In Braamfischerville, Ivory Park and Eldorado Park, young people are going back to school to learn new skills, to renovate school buildings and to foster community ownership of shared spaces. 

Supported by a partnership between the Trevor Noah Foundation and YouthBuildSA, the three communities ran projects to fix deteriorating school infrastructure, to encourage ownership of and responsibility for shared community spaces, and to deal with the critical shortage of developmental opportunities for youth. The project equipped young people with construction skills and leadership training to renovate schools, transform learning environments and foster community cohesion.

“Our school was chosen because we are a no-fee school and our learners all come from poor socio-economic backgrounds,” says Mrs Daniels, principal of Heerengracht Primary School in Eldorado Park.

“We used to use a classroom as a kitchen and that did not suffice.  We needed to use the classroom for its intended purpose.  A group of youngsters were trained and over a couple of months they built a kitchen.  They did all the building, plastering and painting. They also built a lovely courtyard with chairs and tables where the children can sit and eat with dignity. 

Many of the young people involved in the project were former students of Heerengracht Primary.  Their hearts are with the school and one of the women now works at the school and does handiwork when we need it,” said Mrs Daniels.

What was the problem?

In Braamfischerville, Ivory Park and Eldorado Park, educational infrastructure is often neglected, dilapidated, and inadequate.  These conditions have a negative impact on children’s ability to learn and strips them of their dignity. 

In addition to dilapidation, many schools lack a strong sense of community ownership, leading to vandalism, passive neglect, and even theft.

At the same time, a large portion of South African youth are NEET - neither in education, employment, nor training.  These young people face a critical shortage of marketable skills, access to jobs, and meaningful developmental opportunities.

How did they fix it?

Widespread engagement with the community and all relevant role players: From the start, all role-players in Braamfischerville, Ivory Park and Eldorado Park were invited to town hall meetings, these included local councillors, City of Johannesburg representatives, ward committees' representatives, political parties (youth leagues) representatives, civil society, school representatives and school governing bodies, as well as local youth and the general community.

Targeted briefings with schools: The project involved detailed briefings for principals and school governing bodies in the communities to provide information on the project and to ensure buy-in and commitment and to identify and resolve challenges and to confirm the schools targeted for renovation.

Integrated Training Model: The youth were trained in an integrated model, which included technical training in construction - including plumbing, electrical, building skills - as well as life skills, leadership, work readiness, entrepreneurship, and career development training.  The training also included conflict management and resolution, assertive communication, career guidance, substance abuse, bullying, and gender-based violence.

Practical Application of learned skills: When the training was over, the youth then fixed broken toilets, installing or repairing paving, building boundary walls in the participating schools in their communities.

What makes it work

Strategic Partnerships & local buy-in: The project made consultation with the community a priority, and consulted schools, parents, youth leaders, political parties, local councillors, and other key stakeholders identified by the community themselves, which ensured local buy-in and ongoing participation by all stakeholders.

Fostering Co-Ownership and Community Engagement: By engaging youth from the very communities, they’re rebuilding, and involving local stakeholders, the program creates pride and protective attitudes toward school assets - tackling vandalism and neglect head-on.

Clearly defined selection criteria: The criteria for selection of the youth were clearly identified and prioritised youth who had connections to the schools being renovated, to foster a sense of pride, ownership and aspiration.  Inclusion was important and young people with learning challenges were included and they received support on theoretical and technical aspects of the training.

Integrated model: The challenges faced by the community were deeper than decaying infrastructure, so the project involved ensuring that young people received different skills to ensure that they could use them after the end of the project. The integrated approach - including holistic life skills and technical training - were included to ensure that the young people were able to learn, develop confidence and apply their skills.

Engagement with the critical stakeholders: The Gauteng Department of Education was a critical stakeholder in the process of identifying schools, and the project involved ongoing engagement to ensure that the renovation projects aligned with renovations planned by the GDG.

Sustainability: To ensure that the project was sustainable, the participant communities, youth and schools were supported with fundraising skills to ensure that they were able to maintain the infrastructure and initiate new maintenance on other projects independent.

Measurable Outcomes and Impact: Through the projects in Braamfischerville, Ivory Park and Eldorado Park, over 200 classrooms serving more than 23,000 learners were refurbished, along with 143 sanitation facilities, soup kitchens, and boundary walls.  Of these, 106 classrooms accommodating more than 9 014 learners were refurbished, and around 31 toilets/sanitation facilities were repaired and refurbished in Braamfischerville. In addition to this work on classrooms and toilets, a soup kitchen was built at Heerengracht Primary in Eldorado Park, and boundary walls were erected at four primary schools across the three communities.

Acknowledgements:

Author: FixLocal Reporter 

Source: https://trevornoahfoundation.org/what-we-do/faranani-infrastructure-project/

Photograph: Trevor Noah Foundation