The KwaZulu-Natal Experimental College
The KwaZulu-Natal Experimental College is an international school, training adult students to become volunteers for development. The College is one of 15 schools on four continents, together training around 1200 volunteers per year, and operates in concert with the international development organisation Humana People-to-People, which maintains over 150 projects in 32 countries.
The KZN College is a boarding school, run jointly by its students and staff, and offers intensive six-month skills-training courses on subjects like project management, language and communication, health care, HIV/AIDS, child development, co-operation, southern African history, sports, culture, teaching, leadership and organisational planning. The students come from different backgrounds, age groups, nationalities and cultures, and after their training they are deployed in various Humana People-to-People projects for six months of volunteer work and experiential learning. Students are currently being deployed to projects in Gauteng, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Botswana will soon also become a site for this training. There they work in programmes involving activities such as HIV/AIDS awareness, teacher training, streetchildren, family healthcare and income generation. This 12-month curriculum is concluded with two months of evaluation and information integration at the College.
From its base in Pinetown, near Durban, the College runs a curriculum consisting of taught courses, assignments and experiences. Regular communications with and exchange visits from sister schools overseas are supported, and the training programme is enriched by student participation in external events such the World Conference Against Racism, which was hosted in 2001 by the city of Durban.
The KZN Experimental College is a people's institution, committed to creating development through co-operation. As such, it aligns perfectly with HIVAN's own mission to foster mutually beneficial multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral relationships around HIV/AIDS, and to facilitate effective networking between individuals, organisations and projects operating on the ground in the struggle to confront the epidemic in KwaZulu-Natal.
HIVAN's role in its proactive partnership with the KEC will include:
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Linking the College with prospective students as HIVAN networks extensively through the province
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Referring the College to initiatives such as DramAIDe, which could augment and enhance their teaching methods and programme
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Promoting the College and its activities through regular exposure on the HIVAN website (on both the "NGO Spotlight" page and on the "HIVAN Partnerships" pages)
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Including KEC students in HIVAN's Community Engagement events such as the Community Symposia and selected community workshops
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Introducing the College to CBOs offering opportunities for KEC student practical assignments (in terms of "in-service learning")
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Welcoming the College's input into the formulation of HIVAN's agenda for ongoing research and intervention
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Inviting KEC students and staff to attend HIVAN's other networking events, such as the seminar series and student fora.
Current events:
The College, in partnership with HIVAN, hosted a one-day HIV/AIDS training workshop on 25 March 2002 The aim of the workshop was to provide an opportunity for combined community-college learning with a focus on HIV/AIDS. Some 30 representatives of the communities with which HIVAN has already engaged were present, and the training was provided jointly by community representatives, HIVAN and the College. The College provided an overall briefing of their training activities both in South Africa and internationally, and students contributed to discussions and presented information on HIV/AIDS statistics. Professor Anna Coutsoudis, HIVAN's Deputy Director (BioMedical Sciences), gave a basic background to the epidemic, with a focus on its impact on South Africa and on KZN in particular; the format of this presentation outlined the work being done in this province on mother-to-child-transmission and other important treatment research. HIVAN's "community partner", the KZN CBO Network's Behaviour Change Programme(BCP), provided a short interactive training session entitled "Moving from Awareness to Behaviour Change". Representatives of the BCP from all regions of the province shared their experiences of HIV/AIDS intervention at grassroots level. At the request of the College, one such initiative, the Bergville-based WorldVision Okhahlamba Area Development Programme's Home-Based Care project, described work being done by HBC volunteers in the uThukela Region. Mr Nkhosinathi Dlamini, the Provincial HIV/AIDS Co-Ordinator for the KZN Traditional Healers Council, addressed the forum on the role of traditional medicine in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
For more information:
The KwaZulu-Natal Experimental College can be contacted at:
5/11 Richmond Road, Pinetown 3605
P O Box 10391, Ashwood, Durban 4000
Telephone: (031) 701 2206
Telefax: (031) 701 2207
e-mail: [email protected]
For more, visit our "NGO Spotlight" page for overviews of the Humana People-to-People HOPE projects and Total Control of the Epidemic programmes.
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