Unlocking employee skills to enable social good

Under-represented individuals should have the right to access affordable justice.

That is the vision behind Legalwise, a legal expenses insurance company in South Africa that has partnered with local non-profit organisations to help empower people in need. Working alongside CAF Southern Africa, the organisation has launched an employee community service programme, enabling its staff to assist with a range of community building activities.

Thanks to the programme, employees at the company have been given the opportunity to volunteer and support organisations they are passionate about.

One such organisation is The Cradle of Hope, a non-profit organisation which works with vulnerable people to help them get back on their feet.

Now, LegalWise and The Cradle of Hope have formed a long-term partnership, with employees providing legal workshops for abused women as well as delivering groceries and clothing on a regular basis.

The LegalWise and CAF Southern Africa partnership

Working in conjunction with CAFSA, LegalWise launched its employee community service strategy to unlock the gifts, skills and talents inherent in all their employees and leverage these to help the communities that they support.

Speaking about the collaboration with CAFSA, Helen Frerk, community engagement specialist at LegalWise, said: “CAFSA walked the journey with us. I see the programme going from strength to strength. I think the real power of this programme is the fact that our employees are our heroes. [The programme] goes beyond a strategy and becomes something that they love, which provides the sustainability and long-term impact.”

Helen added: “CAFSA helped us to articulate our ideas and consolidate these into a framework that was easy to apply and that our employees could understand. They brought valuable industry knowledge, which we didn’t have.”


Echoing that same sentiment, Lee Pillay, employee volunteer at LegalWise, said: “The employee strategy opened up our eyes to what’s out there in terms of organisations we could assist and be a part of.”

Louise Denysschen, business development manager at CAFSA, added: “It is amazing to see how the programme has enabled active citizenship among employees at LegalWise branches across South Africa.”


The Cradle of Hope and its care centre offers its beneficiaries safe housing, healthy nutrition, medical services, education skills training, job creation, creative recreation and spiritual development.

This is with a mission to empower less fortunate people of any age, as well as unemployed and uneducated people, and people with disabilities, to lead a meaningful and dignified life.

CAF Southern Africa

CAF Southern Africa is a partner of the CAF Global Alliance, a network of nine locally-led, independent organisations that work across six continents.

Over the last 25 years, the Global Alliance and its international presence has led to breakthroughs and social change that’s had a positive effect on the lives of millions of vulnerable and disadvantaged people and communities.

At its core, the Global Alliance works to help strengthen civil society worldwide as part of the Charities Aid Foundation, a champion for giving that works to help donors, companies and charities make a bigger impact.

CAF International

By working with with local experts, CAF International has helped make a real difference to communities around the world.

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