WE CO-CREATE STRONGER PLACES AND THRIVING ECONOMIES.
Ranyaka is a South African non-profit organisation and professional Place-Based Practice working with communities, businesses, municipalities, funders and other partners to strengthen the places where people live, learn, work and do business.
Developed over more than a decade of on-the-ground practice, our THRIVE Framework grew from the conviction that lasting transformation requires a different approach: one that puts people, place and collaborative partnerships at the centre. The four pillars of THRIVE, Clubs, Hubs, Networks and a shared Platform, are some of the key mechanisms through which the framework takes shape in practice.
We bring people, knowledge, investment and practical solutions together to strengthen the economic, social and environmental conditions that help places become more productive, resilient and regenerative.
By the end of 2025, our work had reached 38 communities across 15 towns in 8 provinces in South Africa. This includes our role as national implementation agent for the Nedbank-funded Proud of My Town programme.
WE WORK WITH
PLACES
The place is our starting point.
No two places are the same. Every community has its own relationships, assets, businesses, institutions, challenges and opportunities.
We start by understanding the place – bringing together different disciplines, partners and resources around one shared purpose:
HELPING A PLACE FUNCTION BETTER,
WE WORK WITH
PEOPLE
We work with local stakeholders, strengthening change agents, facilitating cross-sectoral collaboration and integrating citizen-led initiatives into the over-arching strategy for the area.
Our objective is collective, as opposed to isolated impact.
THROUGH COLLABORATION, WE TACKLE WHAT IS WRONG AND UNLOCK WHAT IS STRONG.
WE WORK WITH
PIONEERING INVESTORS
We develop smarter ways of investing in societal transformation. Our objective is sustainability, real impact and maximum return on investment.
Nedbank’s Proud of my Town initiative which is a prime example of Ranyaka’s place-based framework and smart investment in action.
SMART INVESTMENT LOOKS BEYOND ISOLATED INTERVENTIONS.
Jamestown Strawberry Festival 2018
Jamestown has a rich heritage and everyone who visited the Jamestown Strawberry Festival on Saturday, had something they were proud of in their respective towns. How encouraging to see this sense of pride in our towns and communities. The Jamestown Strawberry Festival...
Celebrating change agents | Fagma Swart
Congratulations to the principal of Klapmuts Junior Academy, Fagma Swart! Fagma has been recognised as the practitioner with the highest number of active days amongst The Reach Trust's sample group in Klapmuts. She makes use of free-to-use literacy apps developed by...
Ranyaka’s Marli Goussard appointed to Stellenbosch University Institutional Forum
Representing the voice of civil society, Ranyaka's Marli Goussard is one of the new members of the Stellenbosch University Institutional Forum, one of the university's three statutory bodies. The induction of new members took place in Stellenbosch today. Marli is...
Tackling transformation in Lantana
“You can’t clean only the part of the pool you’re swimming in.” – New York Times This sentence captures the essence of our approach to community transformation. We need to tackle the broader structures and systems that shape living together with communities and local...
Community profiling starts in Lantana
This week we commenced community profiling in Lantana, a low income neighbourhood in Paarl East. This is an essential step in activating community ownership through the Ranyaka Protocol. We need to tackle the broader structures and systems that shape living together...
Nedbank Proud of My Town Stellenbosch launch
Over 600 children from 20 crèches will benefit from Nedbank's Proud about my Town fund, launched in Stellenbosch on Friday. Crèches principals, stakeholders from the ECD arena, as well as representatives from Nedbank and the Stellenbosch Municipality joined in a...
Community profiling Klapmuts
On Friday, the Ranyaka and Valcare teams met with stakeholders from the community of Klapmuts to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the area. This is one of many conversations that will still take place as we partner with the community to help tackle the...
Festival of talents E’Bosch
This weekend, the e'Bosch Heritage Project 2018 heritage month festivities culminate in a Nedbank-sponsored Festival of Talent at Jan Marais Nature Reserve. Join in the fun and entertainment by local artists, enjoy good food, great company and celebrate Stellenbosch...
Proud of Our Town in Klapmuts
Last weekend, some 1,200 members of of the Klapmuts community joined the Ranyaka team as we celebrated Nedbank's soon-to-be-launched Proud of my Town initiative. The day's programme was jam-packed from start to finish, including performances by talented local artists...
200 engineering students in Klapmuts for social innovation challenge
Today, 200 engineering students from Stellenbosch University joined the Ranyaka team for a walkabout through Klapmuts. The students have now been tasked with coming up with people-centered design solutions to address specific problematic issues in Klapmuts. Last week,...
Can engineers be social innovators?
Can engineers be social innovators? This was the question we posed to a group of 200 students at the Stellenbosch University's Engineering Faculty today. Ranyaka's Marli Goussard and Johan Olivier co-presented a lecture addressing the pressing need for engineers to...
Stellenbosch Civil Advocacy Network dialogue at Launchlab
A great turn-out with broad representation at the open dialogue session hosted by the Stellenbosch Civil Advocacy Network (SCAN) at the LaunchLab this morning. SCAN's mission is to encourage collaboration amongst civil society and to provide a space for intersectoral...
ABOUT US
In 1996, two young town planners from very different backgrounds reported for duty at a local municipality in Gauteng. Only two years had passed since the dawn of democracy in South Africa.
WHAT WE DO
Ranyaka works hand-in-hand with communities, local stakeholders, all levels of government and investors to develop and implement transformation strategies for towns and communities.
WHERE WE WORK
By mid-2020, Ranyaka will be working in 13 towns and neighbourhoods in 9 towns across seven provinces throughout South Africa. We focus mainly, but not exclusively, on under-resourced communities.