A partnership to create better opportunities for the youth
Liberty Community Trust partners with Several Education Organisations for donations and sponsorships.
“Liberty Group established LCT to complement the Group’s CSI mission of improving people’s lives. The Trust aims to improve the learning outcomes of young people by investing in education initiatives that enable sustainable economic inclusion,” said Head of Group CSI at Liberty Nomaxabiso Matjila.
In partnership with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) namely Wordworks, Nalibali and Book Dash, the LCT funded the Yizani Sifunde initiatives, which has created dozens of original books that will be distributed to Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in the Eastern Cape province. The project, which commenced in April 2020, aims to deliver 500 000 books to ECD centres across the Eastern Cape, over a period of 5-years.
“Setting a foundation of reading before Grade 1 is integral in giving children a head-start in school,” said Matjila.
ALSO READ: New Hope Rehabilitation Centre quickly becomes a home for many struggling with addicts
While the project’s implementation was interrupted by the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns last year, there was an upside. African editors, writers, and illustrators from eight countries were able to participate in writing the books through workshops, all because of the new proliferation of digital meeting tools.
“These workshops allowed them to write new stories in record time, which meant more books, more artwork and more collaboration,” added Matjila.
To date, 68 500 books have been distributed to Early Childhood Development centres across Eastern Cape, and many more are expected to be distributed in an effort to make up for last year’s delays.
“It is vital that learners indulge their curiosity for learning, uncover their interests, and choose subjects where they can excel, rather than what they’re merely expected to do,” said Matjila.
Another partnership is with the Career Buddy Trust have developed a one-stop-shop career guidance app called Conn3cted. The innovative app finds and recommends personalised career opportunities based on who you are and where you are. The app is a Zero Rated and enables students to gain access to professional career guidance resources, bursaries opportunities, places to study and potential job opportunities.
This digital enablement is part of a bigger programme that aims to empower the youth with the self-awareness and professional career guidance to realize their fullest career potential. With career guidance and fourth industrial revolution career education, they enable students from previously disadvantage (non-fee paying) schools to make informed and sensible decisions about their futures and careers.
“Beyond this, the app will also help learners apply for bursaries that are available to them, guide them through NSFAS (National Student Financial Aid Scheme) applications for tertiary education, and act as a network with fellow achievers. With the pandemic still ongoing, we realised that the digital side of psychometric testing was vital, so we will be launching a pilot version of the app later this year at 15 schools,” said Matjila.
The third partnership is with Penreach who focuses on setting optimal school environments by upskilling teachers, principals, School Governing Bodies, other leaders and is already operating in 124 South African primary schools.
“For so many teachers, the shift to online learning was difficult. For others, it was impossible. Penreach was able to work with schools that needed help, offering training on the new ways of communication between school administrations, teachers, and learners. While they could not necessarily close all the gaps, the aim was to relieve the stress on as many school systems as possible,” says Matjila.
Liberty also partnered with the Mr Price Foundation and JET Education Services to ensure that their similar leadership projects continued running through the most difficult months of the pandemic.
“What I’ve learnt from all of our projects is how important it is to collaborate and be willing to adapt in times of crises. Without our partners, these projects would have been delayed even further, so we are grateful for their hard work in helping us continue to improve the education sphere where we can,” concluded Matjila.
Follow Us Here:
Catch the latest news by visiting our other platforms:
