The Mbhetsa Academy
The Mbhetsa Academy of Science, Mathematicss and Technology in Giyani, rural Limpopo, is a school established by the Malungani Family and the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation in 2019. The programme started as extra-curricular support for schools, teachers, and learners, and has now– due to high demand– expanded into a mainstream curriculum school for the community with 537 learners enrolled during school time and hundreds more on a waiting list. The school offers teachers and learners an opportunity to develop their skills in a customised teaching environment that is dedicated to improving and strengthening the capacity of both learners and teachers. The Mbhetsa Academy offers accommodation to teachers to improve teacher performance; reduced travel time for teachers; and teaching hours are maximised.
Organisation Towards Integration (OTI)
Education for the blind and visually impaired - The Foundation provides an inclusive education programme under the auspices of Organisation Towards Integration (OTI) at the Holy Family College in Parktown, South Africa. Foundation and OTI work to promote unity and integrity by embracing a diversity of backgrounds, cultures, religions, and physical and mental abilities. This approach to inclusive education allows all children to develop and extend their potential and participate as equal members of society. The programme encourages both visually impaired and mainstream learners to interact and foster relationships. The sighted children equally benefit from the exposure to inclusive education as they learn to live, work, play, and embrace people who are less abled. The Foundation and OTI creates an education system that promotes the full participation and inclusion of children with disabilities to maximise their personal development and enable their ongoing participation and inclusion in society. The Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation’s youth development, education, and training programmes are based on a holistic, approach to prepare youth for participation in the economy. The programmes utilise design thinking methodologies, creative arts, digital technology and sustainable livelihoods as access points to education that merges with social values and ethical leadership. The development and training initiatives aim to encourage the youth to continue their education, boost their capacity and reach their full potential. The Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation funds and facilitates support for students in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Maths) subjects in South Africa in order to develop hands-on experience, skills and an understanding of what is expected in the workplace. Part of the Foundation’s education funding includes support for government schools, and the material requirements for learners including uniforms, books, stationery, and school equipment.
AI Bootcamps
The Foundation hosts nationwide Artificial Intelligence Bootcamps for girl-learners. This is a three-day programme for high school girls across South Africa. They are taken through a rigorous programme underpinned by the Design Thinking curriculum. The programme offers a platform to bridge the digital divide and train learners in the concepts of digital technology, entrepreneurship, and mobile phone app development. The programme is intentionally crafted to offer exposure and experience to girls from township schools. The first two days of the bootcamp are held in a corporate organisation to expose them to the private sector. The final day culminates with group work presentations to a panel of judges, teachers, parents, and community members in their respective townships where a winner is selected. All educational programmes of the Foundation are centred on ethical leadership. The app ideas created by the learners included: cyber bullying; gender-based violence; substance abuse; menstrual health; LGBTQIA+ challenges; vulnerable minorities; and climate change. The Foundation AI Bootcamps travelled to schools in Soweto, Mamelodi, Tembisa, Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha, and Umlazi, and thousands assembled at the Nasrec Youth Expo.
Young Women Leadership and Mentoring
The Foundation supports programmes that mentor and empower young women to develop their potential and effectively protect their rights and integrity. The interventions offer: education; life skills training; mentorship; bootcamps; and leadership. Foundation is driven by the values to create a learning environment that empowers young women to continue building our nation as they have done in the past, and now with the correct tools and knowledge needed to propel their existence. The reality of the matter is that women do not have equal rights, therefore, the Foundation is invested in educating and nurturing them.
Online Learning Centre
The Online In-House Training Centre will be a multipurpose space for mixed use including: Online education for learners and teacher training; coding; political education; design thinking; online dialogues / webinars / seminars; workshops; and think tanks. The primary use is for learners and teachers. Additional use includes but not limited to: youth, entrepreneurs, inventors, academics, and guests. The online-programme has the support of our curriculum partners, The Idea Collective and the Greenside Design Centre, including the Department of Education, Umalusi Council for Quality Assurance and other academic institutions and practitioners in the country. Our learners mainly, from disadvantages schools in Gauteng, will be offered online education, training, exposure and the experiences of a dedicated team of professionals.
Youth Entrepreneurship Programme
The Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation’s youth development, curriculum enhancing education and training programmes are based on a holistic approach to prepare youth for participation in the economy. The programmes utilise design thinking methodologies, digital technology and sustainable livelihoods as access points to education that merge with social values and ethical leadership. The development and training initiatives aim to encourage the youth to continue their education, boost their capacity for the world of work and reach their full potential. The Foundation provides programmes to include marginalised youth who are Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET). The Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation’s youth internship programme is an intervention to prepare students and graduates for the world of work and assist in facilitating internship opportunities within the local government municipal sector and the private sector. This is in line with the South African Government’s Presidential Employment Stimulus and Youth Employment Services (YES) initiatives, as part of government’s broader economic recovery agenda. The Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation’s In-House Training Centre will provide a hub for students to hone their proficiency in digital technologies and workplace competency, as well as engage in the Foundation’s course programmes to develop necessary skills needed for jobs in the public and private sectors.
Music
The Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation places the wellbeing of Africa’s youth at the heart of our work with the belief that everyone has the right to access, create, perform, and enjoy the ARTS in all its forms. Akin to these human rights, is the certainty that all youth have the imagination and creativity to discover, to dream, to feel, and to be inspired and motivated by creative arts. To this end the Foundation is invested in and committed to building an environment that boosts access to music-making, drama, poetry, entertainment and all arts, and encourages and supports youth of all ages and at all levels of society. Creative and heritage activities provide a basis for young people to cultivate their own personal expression and appreciation of the arts. This in turn provides a mind-set that allows youth to grasp and articulate their social, political, and cultural interests. In addition to the growth of a child through an exploration of creative passion and the joy of music and arts, heritage activities have the power to reconnect communities and enhance the quality of life of those making the music and wider audiences. The Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation creative arts programme mentors and empowers youth through intergenerational engagements that stimulate community participation and enables all stakeholders to become agents of positive change. Music-making and creative arts activities provide a basis for young people to cultivate their own personal expression and appreciation of the arts. This in turn provides a mind-set that allows youth to grasp and articulate their social, political, and cultural interests. In addition to the growth of a young person through an exploration of creative passion and the joy of music, cultural activities have the power to reconnect communities and enhance the quality of life of those performing and wider audiences.
Digital Archives
The Foundation is training 20 to 40 girls in the use of digital technology to archive community culture and heritage.
The girls will be selected and divided into teams to use the information technology (IT) and video recording equipment sets to document their selected stories on video. The girls will capture and record local community stories, icons, and unsung heroes of democracy. This translates into a heritage and cultural resource that is digitally accessible to all, and creates an awareness of the lived experience, stories, achievements and issues that face the youth and their communities.
DIALOGUES
The Foundation successfully hosts the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation Drakensberg Inclusive Growth Forums which is an assembly of thought-leaders and civil society. The aim is to stimulate dialogue, develop action plans, and reach consensus in mapping the way forward in South Africa. The Forums utilise an inclusive stakeholder approach of ‘dialogue among equals’ by considering the needs and voices of all parties involved which includes: communities; governmental bodies; political groups; trade unions; youth; women; key populations; civil society; the international community; and the private sector.
Inclusive Growth Forums
The Forums have expanded its directive as a platform to contribute to socio-economic development in South Africa with the aim to create an inclusive society, develop social capital, and to build social cohesion.
The theme of the 2019 Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation Drakensberg Inclusive Growth Forum focused on ‘Strengthening Local Government and Local Economies’. The dialogues aimed to stimulate economic growth (particularly at local level), brainstorm new scenarios to create jobs, reduce inequality, and improve the lives of all citizens. Each Forum culminates in a report on action plans.
Youth Dialogues
The Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation facilitates Youth Dialogues and hosted ‘Digital Dialogues’ with the Gauteng Provincial Government in 2019 at the Youth Expo in Nasrec, South Africa. Thousands of youths attended. The ‘‘Digital Dialogues’ addressed topics such as career guidance, entrepreneurship, technology, education, and the 4IR. The Foundation took advantage of the platform and combined its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bootcamps for girls and intergenerational dialogues where the youth from high schools, gap-year youths, universities, as well as business persons, politicians, and government representatives engaged with industry experts and thought leaders on Design Thinking and jobs of the future. The AI Bootcamps used the film industry as the context to create digital applications that were presented to judges and the audience at the end of the Youth Expo.
Dialogues
The Foundation has included online virtual discussions and dialogues as part of its ongoing programming to continue to stimulate thoughts and innovative solutions to South Africa’s challenges. The Foundation hosts online discussions with educators and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) – locally and internationally – in order to strengthen its educational and skills programmes. The Foundation hosted a Virtual Dialogue session open to a broader, online audience which included the public, government, academia, private sector, youth, civil society, learners, and the media in July 2020. The theme was ‘A different South Africa in a different Africa: Options and pathways to greater inclusivity or more inequality.’ The Rebuilding and the Development of the SA Economy in COVID-19 Times Attended by the chairperson Professor Firoz Cachalia, and the Patron, former President Kgalema Motlanthe, the series of online dialogues have proven fruitful in offering academic insight to the economic challenges facing South Africa, and proposals to support leadership in communities to create workable partnerships between government and the private sector.
FOOD SECURITY
The Foundation runs a training, skills development, and exposure programme in farming using hydroponics, aquaponics, and an urban garden at the office premises. This greenhouse food initiative was built to raise awareness; educate and feed recipients; encourage domestic food production; township farming; and entrepreneurship. It is built on the principles of fostering sustainability and providing skills for food security with a focus on unemployed youth. The farming project will be used to kindle similar food gardens in our urban environments and it is also developing a programme for inner city and township schools to grow some of their own food by utilising youth skills in the hospitality industry.
We understand that efforts to tackle joblessness need to integrate sustainable solutions to be more effective and contribute to the economy, and with this is mind, the Foundation embarks on an educational and entrepreneurship programme that makes agriculture and the food production supply chain, attractive and accessible to the youth. The innovative course is a SETA accredited 12 Month Agripreneur Development Programme in the Centurion (Gauteng) area, that offers candidates training and exposure to the world of sustainable farming business, as well as practical implementation in the full growing cycle and commercial production. The Agripreneur Development Model and Training Course includes: Practical Technical Skills and Training; Business Skills and Training; Developing Funding Options as Entrepreneurs; Land Procurement Processes; Coaching and Mentoring; Food Sorting, Processing and Packaging; Access to Markets; and a Verified Certification. With industry specialists, coaches, mentors, and the utilisation of latest methods and technology, students have the opportunity to develop themselves into self-sustainable food producers for their communities and for commercial market economies at large. Students that embrace an ecosystem of agriculture, conservation, education, entrepreneurship, and innovative business practice, are empowered to create new economic opportunities in South Africa, and provide hands-on solutions to many of the challenges faced in the country.
School Food Gardens
With industry specialists, coaches, mentors, and the utilisation of latest methods and technology, students have the opportunity to develop themselves into self-sustainable food producers for their communities and for commercial market economies at large. Students that embrace an ecosystem of agriculture, conservation, education, entrepreneurship, and innovative business practice, are empowered to create new economic opportunities in South Africa, and provide hands-on solutions to many of the challenges faced in the country.
BEFORE KGALEMA MOTLANTHE FOUNDATION COMMENCED WORK AT FORTE HIGH SCHOOL
KGALEMA MOTLANTHE FOUNDATION WORK AT FORTE HIGH SCHOOL
