity to participate in this year’s Climate Solutions Forum in Cape Town. Photo: Wilo-Foundation

This year, on May 27–28, the Wilo-Foundation co-hosted the F20 Climate Solutions Forum in Cape Town for the first time since joining the international platform Foundations 20 (F20) in 2021. This exclusive forum gathers foundations from G20 countries and annually provides a platform for exchanging solutions and perspectives. By developing these recommendations, private foundations amplify their voice and tackle pressing challenges in climate, biodiversity, and food security, while fostering capacity building.

Evi Hoch in conversation with Ratanang Nakedi, a South African participant in the "Umthombo" water entrepreneurship program, which is supported by the Wilo-Foundation. Photo: F20
The Wild Impact team at the Climate Solutions Forum in Cape Town: Andrew Venter (CEO, right) together with program managers Glacia Mkansi (left) and Lebogang Matlakala (center). Photo: F20

Presentation of the food security support project at the F20 Forum

Evi Hoch (Executive Board) and David Höltgen (Director of Communications) from the Wilo-Foundation, together with Christine Amira (Wilo Middle & Southern Africa) and Franklin de Bruyne (Wilo South Africa) from the Wilo Group, attended the two-day forum. They took part in selected sessions and used the opportunity to network with international sustainability stakeholders. During the forum, the food security project currently supported by the Wilo-Foundation in Kruger National Park was presented by the South African project partner Wild Impact, based in Johannesburg. "As an active member of Foundations 20, it was a special opportunity for us to co-host the forum in Cape Town to expand our network on a global level while giving local partners the chance to present their impactful approaches to food security and the sustainable development of structures and competencies for local communities at the forum," explains Evi Hoch. Under the title "Whole-of-Society Approaches to Climate, Biodiversity and Food Security," South African project managers Lebogang Matlakala and Glacia Mkansi from Wild Impact presented their holistic project in the Welverdiend community to an audience of around 250 conference participants.

The Wilo-Foundation also granted five young South African entrepreneurs from its current social entrepreneurship water program ("Umthombo") in South Africa a travel scholarship to participate in the Climate Solutions Forum.

Lebogang Matlakala, Program Manager at Wild Impact, presented the current food security project — supported in part by the Wilo-Foundation — at the Climate Solutions Forum. Photo: Wilo-Foundation

Visit to the Funding Project: Future of Food Security at South African Schools and Daycare Centers

Prior to the Climate Solutions Forum, Evi Hoch and David Höltgen from the Wilo-Foundation, along with Matthew Magwede (Group Director for Middle and Southern Africa, Wilo Group) and Clemens Pretorius (Wilo South Africa), visited the project region north of Johannesburg to get an insight into the development of the food security project and to personally meet the local project partner Wild Impact as well as the stakeholders and conditions of the educational institutions. The program featured visits to two greenhouses and seedling stations, as well as to a school whose permanent vegetable garden was made possible by the project, and an early childhood development center. "The pilot project convincingly demonstrates to me how global partnerships can quickly bring about improvements at the local level. Here in South Africa, projects related to water supply and food security are not only urgently needed, particularly in rural areas—they can also signify the beginning of further social and economic development," explains Matthew Magwede.

Visit to a seedling station cultivating climate-resilient vegetables for school gardens — an important contribution to food security and climate adaptation. Photo: Wilo-Foundation
Evi Hoch is shown the healthy vegetable plants by Wild Impact staff member Victor Khosa and sees for herself the quality of the climate-resilient varieties. Photo: Wilo-Foundation

During the successful pilot phase (2024), the local team from Wild Impact collaborated with a network of 26 early childhood development centers (ECD), eleven primary schools, and seven secondary schools. The leaders of the ECD centers and primary schools had increasingly requested support for establishing permanent vegetable gardens in recent years to sustainably improve the nutritional quality of the children.

In the open school kitchen: Evi Hoch talks with a school cook about the daily preparation of fresh meals made from the school garden’s harvest. Photo: Wilo-Foundation
From left to right: David Höltgen, Matthew Magwede, Evi Hoch, and Clemens Pretorius visited the food security on site and personally engaged with the local project partner Wild Impact, as well as the stakeholders day-to-day realities of the schools firsthand. Photo: Wilo-Foundation
The students gave the foundation team a warm welcome with posters they had designed themselves. Photo: Wilo-Foundation

In all these institutions, young people and young adults are also engaged in one-year internships to assist with daily activities and gain work experience. At the same time, they acquire a better understanding of the environment. The partner Wild Impact utilizes the model developed by the South African government and funded by South African companies, "Yes4Youth," to counter the very high youth unemployment rate of around 50%. It is well known that employment opportunities for young people significantly increase through practical work experience such as internships.

A warm welcome at a school in the project region: Students greeted the Wilo-Foundation team with dance and music and proudly showed off their school, which has had its own vegetable garden since this year. Photo: Wilo-Foundation
Commitment from the start: Group photo after visiting an Early Childhood Development Center that introduces children to healthy nutrition and climate awareness at an early age. Photo: Wilo-Foundation

Due to the positive course of the pilot phase, the project is expected to be scaled by the Global Nature Fund - International Foundation for Environment and Nature, based in Radolfzell, in the fall.

Through its commitment to food security and sustainable development — highlighted by its collaboration with the German Global Nature Fund and the South African Wild Impact Foundation — the Wilo-Foundation illustrates the value and impact of transnational cooperation. The F20 Climate Solutions Forum offered an ideal platform to showcase such initiatives to a select group of foundations and stakeholders and to encourage exchange.

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