The Anna Foundation’s vision is to empower rural children in South Africa with a positive vision for their own future and the future of the country through education, sports and life development. The organisation’s mission is to assist disadvantaged schools and communities by providing academic, social and environmental support and equipping children with skills for lifelong learning. The organisation recognises each child as unique and special and aims to support the holistic development of the child.
The Anna Foundation was started by Anna Brom while volunteering at a farm school in Mpumalanga, South Africa in 2005. Brom started by providing support classes in English and Mathematics to the disadvantaged learners from Ipani Primary school. The school had no library facility so Anna started a ‘library-in-a-box’ system, providing children with their first ever taste of reading their own book. There were also no sports facilities at the school so she started a running group. These reading and running activities were then combined to become the start of the Anna Foundation’s three R’s: ‘Reading. Running. Right-ing’ programme. The third R: Right-ing was introduced to address the importance of positive self-esteem and self-worth, and help teach children different life skills. To date the three R’s programme has developed into a complete three R’s curriculum with grade-specific worksheets for learners from grade R to 12.
The organisation provides much needed after-school care and support to children living on farms and in rural communities. This includes academic support, remedial interventions, reading programmes and numeracy activities, physical stimulation and emotional care in an intimate and safe environment. The second objective of the organisation is to provide skills training to rural women so that they can successfully implement the programmes and make a difference within their communities.
Three R’s Programme: ‘Reading, Running, Right-ing.’
Anna Foundation’s three R’s programme is implemented every afternoon from 15h00 to 17h00 once the children return to the farms from their day schools. Each day’s activity has been carefully designed with a specific goal in mind. The physical activity (Running) and life skills (Right-ing) programmes alternate each afternoon, after an hour of academics (Reading), every afternoon. Through the three R’s programme the Anna Foundation aims to empower the children with core values which will result in the holistic growth of each child: improved self-esteem and self-worth leading to improved educational/literacy levels, improved fitness and health, greater life opportunities and bigger future visions.
Reading: Anna Foundation’s academic curriculum consists of grade-specific literacy/numeracy worksheets for children from grade R to 12 which are in alignment with the South African Department of Education’s National Curriculum. Life skills themes are integrated with each activity to ensure children receive lifelong learning. Remedial programmes are available for learners identified as having learning barriers. These children are assessed and placed on the appropriate remedial programme. Children with homework are encouraged to complete their work at the after school where they can work under supervision, receive assistance, if needed and have access to resource material to help with school projects.
Running: This portion of the afternoon programme focuses on the physical development and wellbeing of the children. The Anna Foundation focuses on motor skills development, team building, fitness and play. Children who join the programme form part of the organisation’s running teams and take part in monthly fun runs.
Right-ing: The life skills programmes uses drama activities to teach values and deal with social issues. The Anna Foundation teaches and encourages ‘right’ living’ which refers to right life style, right choices, right attitude, and right behaviour: ‘right me’. Anna Foundation’s life skills themes coincide with themes taught through the Life Orientation learning area as per the South African Department of Education’s National Curriculum.
Training of farm women and skills development
The Anna Foundation trains women from the farming and rural communities to implement the three R’s programme and empower them with the skills needed to manage their after school centres. They are responsible for the daily running of the programme to the children in their care. A project manager will regularly visit each project so that the three R's facilitators are able to get assistance with worksheet questions or advice for any classroom problems they may have. All the women attend a formal monthly training session with subject matter covering a variety of topics including teaching strategies, child development, classroom management and learning tools. Revision of the new month’s ‘Reading, Running, Right-ing’ curriculum is also done. The women need the skills of a typical teacher, a care giver and a sports coach, the organisation’s aim is to ensure that each one will be equipped and confident to take ownership of the project in her community.
Current Challenges:
- State of the education system and children being pushed through the school year while lacking many basic numeracy and literacy skills;
- Time – contact time is limited to a maximum of two hours per afternoon, children arriving late/leaving early due to transport issues;
- Logistics – distances between projects (transport costs – children’s events/staff training);
- Facilitators lacking the necessary counselling skills or experience required to manage social issues arising from the life skills programmes;
- Facilitators are not always able to assist higher grades with school work (especially maths);
- Facilitators dealing with their own personal challenges can impact on their responsibility and role as Facilitator at the projects.
Impact of the programmes
By addressing the educational needs of rural children, a huge step is taken toward alleviating poverty in these communities. Without education these children will not reach their potential and will not be able to take advantage of opportunities to improve their position. By aiding these children to develop positive self-worth the Anna Foundation is assisting them in overcoming their victim mentality and then equipping them with the skills to do something about this. The training of rural women also assists in alleviating poverty by empowering them to uplift their whole community through their work. Farming communities are considered ‘vulnerable people’ and this programme aims to help readdress these communities’ vulnerability for future generations.
The Anna Foundation is a registered nonprofit organisation and public benefit organisation with section 18A status. It has been a registered as a NPO since November 2005 and the three R’s programme has been implemented on farms in the Western Cape since the start of 2007. There are currently 650 children benefitting from the Anna Foundation three R’s Programme with 47 facilitators receiving on-going training.
To view the Anna Foundation in the Prodder NGO Directory, click here.
