August was not only Women’s Month in South Africa, it has also been a month to empower entire communities with learning opportunities. In August, RLabs was privileged to support the Chance2Advance community training initiative of the University of South Africa (Unisa) which was held in Gugulethu, Cape Town. One of the two capacity building workshops RLabs presented was on Project Management, providing participants from the local communities with tools they could use to successfully plan and execute projects.
Participants were tasked to generate ideas that could address social aspects of their respective communities. It was great to see the level of concern and hope that everyone has for their families and friends, wanting to see improvement in society. Participants followed an idea generation process (grouped together according to interest), planned their projects and submitted a final deliverable in the form of a presentation.
The projects initiated by the participants were:
- Turning a rubbish dump into a community park
- Mentoring ex-convicts and integrate them into society
- “Teenage Pregnancy Education Project” that aims at prevention and empowerment.
- “HIV/AIDS Project” to address people’s needs
- “Education Project” that aims to equip single parents with skills to support their children’s learning
Each group presented their projects with an evident passion for their communities and that lead us to believe that all things are possible as they seek to impact other people’s lives.
