The phrase “I’m going out quickly to pick up some guys” will be familiar to many South Africans whose parents manage their own minor building or major gardening projects.

The next step works like this: Dad departs with an empty bakkie and returns an hour later with an assortment of men riding in the back.

These men are most probably the men at the side of the road. They gather at well known pick-up points on the side of the road from Monday to Saturday, and wait in the hope of getting casual labour work from builders or the public. The men’s labour is cheap and casual – a problem for them. For the employers, the hitch was that the men they hired were often unreliable or unskilled. Some those who claimed to be bricklayers or gardeners and so on were only saying they had the skills required in a desperate attempt to get a day’s work.

In 2005, with unemployment now at 40% and rising, the number of men standing at the side of the road waiting for work has only grown. Hard figures are hard to come by, but it’s estimated that, on a daily basis, about 200 000 men gather in groups on curbs across South Africa in the hope of temporary relief from joblessness. They freelance with only their labour to sell.

But things are changing for the better for some of these men through the work of a fairly new but fast growing organisation called, literally, Men at the Side of the Road (MSR for short).

How MSR was set up

The idea of providing training, tools and backup for men at the side of the roadway sounds like an obvious project idea for one of South Africa’s non-governmental organisations, but MSR was only set up about three-and-a-half years back, when Charles Maisel hit on the idea.

Charles studied Economics at university. He credits his strong mentors with nudging him in the direction of the organisational development field. Though the MSR project has a national scope (it boasts more members in Johannesburg than anywhere else) the man who started Men at the Side of the Road is a born and bred Capetonian who is still based in South Africa’s mother city, where he lives with his family.

Since graduating 12 years ago, and before MSR existed, Charles gravitated towards the developmental business rather than profit-taking. His work focused on developing models for social upliftment enterprises, or as he puts it: “…looking at big problems and trying to develop bigger solutions.”

Some previous projects included developing housing schemes, addressing the crucial issue of domestic violence, setting up big grassroots savings schemes and introducing alternative retail models in the townships. He has assisted in launching The Great Ideas Company, which looks at youth creativity and innovation in youth entrepreneurship. And he’s done a lot of research into unemployment and related issues.

Charles started MSR when he noticed a trend while working on other projects over the years. “Every year there are just more men standing on the side of the road, waiting for jobs. As the unemployment rate grew, the number of people beside the road grew and this was countrywide – in small towns as well as in big urban areas.”

Extreme weather conditions, exploitative working conditions, bad pay or non-payment of wages, harassment by police and low skills and educational levels are just some of the net of problems that threaten to trap casually employed labourers, who range in age from 16 to 55 years. Charles began a project to investigate ways to improve their lot.

“We spent a year talking to the guys on the side of the road, and then we got a bit of funding and we slowly built the model to what it is today.”

Initial European-based financial supporters included a Catholic-based funder called Catholic Welfare and Development (CWD), where Charles had an existing connection, and local corporate funders, among them the Pick ‘n Pay-linked Ackerman Foundation.

However, getting money wasn’t a straightforward process, Charles says.

“Even though we were dealing with unemployment, a big problem was that our target group was 99 percent male. Funders only wanted to fund women and youth.”

The trick was to get funders to realise how the high level of male unemployment negatively affects the lives of all those linked to them. In South Africa’s often patriarchal society where men’s pride is often (rightly or wrongly) tied to the idea of them being the head of the household and the chief breadwinners there is great shame in being unemployed.

“A lot of men don’t actually cope with the whole issue of not being able to work. I think it’s just one of those very masculine things. And that’s why they go and stand on the side of the road every day. Because going to the side of the road is like having a job when you don’t have a job,” Charles explains.

Gradually, funders came round to the holistic benefits of the project. And yes, the extremely rising unemployment rate has certainly helped MSR argue their case for making casual workers’ lives easier.
Successes and failures and compromises

So what level of success has Men on the Side of the Road had in improving peoples’ lives?

“Our initial objective was to make the people on the side of the road visible, instead of seeing millions of cars just driving past. And I think we’ve achieved that in a big way,” says Charles. “We get national government support now as far as funding goes, and the public where we operate do know about us.”

The workers themselves are also getting to know about the organisation, though there is a long way to go. About 20% of the 200 000 men – about 40 000 men – who stand at the side of the road every day at 500 sites (170 in Johannesburg) have been reached by MSR, in just over two years’ work. UNISA is currently completing a project that provides more reliable figures which will assist MSR further.

The Tools Project collects used tools from nurseries and from the public. In a year, Men at the Side of the Road collected 50 000 tools around South Africa and created a library of tools. Workers borrowed tools, and no longer waited empty-handed. The project also raised much- needed public awareness.

The organisation has managed to deal with the police harassment problems and negotiate a truce so that the men waiting for work are no longer treated like vagrants.

Various small projects rather than one grand scheme seek to exploit gaps in the employment markets, or to semi-formalise the fulfillment of existing needs.

For example, Uncle Bob’s will clean you out – with your consent of course. If you’re moving house, or just need your garage cleared, Uncle Bob’s will send a team of men to remove the unwanted and unused stuff stored in your garage. Everything there will be sold for funding or added to the tools library. And when did you ever do anything with it, apart from trip over it on the way to your car door in the morning?

Training programmes have made a huge impact and are linked to a placement programme. Fees charged for placements provide additional income for the project, making it more sustainable.

To ally the general public’s fears of hiring strangers and to increase the men’s chances of getting work, members can join a casual workers’ federation called the “Masiphumelele Unemployed Federation” which is about 800-odd members strong and growing. Members carry ID cards and are subject to some security checks. In addition, MSR puts together qualified teams – a building team for example – who come with their own supervisors.

Men at the Side of the Road – despite initial ethical issues that sponsors may have had about sponsoring only men – have won numerous international awards for their work. Just to list a few: The AAG fund (United Nations) award for the best pioneering project in the worlds, as well as other smaller awards. They are currently shortlisted for the Shell Global Challenge for the Top Global Project Award, as well as for the Global Development Network’s top project award.

Of course, not every idea is a good idea, no matter how much sense it makes on paper. MSR initially intended to build toilets and shelter at the points where men waited for work. Neither residents nor council were amenable. Charles is quick to acknowledge the mistake of trying to set up permanent waiting places without the support of council.

Figuring out where to fit in with the labour markets has also been difficult. Although the MSR’s Masiphumelele Unemployed Federation help negotiate temporary wage and employment conditions, they are not aligned to COSATU or other labour unions. As Charles puts it, “We could never be allies. Our guys want their guys’ jobs!” But MSR’s people do meet with COSATU, and mutually support each other where possible without officially being affiliates.

Client experiences

Judy Lovemore, a freelance landscaper or “garden stylist” hired guys from Men at the Side of the Road’s gardening team to help her with the revamp of a neglected garden in Rondebosch, Cape Town. She was hugely impressed with the teams of four people provided each day. As she supervised the men herself, she noticed that each day, at least one of the men had been on the project previously, so that she didn’t have to explain the job from scratch. She also commented that MSR sent a mix language team with at least one English speaker, to make her life easier as well as to help the men learn language skills on the job. She also felt safe working with the men.

“For me to be alone in a garden with a bunch of men that I don’t know can be quite threatening.” She explains. “To literally stop on the side of the road… I would never do it. Men at the Side of the Road give me a facility that otherwise I wouldn’t have.”

Not everyone interviewed was as positive as Judy was. Susan Pardew, managing director of Greenways Hotel, hired MSR’s gardening team recently. The team accidentally weeded out grass that had carefully been planted and nurtured between paving stones near the swimming pool. “It’s a mess”, Susan says.

However, because MSR did good follow up and has promised to investigate and rectify the problem, Susan says she wouldn’t rule out hiring them again. She admits she didn’t deal with the team herself, and that they may not have been properly briefed by her staff. She says she would make sure the men were supervised by someone from the hotel in future.
Organisational growth – the way forward

Men at The Side of the Road have no plans to launch Women at the Side of the Road – though women may join MSR’s worker training schemes if they wish to.

Men at the Side of the Road currently employs 20 people permanently. About a third of these people were originally Men on the Side of the Road. Charles sees the ultimate goal of the organisation as becoming sufficient within itself, so that he can let go and move on to new projects.

New leadership development has already begun.

Vuyisile Dyolatana is one staff member who’s gone from unemployment to a steady job running MSR’s gardener training course. He met up with field worker Ian Veary while waiting and hoping to be picked up. “I worked for a landscaping company, so I have a lot of experience,” he says. He also helps get men standing on the side of the road involved in training.

“Many are interested,” Vuyisile says. “We change their lives. My life also changed. Two years ago I had no job. Now I am permanent. I am working full time, and helping other people.”
Donate, assist, or make contact

Charles Maisel: 072 4876775
Fundraising, contact Jocelyn Freed 083 7082569
Go to the project’s website for more information or to hire workers.