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From our experienced gained over the past
15 years we continued to sit on three
national government task teams, to share
our knowledge and work on a larger scale
towards the development of this country.
However we see the wrapping up of task
team work in the next financial year,
which will enable us to look at new
developments in the training arena.
National Multi-Purpose Centre Initiative
Over this past year we worked with
government on the National Multi-Purpose
Centre Initiative. Over this period
centres were launched in order to complete
Phase One of the project. In the future
it is planned, in Phase Two, to have one
centre in each municipal district which
amounts to approximately 287 centres.
Over the past year we served on the
National Executive Committee as well as
the Education and Training Task Team.
During this period we concluded the
process of feeding the UNESCO project (see
below) to the various Provinces. We had
the kind assistance of the Provincial
Committees, who helped co-ordinate the
regional groups. This enabled us to
complete the visit to all nine Provinces
during the course of this year.
Community Electronic Multi-media
This financial year saw the rounding off
and closure of the work of this particular
task team. The team had hoped to put a
practical project into operation through a
pilot test case but due to funding we were
not able to continue.
Community Art Centres
The National Department of Arts and
Culture was challenged to revitilise the
Community Art Centres. Working through
the National Federation of Community Art
Centres this development was planned to be
implemented at a provincial level, with
policy formulation and networking at a
national level.
To give some of the history the
Gauteng
launch took place in June 2003. Gauteng
was subdivided into five regions broadly
based on existing municipal demarcations.
Each region nominated a regional
representative. The National Facilitator
is chairperson for the
Gauteng initiative.
The Gauteng organization was named GOMACC
(Gauteng Organisation of Community Art and
Culture Centres). A constitution was
formed and the organization was registered
as an NPO. Face to face research was
carried out by the committee in the five
regions of
Gauteng
to find out the situation of community
arts in the province. Fund raising
proposals went out and monies were
received both from the Department of Arts
and Culture and the Lottery.
During the course of the 2004-2005 year we
implemented five arts disciplines being
Drama, Dance, Visual Arts, Storytelling
and Music to 12 centres in 4 regions
throughout our Province. These were
Tshwane, West Rand, Central and Ekurhuleni.
The Vaal unfortunately was not able to be
included due to lack of capacity in this
area. This popular entry level course was
repeated for a second time and took place
in the early part of this year.
The programme was greatly enjoyed by all
and a video was compiled on the work
undertaken and sent to senior government
officials at both a national, provincial
and local level to show that with proper
coordination people in disadvantaged areas
would not only learn a variety of life
skills attached to the arts, but if a
talent had been identified, could then
decide on how to take their careers
forward. A later follow up in the regions
showed that a number of students had moved
on and had been able to find jobs.
A third and final intervention from the
lottery funding, which was planned for
this financial year, was to train local
trainers on how to run this course, so
that instead of bussing talent from a
central area, each region would be self
sufficient. The committee however felt
that it did not want to train the local
trainers into a vacuum. So instead of
starting the training, we proceeded to
visit the local authorities to try and set
up a partnership whereby after the
training, local government could find some
way in supporting the trainers through
small stipends. The local authorities
were able to offer facilities, but
unfortunately did not have the ability to
find local funding for stipends.
The committee then decided to repeat the
last lottery tranche of funding on the
successful “five-arts discipline” course
in March 2006. Due to one of the service
providers not being available at the time
it will take place later in the 2006 year.
During this financial year we held two
regional events. One on the
West Rand and one on the East Rand where all organisations who participated in the programme
were invited to attend. Certificates were
presented, performances invited and lunch
given to all attendees. The setting up of
regional clubs and an annual inter-club
event was also put on the table to
encourage participants to continue with
their recently acquired skills.
We are hoping to encourage government to
support a programme of this nature,
particularly as little is currently
happening on the ground.
UNESCO Project for
Southern Africa
Alexsan was selected by UNESCO to pilot a
project for Southern Africa based on
Developing Open Learning Communities for
Gender Equality with the support of ICT’s.
Alexandra provided the base for the urban
model and
Mozambique
provided the base for the rural model.
Naledi3D provided the technical expertise
in creating the virtual reality
development format. By being able to see
and hear content makes learning more
interesting and increases learner
comprehension rather than just reading
text. In rural areas where some people
are illiterate this format, using mainly
pictures and sound, becomes an incentive
to learning.
In the first phase of the project
research, focus groups and a workshop were
held where the needs of the youth were
identified. Five main themes arose, from
which the issue of employment was the most
pressing. From this workshop we decided
to include the two themes of employment,
the one on finding work in the formal
sector and the other the informal sector.
In the second phase course content and the
development of courseware was achieved and
the content tested with 20 youth in Alex
for feedback. Portuguese sub-titles were
added to the film previously made, to be
used as a learning tool for development
practitioners in other countries. The film
showed the steps we followed in compiling
a project of this nature. We compiled a
South African process analysis which fed
back to UNESCO Paris, who created a
reference book and internet reference on
the total Southern African project. A
handbook was completed that would
accompany the virtual reality CD to assist
facilitators in the implementation of this
project in their respective provinces. A
launch, with a selected group of
government departments, also took place.
The main focus of this period has been to
complete the roll out of the material to
the nine provinces. Through the GCIS
National Executive Committee contacts were
established at Provincial level. In
addition to the Training for Employment
application, a CD on Hygiene and Bee
Keeping were added, giving each Province
an example of a Health, Farming and Job
creation application.
We are hoping through this initiative to
particularly address illiterate people and
through this technology find a more
effective ways of getting communication
down to those who really need it.
Research carried out in Uganda on the
Hygiene programme proved that using a
Health worker, working with women from the
local communities, the numbers affected by
dysentery were dramatically reduced.
The material was given to the different
Provinces to be accessed through the
various multi-purpose centres of the GCIS
led initiative and the telecentres of the
Department of Communication. ABET Centres,
Libraries and Prisons could also be
destinations. We hope that this
technology will be able to assist many
people at grass roots level in the future.
During this period the roll out to all
nine provinces was completed and final
reports sent to UNESCO Windhoek.
Strategy, Funding and Project Development
for Alexsan and Emmaus Community Centre
The role of the National Facilitator over
this past year has been to support the day
to day management of the Alexsan Centre as
Region 7 has gradually become more hands
on. We are managing the computer studios,
co-funding the Life Line Centre, funding
the day to day costs of the Internet Café
and other projects in the Library,
contributing to the salary of one of the
library staff, providing supplementary
bursaries for computer students,
supporting ad-hoc events such as youth
day, carols by candlelight and library
competitions etc.
The National Facilitator has also been
asked to assist in the development of the
Emmaus Community Centre in Duduza. The
Emmaus Community Centre shares a common
donor who sponsored the building of both
centres. EED Germany requested
Alexsan to help its sister centre to get
up and running and then to assist with the
ongoing funding of the facility into the
future. Partnerships on the East Rand are
currently being sought in order to keep
the centre intact once EED funding ceases.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank EED Germany for
supporting the National Facilitator,
Department of Arts and Culture together
with the Lottery for supporting the work
of GOMACC,
UNESCO
for the Training for Employment Project,
Toyota for their support of the library projects, Cummins for
supporting the computer project and Anglo
American for supporting the Alexsan/Life
Line project.
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