As South Africa marks Youth Month under RESET@50, Relate Invites Businesses to Fund Access to Literacy and Opportunity for South Africa’s youth.

Relate Bracelets, South Africa's 100% not-for-profit social enterprise and maker of handcrafted cause bracelets, has launched a campaign positioned at the heart of RESET@50, the 2026 Youth Day commemoration calling for shift change in how South Africa supports its young people.

The campaign in support of the Nelson Mandela School Library Project is a direct response to a fundamental truth: before young people can participate in reshaping South Africa's future, they must have access. To education. To opportunity. To the foundational skill that opens every door: literacy.

The initiative invites South African businesses to be agents of that access, not through charity, but through participation. Every Relate Bracelet gifted or sold will fund a fully equipped school library for an under-resourced school. Together, thousands of small purchases can fund a complete library container by the end of 2026.

Access, not ability: literacy is holding South African’s youth back

The problem facing South African youth is not ambition. It is access.

South Africa is in the grip of a literacy emergency. 75% of Grade 4 learners cannot read for meaning. Half of all young children are not school-ready. In 40% of South African homes, there is not a single book. These are not statistics of ability. They are statistics of exclusion.

A child who cannot read cannot participate in what comes next, not in education, not in the economy, not in the society they are asked to rebuild. Literacy is the foundation of opportunity. Without it, every other door remains closed.

"RESET@50 calls on young people to continuously work towards building a society free from racial, social, economic and class barriers," says Relate Bracelets CEO, Dalit Shekel. "But that work begins with access. With a library. With a book. With someone: a business, a community, a movement,  saying: you are allowed to enter."

Social movements have always been catalysts for change

The Nelson Mandela School Library Project, which Relate has supported for years, converts decommissioned shipping containers into vibrant, fully stocked school libraries and places them in schools within communities that have near to nothing to build a child’s opportunity for success.

This year, Relate is scaling the project in direct response to the moment we are in. Not as a one-time Mandela Day activation, but as a sustained campaign that positions every participating business as part of a larger shift change.

At the heart of the campaign is the Relate Bracelet in support of the Nelson Mandela School Library Project , a handmade beaded bracelet crafted by township elders whose livelihoods depend on the work Relate creates.

Every bracelet sold contributes directly to the project's 2026 fundraising goal. The impact is tangible:

Businesses as catalysts

The campaign is designed to engage South African businesses looking for purposeful, measurable ways to be part of RESET@50, investing their CSI budgets and Mandela Day activations not in one-off gestures, but in sustained shift change.

Relate Bracelets are available to businesses for:

• Staff gifting
• Client gifts
• CSI activations and community impact initiatives
• Retail dispensers for customer engagement
• Internal team engagement around purpose

"Businesses in South Africa have always been drivers of change," says Relate CEO, Dalit Shekel. "This campaign positions them not as donors, but as participants in a movement for access."

Wholesale pricing: R44 ex VAT per bracelet Recommended retail price: R67 ex VAT per bracelet Retail dispenser: R1 100 ex VAT (holds 25 bracelets) Minimum order: 100 bracelets

While Mandela Day on 18 July provides a natural moment of entry, the campaign runs through to the end of 2026. Every bracelet sold between now and December contributes to the same goal. RESET@50 is not a one-day movement. 

Relate Bracelet’s 16 years of transparent social impact

Relate Bracelets was founded on a simple belief: lots of little things can make a big difference. For 16 years the organisation has channelled the majority of its revenue into credible causes while creating meaningful earning opportunities for township elders and young adult artisans at every stage of production.

Relate’s proven model has raised over R86 million for causes spanning wildlife conservation, health, education, and social upliftment. The organisation supports 400 senior artisan earners and has built a global community of everyday givers united by a single conviction: that access, not charity, is the foundation of change.

Relate does not accept donations. Instead, the organisation directs the value of every transaction into purposeful products, ensuring that impact is created at every point in the supply chain. For the Nelson Manela School Library Project it leads from the crafter's hands to the wearer's wrist, to a school where every child has a better opportunity. "South Africa's challenges are vast," says Shekel. "Many of us feel like it's hard to make a difference as just one business or as individual. That's where Relate comes in. Our simple handmade bracelets make real change accessible and affordable. One bracelet is one Library shelf closer to full.” The Relate Bracelet in support of the Nelson Mandela School Library Project is a symbol of solidarity.

For wholesale requests please, get in touch. relate.org.za/wholesaler

About the Nelson Mandela School Library Project

The Nelson Mandela School Library Project funds the refurbishment of decommissioned shipping containers into fully equipped school libraries. Each container is fitted with books, shelving, furniture and learning resources, then donated to an under-resourced school. The project honours Nelson Mandela's lifelong commitment to education as the foundation of a free and equal society, and South Africa's commitment to that vision now.