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Supporting community workers
Bhekani Dlamini UKZNdaba. Republished courtesy of UKZNdaba.
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Hundreds of community workers who would otherwise not have set foot in a university have benefited from the Community Development Programme offered by UKZN and the Africa Centre in Mtubatuba, Northern KwaZulu-Natal.
The Community Development Programme is part of the University?’s Open Learning Programme, which is co-ordinated by Dr Betty Mubangizi. It is funded by the Welcome Trust to the tune of R500 000 per year. Dr Thokozani Xaba is in charge of the Community Development Programme on the Howard College campus.
Twenty community workers, who joined the Programme when it started in 2001, will be graduating this year. They are employed by Africa Centre as field workers on various projects conducted by the Centre on community and population studies. The Programme offers a three-year degree, which includes modules such as HIV counseling, Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET), local government, and academic communication. The students attend lectures at the Africa Centre on Saturday mornings. They are already reaping the benefit of their effort: some have been promoted into new positions, others have moved from being field workers to occupy supervisor positions, and two have moved on to greener pastures.
The Manager of Professional Development at the Africa Centre, Ms Duduzile Kunene who also facilitates the Programme, says that the Programme is the way that the University and the Africa Centre plough back into the community. The students apply the knowledge they have gained to community development projects they are involved in.
One of the first students to join the Programme, Ms Duduzile Biyela, retired as matron of Hlabisa Hospital, and was employed at the Africa Centre as Community Liaison Manager. She says she only did the course for interest?’s sake and never intended to complete it. But she was inspired to carry on in order to ?“encourage the young stars?” and see them progress in their studies. ?“The course is enriching and worth doing. After doing it, you get to understand community issues and work with people better,?” she says. Her research project looked at sanitation in the Hlabisa Municipality. Ms Biyela scored distinctions in HIV counseling, local government and academic communication. She is presently helping local women set up and register a sewing co-operative. |
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