SAKHIMFUNDO YOUTH PROGRAM OUTLINE
Sakhimfundo Youth Program was birthed in the year 2020 in response to the global pandemic, which saw learners in townships such as Alexandra miss out on any form of schooling and learning. We had two laptops, one volunteer staff member and 50 learners come for afternoon lessons through an Online learning program called, Reading Eggs. The program is aimed at enhancing Literacy and Numeracy skills for school-going learners and to develop basic computer literacy. Our program has grown to 140 learners enrolled for the 2024 academic year, and we have 15 volunteer tutors, 30 laptops and 12 fulltime staff members. At Sakhimfundo we strive to achieve three things: (i) To retain our learners from Grade 1 through to Grade 12, (ii) To provide quality education through our 1:10 tutor-to-learner ratio and in addition to ensure that our learners have full comprehension of the language of commerce (English) and they become critical thinkers and problem solvers (Mathematics) and (iii) To expose learners to the world of work and create a pipeline for those who are interested in skilled labour to start acquiring those skills as soon as Grade 10.
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SAKHIMFUNDO TUTOR TEAM
Our Programs
English
Our literacy programs ensures that our learners can read for meaning by Grade 5. We use English as Medium of Instruction from Grade 1 and in order for our learners to transitions more effectively from Grade 3 to Grade 4 as they move from Mother Tongue instruction, to English as a Medium of Instruction (through the Reading Eggs online program).
Mathematics
Mathematics remains a huge challenge in our schools in South Africa. We believe that instead of attempting remediation for learners throughout their school years, we can ensure that basic capabilities of Critical Thinking and Problem Solving skills are harnessed from the foundation phase (through the Maths Seeds online program).
Online Learning
Our learners are fully engaged with an online programs that we believe contributes to our learner’s academic excellence. Above all, these online programs provides our learners with an introduction into Computer Literacy from as early as Grade 1.
Tutor Training
Our tutors are young and vibrant students and post matriculants who are passionate about empowering the next generation of learners. These tutors are studying towards a qualification of their liking (we currently have 5 graduates) and Sakhimfundo provides quarterly teaching related training that covers key topics, such as Classroom Management; Lesson Planning; Positive Discipline and Learner Assessments. In addition, we also provide a monthly leadership and professional development workshop.
Staff Development and Teambuilding
Our fulltime staff members are constantly finding better ways to perform in their roles at the Centre through our partnerships with key training institutions. We ensure that our staff members enrol in training and development workshops every year. These training opportunities sharpens the team’s interpersonal skills, creating transformational leaders in a post-covid world and in our own spaces.
Our Aspirations and Plans (2024 – 2025)
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ECD Spaces offered daily for 3-to-4 year old children in the community who would otherwise be loitering in the streets
- Expanding the Tutoring Program to the surrounding Primary Schools
- Offering Saturday classes for Grade 10 and 11 learners from Alex Schools
- Computer Literacy and Job Readiness training for out of school learners
- Partnering with accredited institutions to run their courses from our venue
partner with us
Working together we can make a real difference.
We need partners to achieve our ambitions and to realise the dreams of the talented learners in our programmes. We invite you to reach out to us to discuss how we might collaborate and work together.
The Sakhimfundo Youth Programme was founded in 2020 by a team with a deep history of working together to deal with the challenges facing young people in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg. The Sakhimfundo Board has experience in youth empowerment, education, tech-enabled learning, property development and community dynamics in Alexandra.
Phase 1 of our work includes the construction of a Dance and Performing Arts facility. It also includes a pilot after-school learning enrichment project and tech-enabled literacy programme for 40 learners. The Kadey Family Charitable Corporation has been integral in funding these foundational elements of the vision, and it is a key partner in achieving the long term vision. In addition, the Gumboots Foundation has contributed towards land acquisition and construction costs.
Sakhimfundo has a learning partnership with the Kliptown Youth Programme (KYP), a world-class youth empowerment programme in Soweto. One of our local community partners is Youth Stand Together (YST), a highly respected Alexandra-based dance and life skills project. The on-the-ground leadership team consists of dynamic young professionals from ‘Alex’.
We now need your involvement to make the bigger vision a reality.
“If you want to go fast, go alone.
But if you want to go far, go together.”
African Proverb