Infrastructure development at schools and churches
The Motsepe Foundation strongly believes that ordinary people on the ground have a better understanding of their needs and are important stakeholders in the process of designing interventions that are relevant to their circumstances.
It is for this reason that the Foundation began working closely with schools and churches in disadvantaged, densely populated townships as well as rural communities across South Africa. These institutions were identified and became beneficiaries of a number of different upliftment projects.
In 2016, the Foundation began with identifying Development Forum areas across South Africa and consulting with various stakeholders about the needs of different communities within these forums.
Work has entailed building new classrooms, refurbishing and installing equipment in laboratories and libraries, building computer centres equipped to bring the 4th Industrial Revolution to remote areas and underserved communities, as well as building multipurpose centres that serve different functions at different times.
Our goal is to make a humble contribution to all our people across the board. We want to reciprocate the goodness, the love we received from others who have helped us along the way. Priority is given to funding projects that are sustainable, create jobs within the communities and address poverty alleviation.
Dr Patrice Motsepe
From school children, to church congregants, adults and job-seekers to out-of-school students, these centres serve a host of community members – allowing the community to improve their skills and education and at the same time to become more self-sustaining.
The Foundation believes that schools and churches are in touch with the real needs of communities and are, therefore, better positioned to understand the unique challenges they face. They are able to better identify the projects that would meet their most urgent needs.
And by encouraging community ownership of these development projects, the Foundation can help ensure the sustainability of the project and strengthen community-driven development at the same time.
Here we need to create hyperlinks to the actual pages that expand on these programmes
In seeking to ensure it meets all of its goals for a better South Africa, the Foundation never loses sight of the interconnectedness of its projects. So, the Development Forum areas form the base from which the Foundation selects students for its bursary programmes, Girls in STEM programme as well as the distribution of toys over Christmas.