Goedgedacht

Goedgedacht is a very beautiful old Cape Dutch farm situated on the slopes of the Kasteelberg, just 87km north west of Cape Town.  The farm was one of the first allocated to the “Free Burgers” in 1704 and is steeped in the history of the old Cape Colony.  However, times have changed and Goedgedacht farm is now a busy community development centre where a determined effort is being made to make a real contribution to the most critical problems facing all of us ..poverty and climate change.

Established in 1993 the Trustees looked for ways to make the development work sustainable. The beautiful old Cape Dutch buildings have been restored creating a very special 67 bedded venue for conferences, workshops, weddings and retreats.  Want to book?  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

At the same time the farm has been planted with olive groves now producing organically grown olives that are either bottled or cold pressed  into a top quality extra virgin olive oil and marketed under the Goedgedacht label.
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The philosophy of the Trust is to ..build people, strengthen community and promote democracy.

The Goedgedacht Trust works on three levels.

At a national level the Goedgedacht Forum for Social Reflection, now 12 years old,  keeps an eye on the fault lines in our society by encouraging and promoting dialogue around issues of national importance. Read more about this on the forum website:   http://www.goedgedachtforum.co.za/

A national climate change project http://www.project90x2030.org.za/  challenges middle and upper income households in South Africa to change the way they live by 90% by 2030 by changing their lifestyle in ways that involve reducing consumption. 

On a regional level three organizations working in the Swartland/West Coast started out at Goedgedacht farm and are now operating successfully as independent organizations.
• The West Coast Community Foundation (WCCF)
• The Goedgedacht Agricultural Resource Centre (GARC)
• The Weskus Ubuntu Farmers Union (WEKUFU)

Continuing to encourage and strengthen groups of previously disadvantaged small farmers the trust currently has two projects:
• The Goedgedacht Olive Farmers Association (GOFA)
• Climate Change Crops (3C project)
There two projects are providing small holder farmers with information about the climate changes – hotter and drier – predicted for this region and introducing them to crops which will thrive better under these circumstances.

At a local level the Trust’s “Path out of Poverty Programme” (POP) is working very successfully to help poor rural children find ways out of the desperate cycles of poverty which have trapped farm worker families for many generations.

To read more about this very exciting integrated rural development project please click on the POP button.

To read more about Goedgedacht read more:   "what we do"