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INTRODUCTION TO SAEP
Director: Jane Keen Treasurer and Program Manager: Norton Tennille
Postal Address: 10 Surbiton Road, Rosebank 7700 South Africa Telephone and fax: 021 689.2020 or 685-3431 Email: saep@worldonline.co.za
Children and young adults in South Africa's townships need a fair chance to develop personally and succeed in life if South Africa’s fledgling democracy is to survive. Most of the legal barriers to personal development have been removed with the end of Apartheid, yet opportunities to learn and obtain meaningful employment remain sorely lacking. South Africa -- with its strong constitution, political stability, and economic potential -- remains Africa’s greatest hope for the democratic development and economic revival of the continent.
The South African Education and Environment Project (SAEP) is dedicated to helping children and young adults in South Africa’s historically disadvantaged township communities have a fair chance to develop their academic and life skills, obtain productive employment, and contribute as leaders to the economic and social development of their communities and their country.
SAEP also serves as an example to them of compassion and commitment of individuals from the USA and other countries to constructive involvement in the social and economic development of communities that lack many of the opportunities for education and personal development that we enjoyed when we were growing up.
SAEP carries out its mission through a range of innovative programs it has developed in specific response to the needs and dreams expressed by the young people and community leaders with whom it works. These programs involve support for and enrichment of education at the pre-school, high school, and immediate post-high school levels through the mobilization of financial and resources (volunteers) in South Africa and abroad.
Hand in hand with its education program goes the promotion of social commitment and community service on the part of its participants. Educational opportunity must be linked with a commitment to improve the economic and social environment of the communities where the schools and preschools SAEP serves are located.
SAEP’s activities are staffed almost exclusively by volunteers from South Africa and abroad. They provide both an opportunity to serve the greater good and an adventure in experiential learning for students and graduates from all over the world. By working with their peers and young leaders in South Africa, volunteers have a stimulating cross-cultural experience that promotes international understanding and offers new perspectives on education and social development to all involved.
SAEP’s community of concerned volunteers is bringing hope and opportunity to Cape Town’s townships while building ties of friendship and shared values among young people from around the globe.
II. History and Leadership of SAEP
SAEP (originally the Southern Africa Environment Project) was founded as a non-profit organization in 1994 by Norton Tennille, a former Rhodes Scholar and environmental activist who decided to leave his practice of environmental law in Washington, D.C. to become involved in environment and education in South Africa after the national elections in April 1994. SAEP was incorporated in the District of Columbia and granted tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code. Its headquarters have always been in Cape Town. Norton has been Executive Director and Treasurer of SAEP since its inception. When the sister organization, SAEP (SA) was founded in 2003 he became Treasurer and Programme Manager, High School and Post-Matric Programs.
Between 1994 and 1998, SAEP’s main activities involved environmental law, advocacy, and education. Beginning in 1999, the focus shifted to academic support and enrichment activities at the high school level, where SAEP had been doing environmental education. In 2003, a component was added to address the needs of recent high school graduates.
In 2003, Jane Keen, a social worker with 25 years experience in Cape Town, joined SAEP as a volunteer and soon started up an educational program involving support for a group of 10 pre-schools in the area where SAEP’s high school programs run. She also helped organize a South African sister NPO, the South African Education and Environment Project, to involve local citizens in the planning and management of SAEP’s activities and to help raise funds locally. Jane has been Director of SAEP (SA) since its inception. In September, 2005, she was elected to the Board of SAEP (US). See article on Jane and Norton from Winston-Salem, NC Journal (16 September 2005) (PDF p.1 and PDF p.2).
The challenge of developing tomorrow’s leaders starts in pre-schools and includes the key formative years of high school and beyond. SAEP has demonstrated that targeted interventions at a modest level can make a big difference in skills, motivation and confidence. With a corps of dedicated volunteers and a number of strong institutional partnerships, SAEP works cost-effectively and synergistically to improve some of the gravest problems threatening the future of the new South Africa.
SAEP, a registered 50l(c)(3) non-profit organization (NPO) with a sister South African NPO, works with and for young people in Philippi and surrounding communities in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town, where the black townships are concentrated. Most of the families in these areas, which are only slowly being converted from shack dwellings to formal housing, are economic refugees from the rural areas of the Eastern Cape that constituted the former “Bantustan” homelands known as Ciskei and Transkei.
School and pre-school construction and academic development in the schools have not been able to keep pace with this rapid urbanisation. Babies and toddlers are left in inadequate care while their parents work or look for work; schools are overcrowded; facilities are poor; teachers are overworked; and very few extra-curricular activities are available.
Early Childhood Development has recently been SAEP’s fastest growing program area. In a hugely under-served and under-resourced community, SAEP has brought significant improvements in the capacity of the 10 pre-schools (called crèches) in Ward 35 of the Brown’s Farm Township to serve approximately 800 children between the ages of zero and six. Jane Keen manages this project.
Launched in early 2003 with support for a single crèche (Noncedo Educare), this programme grew in 2004 and the first half of 2005 to provide a wide range of support services – from fund-raising, lobbying and administrative support to staff training and improvement and expansion of facilities – at all ten pre-schools. To share challenges and resources, these ten centres have organised themselves as the Safety Unity Crèche Forum. Milestones over the past year include four of the crèches being registered with the government, allowing them to receive subsidies, and staff receiving Grassroots Connections and Waldorf training.
High School Academic Support and Enrichment. This programme, first launched by SAEP at Sinethemba High School in Brown’s Farm in 1999, helps learners in under-resourced township high schools not only to explore their full academic potential but also to gain experiences that nurture leadership. See evaluation of SAEP's programme at Sinethemba by Tomas Lopez, summer intern from Duke University.
SAEP’s after-school and weekend activities concentrate on development of skills in English, mathematics, science, computers, creative expression, journalism, public speaking, and critical thinking. The prestigious Shuttleworth Foundation recognised these effective interventions by the award of R102,000 ($16,200) to SAEP to develop mathematics, science, and technology programs in three high schools in 2005.
SAEP works with many partners among the student organizations at the University of Cape Town, including the Township Debating League (interscholastic debating); TeachOut (academic tutorials); Inkanyezi (academic and career counselling); and The Media School (journalism). It provides creative writing and poetry workshops, competitions, publications and performances; journalism clubs and student newspapers. Outdoor experiences and environmental education are provided by the Mountain Club of South Africa.
In 2003, SAEP’s core high school programme was expanded from Sinethemba High School to include two neighbouring schools, Zisukhanyo in Samora Machel and Oscar Mpetha in Nyanga East. A fourth recently opened school, Intsebenziswano in Brown’s Farm, joined the group in 2005. SAEP’s vision is to develop these schools into “four corners of excellence” through an innovative cluster of extra-curricular and co-curricular activities that can also serve as a model for interventions in other township high schools.
SAEP serves a wider target group of over 20 high schools in its debating and career/academic counselling programs in partnership with the Township Debating League and Inkanyezi, two University of Cape Town student service organizations.. This program was developed and is managed by Norton Tennille.
Post-High School Youth Leadership and Development (Gap Year Program). High school learners in the townships rarely receive academic and career counseling at school and even the brightest are likely to have significant gaps in their preparation for further education or training. SAEP’s unique “gap year” internship program provides an intensive skill-enhancement and leadership program as preparation for tertiary study, jobs and the professions.
Ten recent high school graduates are given a range of opportunities for personal growth and the development of life skills. In return for this opportunity, they devote half their time to community service as tutors and mentors in the township high schools. Their academic program concentrates on English (comprehension, speaking, and writing), computers, and math and science.
This innovative program was
recently recognized by a grant of R40,000 ($6,350) from the Cape Town City
Council. Over the last three years, 20 recent high school graduates have
participated as gap year interns. This program is also managed by Norton
Tennille. For a recent (August 2005) analysis of the gap year program, see
Seeing the
IV. SAEP: Volunteers and Community Service
From the outset, SAEP has been staffed by volunteers and encouraged participation in its programs by volunteers from Cape Town and around the world. A major objective of SAEP is to foster the ethic of community service and civic responsibility both locally and in the “global village.” At present, SAEP is considering how it might consolidate and provide adequate infrastructure for its community service programs through creation of a special center that would house these programs and SAEP’s educational programs.
Student Volunteers and Interns from Abroad. Since 1997, SAEP has hosted over seventy-five volunteers from abroad, ranging from a British high school graduate taking a “gap year” before entering university to a 59-year old French architect who conducted workshops on architecture and urban planning for high school students. The first group of volunteers in 1997 included two American Rhodes Scholars in residence and five other volunteers from Oxford University.
Most have been “summer interns” from the US, the UK, or other countries who have worked with SAEP for two or three months between June and August. Some have stayed with SAEP for as much as a year. SAEP works to develop long-term relationships with US institutions like Duke University’s Hart Leadership Program, which has sent ten summer volunteers since 1999.
Recently SAEP has had a significant increase in the number of foreign volunteers who join our programs while studying for a semester at the University of Cape Town.
These volunteers have assisted in a wide range of activities, including tutoring and mentoring of high school students and gap year interns, pre-school development, research and writing, environmental advocacy, poetry and creative writing, photography, dance, web design and maintenance, fundraising, and administration. SAEP’s volunteer/internship programs provide students and graduates from abroad to engage in a stimulating and intensive community service project while at the same time benefiting from a structured experiential learning experience. Participants get to study and engage in educational and social development in South Africa’s urban townships, where the future of the country is likely to be shaped.
In the future, SAEP seeks to develop more formal relationships with US colleges and universities both in expanding its summer internship programs and in providing a center for graduates and faculty who would like to participate for six months to a year during the South African academic terms.
SAEP would also like to provide a more structured opportunity for retirees from abroad to join our programs either for short periods or for a term of as much as a year. We believe their time and talents could contribute significantly to our efforts.
Short-term Service Projects. Over the last few years, SAEP has begun hosting small groups of volunteers who come to Cape Town to spend two weeks working in intensive service projects as part of the pre-school, high school, and “gap year” programs. These have included visits from Dutch volunteers organized by the Dutch NGO Commundo as well as a group of twelve Rhodes Scholars in residence who came in April of this year to assist in all of SAEP’s programs.
SAEP is hoping to increase the number of service projects and is currently in discussions with a church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to bring a service project of fifty high school students and adults to Cape Town in July, 2006. Potential participants include educational institutions, churches, and non-governmental organizations.
Local Volunteers (Students). Over the last three years, the number of South African student volunteers in SAEP’s programs has increased dramatically. SAEP is now exploring ways in which recent South African university graduates might spend a year as community service volunteers supported by a small stipend.
Local Volunteers (Others). The last three years have also seen a significant increase in the number of local volunteers other than students who have contributed to our activities in a number of ways, ranging from service on our local Management Committee to tutoring in our Gap Year and High School programs and supporting the pre-schools in a number of ways.
V. SAEP’s Future: A New Education and Community Service Center
To strengthen and broaden its activities over the next three years, SAEP plans to establish a new center dedicated to nnovative education and community service. A concept paper for the center, which has been endorsed by the management of the US and South African sister organizations, can be found here. |