HOPE Cape Town is grateful to be able to continue and expand the NEXT STEP programme with the support and assistance of Tommy & Annett Matser from Germany.
Too many matriculants in South Africa are not sure what to do after completion of school with Matric. Even when like in Germany study and university is the most desired way forward, finding the right path even in the study subject, but also learning about the alternatives of artisan or vocational training related professions is of essence.
The several month long course gives 50 matriculants the opportunity to learn about different professions, explore some of them practically and via psychometric testing explore their very own talents often hidden behind habits and influences from outside.
A few random thoughts at the end of the year… translated from a German text for New Year’s Eve.
No one can claim that 2025 was a socially or politically boring year. Political upheavals are no longer in their infancy, but in full swing. And the consequences are brutally disruptive on many levels, destroying social cohesion and international law.
COVID and its consequences, the massive increase in mistrust of politics, and the constant bombardment and manipulation by social media are having an impact. Autocrats and corrupt financial and IT oligarchs are celebrating their unchecked power in the US, and it is becoming clear how the EU has failed/missed the opportunity to assume its rightful role and become independent of the whims of the US or China. Added to this is a continuing considerable ignorance of the neighboring continent of Africa, which is mainly seen as a supplier of raw materials and a threat due to refugees. In Gaza, the moral failure of the international community has become manifest – it seems that the world is entering a new spiral of the “Wild West,” where the power of the strongest is the only yardstick of politics. Right-wing parties in Europe, supported by the US, are also attempting to sabotage the achievements of democracy, law, and human rights and replace them with structures that appear more fascist in nature. In a nutshell: The world is a mess!
This naturally also has consequences for NGOs. Uncertainty and attacks on humanity, justice, and legal certainty; economic concerns and a lack of prospects always have an impact on the lives of non-governmental organizations. This is also because the work of NGOs is still widely viewed as pure charity. People donate when they can afford to, and when the future is uncertain, they hold back because they never know where they themselves will end up. This is true in private life, but also in economic circles.
For 2026, I hope that NGOs will increasingly be recognized for what they so often are in reality: entrepreneurs with the ability to respond to or create situations more quickly and precisely, which then offer prospects for all sides. It is not a one-way street. And as far as Africa is concerned, I hope that Europe will increasingly engage with the continent, which also offers prospects for Europe itself.
I hope that NGOs and the business community will cooperate much more in this context and understand that companies are not just financiers and NGOs are not just naive do-gooders. Together, they could also formulate a narrative that for example currently seems impossible in mainstream politics in Germany. A narrative that removes Africa from the politicized and almost standardized ongoing battle over the dangers of refugee flows and asylum, and thus finally returns this issue to a level of discussion that advances society and the economy.
My wish for 2026 is that we achieve greater ethics and less colonialism in the skilled labour sector. We need strategies that enable a genuine win-win-win situation—not on paper, but in reality. A perspective that also takes age structure of countries into account and perhaps considers questions of location and investment, but also where work is generally heading in the age of AI. Bi-national training would also be an issue here. Looking for short-term solutions means complicating things in the long term. It is necessary to think from the end. For this to happen, politics must be much more connected to reality. And that means fewer professional politicians in parliament, but rather people who have social or economic expertise from their own experience. And that brings us back to the question of trust in democracy – and what needs to be better or different.
In times like these, we can spend our time complaining—or we can do what NGOs like HOPE Cape Town are doing: reflect, take action, and develop strategies that point to the future. Giving up or bowing to the radical right-wing Zeitgeist is not an option. People gain convictions by seeing and experiencing that their lives are becoming better or even more meaningful. While social media is currently playing a rather negative global role, it is important to counter this trend with positive news. The message of Christmas spoke of “people of good will.” I believe that this is the majority of the world’s population—and the statement is not meant or understood in a pious sense, but rather refers to everyone in their place, beyond the realm of privacy—in a very practical and down-to-earth way.
People who tackle problems head-on, an EU that is aware of its own status and potential as a bastion of economic power, democracy, and prospects, and acts accordingly; an image of Africa that sees the opportunities and not just the dangers; and an African continent that is confidently less reliant on handouts, but contributes its positive qualities and truly becomes a partner — may 2026 bring us solutions strong enough to carry us in the right direction.
Every story, every way walked, needs a motivation. This video clip tells the story of such a motivation for the organisation HOPE Cape Town in South Africa.
One could write a lot of the current world situation. For me, besides all drama and trauma of politics, I draw one conclusion: The future of Europe lies in a partnership with Africa.
Besides this, Europe must get their acts together – cutting the dependency from the US and China.
Much is written in our days about the cut down on foreign aid in the budgets of giver countries. There is a new sensitivity towards these cuts after USAID and PEPFAR were practically shut down in a moment’s time. Millions in developing countries will fall victim to those cuts, with deadly consequences. In a time when trillions of Euros and Dollars are spent on weaponry and tools to kill and destroy, the imbalance is visible and can’t even been covered and made invisible by the hardcore right-wing political tendencies the world experience.
But it would be very shortsighted to see only the drama and call for more aid without seeing the imbalances of money, skills, opportunities on the planet. It would be shortsighted to see all the drama without seeing the shortcomings of many developing countries ruled by single-handed power and greed. And it would be shortsighted without seeing the drama and trauma of social-political developments in the USA, where politics is turned into a cult-like mass phenomenon and similar tendencies rise in Europe and around the world. Real democracy has to pull up its sleeves to show what it is capable of and what values remain important.
But there is more: We have to see the current situation also as a chance to create better conditions for humanity and environment. The current situation is a wake-up call not to be missed in economical, but also political and social terms.
One of the calls is certainly for Europe to stand up and find its rightful place – and it will definitely fall short if it betrays its values or tries to negotiate the unnegotiable connected to it.
The wake-up call clearly also stipulates to have a deep reflection about our neighbours and the possibilities they pose. For Europe, the neighbouring continent of Africa has certainly all the ingredients of becoming in the future one of the most close ally. It holds the future in so many ways – notwithstanding all the problems and challenges it has to overcome. And instead of looking like the rabbit towards the snake in direction USA or China, we should start building up a much more beneficial win-win situation between the two continents. Creating value chains together, investing in the continent, share training and education and abolish the last colonialist tendencies still present in our days.
Looking at the USA, another conundrum is definitely the question of how to limit the influence of money on politics in the real sense of the word. Oligarchs and multi-billionaires should be limited in their ability to overrule democracy and its mechanism or to ignore/rewrite the rule of law due to undue influence. We need to reflect and to come up with rules and values serving more than just those who made it by luck, inheritance or using the system cleverly. The current “big beautiful bill” discussed in the US Senate is a showcase of how things can go wrong.
Once again: taking the current situation as a chance and the wake-up call will not take away the death and destructions we witness in our days. It will remain more than a scar in the skin of humanity and a clear defeat of its values and responsibilities. It is terrible! But in every situation there remains also the hope to learn out of it and to allow for progress and a dignified future. Democracy in different forms and shapes and a basic value system should be the framework for such a joined way
NGOs can be very flexible vehicles to support a way forward which balance the imbalance and to allow also Europe and Africa to grow. They are entrepreneurial in nature, and they have a lot to say and to contribute to politics, social questions and economy. They often consist of a pool of people from different walks of life and traditions – being able to show how a win-win situation is achieved. Alone for that very reason, the proposed cuts of development money in Europe remain short-sighted and plainly wrong!
God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE 