Thanda is a community-based organisation that provides innovative solutions for sustainable development. Thanda’s aim is to create safer, stronger communities by providing educational, skills-building, and micro-entrepreneurial opportunities to individuals.

The Distell Development Trust’s involvement is via the organic-farming programme, amongst other ways, by supporting Thanda to develop an agricultural resource centre (or Agri-Hub), which will play a fundamental role in the programme’s continued growth and overall success. The primary goals of this programme are to reduce food insecurity and malnutrition in the community, strengthen self-reliance among cash-dependent communities, and build a local economy. Currently, 248 people are enrolled in this programme (on sixteen farms), 86% of whom are female. The ages of participants range from 19 to 84, with 77% of farmers aged between 35 and 64 years old. Ninety percent of the women farmers were not earning an income from vegetable sales prior to joining this programme.