Singakwenza, meaning ‘We can do it’, aims to provide low cost, high impact health and early education through empowerment programmes to economically-disadvantaged communities, particularly in rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal. This is done through:
- Education and assistance for care givers at disadvantaged crèches to implement a sustainable early childhood development programme using recycling to make resources;
- Facilitating ‘waste workshops’ in areas where access to resources is limited, to teach educators to make their own toys and teaching aids using recycling;
- An HIV intervention programme based on a peer education model for rural workers, particularly in the agricultural and forestry sectors; and
- Mobile clinic services providing primary health care and counselling for rural workers and their families.
Singakwenza is a mature organisation which has been delivering charitable services, in collaboration with corporate partners at international and local levels, for more than 10 years. Singakwenza’s Mobile Clinic service was launched in 2003 in response to the HIV health crisis of rural, agricultural and forestry workers in KwaZulu-Natal and, to date, has provided over 40 000 primary health care consultations to those who normally have limited or no access to health care facilities. Singakwenza’s early childhood development (ECD) programme has been successfully tried and tested in a variety of locations since 2010, and hundreds of women and children have benefitted from the mentoring programme and Waste Workshops. Singakwenza has a sound infrastructure, as well as the necessary skills and experience to meet the identified needs and help to achieve changes that will be sustainable.
Singakwenza’s contribution to society
ECD
- Children under five years are offered age-appropriate early education opportunities in crèches that would normally simply provide a baby-sitting service;
- Caregivers receive ECD training in their own crèches with their own children;
- Educators and caregivers are taught how to make their teaching materials from recycling, thereby making them freely available; and
- Children from these crèches are able to start formal schooling with the necessary foundations already built, which will limit the need to repeat a grade or drop out from school.
Health
- Regular primary health care, medication and testing is provided for rural workers (mainly those in forestry and agriculture);
- Counselling services are consistently available for health or emotional concerns;
- The families and dependants benefit from the improved health of these rural workers and their ability to continue earning;
- Through education, the effects of HIV on the extended families are reduced; and
- The services offered benefit farmers by providing continuous education and attention to their worker’s health, which reduces absenteeism and improves productivity and company morale.
Why Singakwenza focuses on these areas?
ECD
- Children between the ages of one and five years old are underserved in education (currently the Department of Health provides health services from birth to one year, then the Department of Education picks them up from age five);
- Research has shown that an educated child makes better choices. Expectations of parents for stimulation and education in the early years is low, resulting in lower academic achievement in later years;
- Less than 10 percent of the 5.2 million children under the age of four in South Africa are in Government funded ECD Centres (HSRC 2009);
- Almost 80 percent of a child’s brain potential is established by the age of four years old, so stimulation activities at this age are vitally important; and
- Children from disadvantaged communities are deprived of this fundamentally important level of education as they do not have the resources to gain access to most of these programmes.
Health
- The Southern African Development Community (SADC) region is the only region in the entire world with a hyper-endemic epidemic – this means that 15 percent or more of the antenatal population is infected (UNAIDS);
- Within South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal is the province with the highest prevalence (39.5 percent – Department of Health 2011);
- Within KwaZulu-Natal province, the district of Umgungundlovu has the highest prevalence (42.3 percent – Department of Health 2011);
- Women are more than four times more likely to contract HIV, and they often feel disempowered to take control of their personal health choices;
- HIV and TB form a lethal combination, each speeding the other's progress. The risk of progressing from latent to active TB is estimated to be between 12 and 20 times greater in people living with HIV than among those without HIV infection. (World Health Organisation (WHO), 2012);
- TB is more fatal in HIV/AIDS patients, with up to half of all deaths of HIV/AIDS patients due to TB; and
- 80 percent of victims are between 15 and 49 – the most economically productive years of their lives.
To view the Singakwenza Education and Health in the Prodder NGO Directory, click here.
