Monthly Archives: May 2010
" alt="CSI's healthy collaborators" />CSI’s healthy collaborators
10 May 2010
Private sector moneys in CSI, carefully used, can cause a tipping point to success when used in partnership with the state and in collaboration with top-of-the-range NGOs.
Written by Paul Pereira, Tshikululu Social Investments Executive: Public Affairs.
Quality of health is critical in every nation and maintaining a healthy population therefore an obvious priority in all countries. In developing economies such as South Africa’s however, doing this means a strong level of partnership between the public and private sectors. Opportunities for this abound.
Training school principals for better matric results
The Department of Education (KwaZulu Natal) is pleased to announce the roll out of the Principals Management Development Programme (PMDP), a unique intervention to build capacity in education districts.
The programme aims at the rapid upgrading and transfer of management skills in areas including curriculum management, planning, finance, resource and people management. This programme is part of the Education Roadmap and 10 point plan on education of which one of the points aims to “œStrengthen management capacity to ensure working districts and schools”.
The PMDP was piloted at 50 schools in KwaZulu-Natal in the latter part of 2009. Implementation was jointly carried out by the local Department of Education (DoE) and a service provider consortium consisting of the University of KZN, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Performance Solutions Africa, who acted as project managers. Funding for the pilot programme was shared by the DoE, the J & J Development Projects Trust and the Development Bank of South Africa.
The pilot results revealed that secondary schools participating in the programme improved their Grade 12 2009 results by 12,3% over 2008. With the exclusion of the lowest two performers, the improvement in secondary schools in 2009 was recorded at 17%.
The department is committed to roll out the PMDP to 1,710 schools within the province over the next three years. All ward managers within the province would be included in the programme, thereby ensuring working districts in education. The department has committed R9 million in the 2010/2011 financial year to this end.
Through a further contribution from the J&J Development Projects Trust, which sourced a generous donation from the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund, a private sector partner has been secured for the 2010 PMDP, thereby demonstrating the commitment of business to work on improving education, and systems within public education.
" alt="Defuse the ticking unemployment bomb before it explodes" />Defuse the ticking unemployment bomb before it explodes
6 May 2010
If government would give the long-term jobless the power to entirely eliminate the risk by exempting them from the problematic laws that deter employers from employing them, their lives would improve significantly.
Guest contributor Eustace Davie is a director of the Free Market Foundation.
It’s crisis time in South Africa. When 6 million of a total potential workforce of 19 million are without work and have little hope of obtaining any, when almost one-third of the potential workforce is unemployed, the government is sitting on a ticking time bomb.
Unhappy people are complaining about promises not being kept on service delivery and the failure to provide them with housing. Many of these complaints would disappear if they could only get jobs; any jobs where they can learn skills and recover their self-esteem. Being without work and being unable to get a job, month after month, year after year, destroys the self-worth of the individual. The people know instinctively that something is badly wrong but can’t understand why there is zero demand for their labour.
Does too much TV for toddlers mean trouble later on?
Toddlers who watch a lot of TV are more likely to have problems in the classroom, in the playground, and with their weight at age 10, reports a new study.
Common sense suggests that time spent watching TV means less time for playing, reading stories, and doing other activities that encourage a young child’s mental, physical, and social development. And recent studies suggest that early television viewing may be linked to problems adjusting to school and paying attention in the reception class.
For every extra hour of TV watched per week at 29 months, children at age 10 had:
- A 7 percent decrease in classroom attention;
- A 6 percent drop in maths skills (but no drop in reading skills);
- A 10 percent increase in bullying and other types of ill-treatment by classmates;
- A 9 percent decrease in overall physical activity;
- A 16 percent decrease in fruit and vegetable consumption;
- A 9 percent increase in soft drink consumption, and a 10 percent increase in snacking on sugary foods; and
- A 5 percent higher chance of being overweight.
Read more at the Guardian.
Ten days of HIV/Aids testing at Rhodes after shock statistics
Shocking HIV/Aids statistics contained in a recently released survey of the sexual habits of university students and staff have prompted a massive wellness drive to try to control infection.
From today, Rhodes University – in conjunction with national government, healthcare representatives and Treatment Action Campaign members – will be conducting free HIV/ Aids tests.
More than 23000 respondents from 21 higher education institutions across the country took part in the survey – 17062 students, 1880 academic staff and 4433 administration and service staff.
The drive – over the next 10 days – will be held at four sites within the university grounds: Biko Building lawns, Eden Grove bicycle lawns, Kimberley dining hall lawns and the Drostdy dining hall lawns, and will be open to all Rhodes staff, their immediate family members, and students.
Read more at the Daily Dispatch.
MES Thursday Tours
24 January 2010
11 February 2010 9:00 am to 1:00 pm 11 March 2010 9:00 am to 1:00 pm 14 May 2010 9:00 am to 1:00 pm 3 June 2010 9:00 am to 1:00 pm 8 July 2010 9:00 am to 1:00 pm 9 September 2010 9:00 am to 1:00 pm 14 October 2010 9:00 am to 1:00 pm MES (Metro Evangelical Services) is inviting anyone interested in their activities to join them for an informative tour of their programmes and facilities on Thursday mornings in the coming year.
MES is a registered non-profit organisation that has been serving the homeless and destitute community in the city of Johannesburg for the past 23 years. The organisation started as a feeding programme in 1986, handing out food parcels to the homeless and unemployed community of Hillbrow. At that stage, MES was part of the outreach project of the Dutch Reformed Church.
Booking is essential for planning purposes, so if you are interested in joining a tour or require further information, please email kevin@mes.org.za.
Visit Metro Evangelical Services online.
