HEARTLINES forgood

forgood focuses on 5 key areas: safety, education, the environment, HIV/AIDS, and xenophobia. The forgood website provides specific ideas for action under each theme, as well as links to resources where individuals can learn more about particular topics within the theme, or contact organisations for additional information.

The principle underlying forgood is to encourage people to take action to make South Africa a better country. Through a series of research-based short message service (SMS) messages, members get more information about how to take action for good. The information includes reasons why this action is important, as well as ideas for how to plan it - with family, friends or colleagues, with their sport or book club or stokvel [clubs or syndicates serving as rotating credit unions], or with other people who live in their area.

Each month the forgood community focuses on a different issue. For instance, forgood has:

• helped people displaced by xenophobic violence;
• made a commitment, together with local police, to say "no" to crime;
• shown support for after-school care activities for youngsters - to keep them safe from victimisation and out of crime;
• rescued a public space from crime and grime; and
• taken action to reduce the damage and violence caused by alcohol abuse - by asking their local liquor seller to be more responsible about who they sell alcohol to, and committing to not letting drunk friends drive or walk home alone.

The website also has a section called "Stories", which is a space where people can share their stories and be inspired by individuals who are taking action in their lives for good, positively changing their own lives and helping to create positive change around them.

The website also has a news section, where positive stories about activities and actions by forgood members are published.

forgood is currently sourcing funding to expand its technology to enable members to contribute information directly to the website, as well as network with one another more effectively. The latter would allow for members to set up action groups focused on particular aspects of different issues and/or geographic areas, inviting other forgood members to join and communicate with one another through the forgood network. It is envisaged that this technological development should be completed by mid-late 2010.

Citizenship, Health, HIV/AIDS, Environment, Education, Security

Established in 2002, HEARTLINES "is an initiative which aims to get South Africans talking, thinking and acting on the good values that we share. Getting people to act jointly on these good values will help them improve their own lives and reach out to others. This will impact on major social issues, in particular HIV/AIDS, education, violence, poverty and the environment." HEARTLINES uses mass media to motivate and inspire and also provides resources to institutions such as faith-based organisations (FBOs), schools, and correctional services.