This is the story of Gina, from Oppermansdrop in the Free State, South Africa

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), a key partner in the Generating Better Livelihoods project led by FinMark Trust, has submitted video entries to the International Social Security Video Festival 2025. These videos showcase how grant recipients involved in the project are using their social security benefits coupled with training, coaching and mentorship to improve their livelihood.

In South Africa, BRAC is partnering with FinMark Trust to support the Department of Social Development (DSD), the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), and the National Development Agency (NDA) to implement the ‘Generating Better Livelihoods’ (GBL) for grant recipients project. The overarching objective of the GBL is to enhance the institutional and technical capabilities of the DSD, SASSA and NDA to link unemployed social grant recipients with economic and livelihood opportunities implemented by the private and public sector organisations. The project is piloting the Graduation programming over a three-year period in seven sites across three provinces, reaching 5,000 families – 4,000 families in KwaZulu-Natal, 700 families in the Free State and 300 families in Gauteng. The ultimate aim is to cultivate an economic opportunity system that provides a “big push” and can effectively scale up within the government. This strategic initiative will result in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the social system in South Africa to foster inclusive socio-economic growth and reduce poverty and inequality.