Funding for vouchers has come to a close. Visit this site for updates around future voucher initiatives.

CoCare Vouchers Are Feeding South Africa’s Most Vulnerable and Supporting Local Businesses

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CoCare Voucher

CoCare Vouchers are redeemable at over 200 000 physical locations, Flash and the DG Murray Trust get food vouchers into the hands of people who need it most.

Why Vouchers?

  • Without long lines to stand in with the possibility of not receiving a food parcel, the CoCare Voucher Programme looks to make sure each person who receives a voucher can redeem it with absolute certainty.
  • It is protective against Covid-19 infection since people don’t need to wait in long queues where it is hard to maintain social distancing.
  • Although we can make recommendations of what would be best nutritional buys – not all families have exactly the same needs, with a voucher people have some choice in terms of what they buy.
  • It is demoralizing to have to stand for half a day in a queue for food, especially in a country where some people have such excess that food waste is, ironically, another problem that we need to deal with in South Africa. Indignity, pain and suffering directly linked to inequality and poverty is a constant reality for many people in this country, it is a tiny measure, but a food voucher offers some convenience while preserving dignity.
CoCare Voucher

Providing options to families while cutting out Covid-19 infection risk

Why should you sponsor CoCare Vouchers?

Before the Covid-19 epidemic, 20% of households in South Africa already had insufficient food. Now, loss of employment, disruption of the informal economy, disruption of programmes provided by civil society, and rising food prices, have tipped the balance for many more families, raising levels of hunger and threatening to cause a spike in acute malnutrition. The impact of this will be felt well into the future since malnutrition affects how children grow physically and intellectually. Although government makes welfare grants available, many poor families don’t receive any form of assistance. For example:

  • Pregnant women for whom nutritional food is critical to support pregnancy;
  • Immigrants without documentation;
  • Those stuck waiting out grant administration delays.

Also, even when school nutrition programmes – an essential safety net for child health – are fully operational again, early childhood development centres and structured playgroups for preschoolers are not included in those schemes.

CoCare Voucher

A Beacon of Hope

Creating food security within at-risk communities also has the effect of bringing business to community spaza shops, empowering informal economies and helping shop owners to provide for their dependent networks. Along the way, CoCare vouchers have fed thousands of families, with that number growing each day.

As funding and our capabilities increase, we hope to become a beacon of hope for at-risk families across South Africa, as well as a reliable touch point for those who want to help fight for the food-security of our people.

About Us

Pioneered by Flash and DG Murray Trust, the CoCare Voucher Programme works with local and regional Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) to determine which communities are most at-risk regarding food- and economic security.

We chose electronic vouchers as our delivery mechanism to avoid the logistical inefficiencies of food parcel delivery, allowing CoCare Voucher recipients to redeem their vouchers at a partner store of their choosing.

CoCare-Voucher-Logo

Our Partners

The CoCare Voucher Programme is a collaborative effort, and would not be possible without the aid of our partners.

CoCare Voucher

How it Works

The CoCare Voucher Programme is a collaborative effort, and would not be possible without the aid of our partners.

We Partner with regional NGOs

We partner with a regional NGOs to get a reliable picture of the local food security.

Vouchers are sent to NGOs database

CoCare vouchers are sent to a database of cell phone numbers, informing each recipient of their voucher and how to redeem it.

Recipients can spend on goods or services

Each CoCare Voucher is worth *R200 and can be used all at once or incrementally until the value is depleted.

Redeemable at over 200,000 locations

The recipient can redeem their voucher at any shop selling essential foods and goods that has a Flash or Kazang point-of-sale machine.

Recipients simply choose the food or essential items they require and pay using their unique CoCare Voucher PIN.

*Voucher values can be adjusted based on donor requirements.

CoCare Voucher

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

General

How does the voucher work?

If you have received a voucher, you can use its value at a participating spaza shop to buy food and other essential items.

What can I purchase with a CoCare Voucher?

Food Items:
Beans; Bread Flour / Cake Flour; Bread; Carrots; Cooking Oil; Corned Beef; Instant Coffee; Long-life Milk; Macaroni; Maize Meal; Mix Fruit Jam; Oats; Onions; Peanut Butter; Pilchards in Tomato; Potatoes; Rice; Salt; Samp;); Soup Powder; Soya Mince; Spaghetti; Sugar; Sugar Beans; Tea; Tinned Food Bake Beans; Tinned Food Mix Veg; Tinned Food Sweet Corn;; Yeast; meat products; Assorted fruits; potatoes (all varieties); gem squash; carrots; butternut; pumpkin; onions; cabbage; nuts; beetroot and corn.

Non-Food Items:
Soap, handsoap, black bags, hand sanitizer, sanitary material, toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, clothes washing powder, disinfectant for house and surfaces, plastic gloves, headache tablets, sanitary pads, nappies, baby food, baby milk formula, rash cream, teething gel, sterilising fluid (eg: Miltons), toilet paper.

Electricity, airtime & data

How much money is on a CoCare voucher?

R200

Where can I use a CoCare voucher?

At a participating spaza shop with a Flash or Kazang Machine.

Nutritionally, what is the best value for money items I can buy with a food voucher?

This basket provides 45% of the energy requirement of a child aged 6 years and 35% of that of an adult.

Can I use a CoCare voucher to pay bills or buy electricity/data/airtime?

Yes.

Where will vouchers be sent out?

As our approach is to use community-based organisations to identify those in need, these vouchers are distributed in communities across the country.

Who decides who gets a CoCare voucher?

Community-based organisations such as Grow Great, JAM and the SACC currently gather recipient details in communities. These recipients are then sent a CoCare Voucher.

How will I get the voucher?

The voucher will be sent to the identified people/households via SMS

What if I don’t spend the full amount on the voucher?

If there is still money left over after using your CoCare Voucher, you will receive an SMS with a new voucher number to the value of the leftover amount.

How will I know which Spaza Shops are accepting CoCare vouchers?

Look for the coCare voucher’s acceptance sign, but all Flash and Kazang registered Spaza shops can accept the voucher.