Help us improve basic levels of education, develop skills for community members and kickstart income generation.
Project located in Mpumalanga, South Africa
Project focused on Education & Enrichment
Our Community Development Fund will be used to improve basic levels of education, develop skills for community members and kickstart income generation. Education about conservation, environmental protection, heritage and sustainability is also important in the development of knowledge and skills to increase income opportunities and reduce negative impacts to the environment.
We are working to develop conservation education classes to help the children understand the importance of protecting the environment and to limit the threat to the local wildlife, as well as improve the safety of their communities. We want to foster a greater understanding of the environment and an interest in its protection with a view to this as a potential area for employment.
As a partner with the local communities, self sustainable income sources have been identified as a great need with the notable levels of unemployment. The aim is to establish a community hub with communal vegetable gardens to sustain and support community members and their families to grow their own produce and generate income from the sale of extra produce. Once established, the community hub can then expand to include rearing chickens for income as well as skills and craft development programs to provide additional areas of income potential.
Long Term Impact: To improve employment opportunities for young people, education is essential, particularly English, Maths and Science. By assisting local primary schools in these core subjects with our education support program, we can build a stronger foundation for the future of the students involved.
With the high levels of poaching and loss of habitat for wildlife, the development of a conservation education curriculum will equip the students with an understanding of the environment and their role in its protection. It will also provide them with a better understanding of the job opportunities available from the protection of the environment and the surrounding wildlife.
The community hub will provide local attendees with the opportunity to increase their capacity to generate income to sustain themselves and their families whilst also providing an area where the community can collaborate to develop new opportunities for the members.
These 3 areas will most likely grow into individual long-term projects as we learn what has the most sustainable impact and works in the local community.
Many people live with family or extended family in basic housing and the level of education is low. From the last census, 18.6% of the population aged 20 years and above had no formal schooling. Although rates of Primary School attendance are improving, further and higher education in the area remains a challenge. This also corresponds to the high unemployment rate sitting at over 50% of the population.
We are developing our relationship with the teachers and community leaders to identify areas where we can offer the most assistance and provide opportunities for the self-sustainability of the community as a whole.
We are currently in the fundraising process.