Grantee Profile

Botshabelo Unemployed Movement (BUM) was established in 1999 and is a popular membership-based organisation located in the peri-urban township of Botshabelo in the Free State. BUM exists to amplify and address the plight of poor unemployed youth. BUM’s organisational objectives are to: a) strengthen the capacity of the unemployed to effectively advocate for a life of dignity; b) address issues of unemployment, democratic control, environmental issues and social justice; and c) fight against deepening poverty, inequality, and unemployment. They operate in an area facing significant threats from fracking and oil prospecting, and have a particular focus on women through their women’s wing. BUM received a grant to heighten the consciousness of unemployed people in Botshabelo about fracking and climate change through mass actions and mobilisation, and to hold local government accountable for the non-creation of plans to combat climate change and fracking.