2017 saw us expand, grow and impact even more young South Africans lives!
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” Nelson Mandela
2017 was a big year for the MRP Foundation – we witnessed people connecting on ‘purpose’ and incredible things happening. We’ve worked tirelessly with our passionate implementation partners, who also believe in breaking the cycle of poverty and inequality, to empower youth through our high impact education and skills development programmes. The result has been thousands of youth impacted for the better.
Education
We believe that children can unlock their talents and develop them through quality education, technology-based teaching, physical education and creative arts. Our holistic education model empowers teachers and prepares learners for the future and 2017 has been a remarkable year of growth – not only did five new primary schools and seven high schools join the holistic education model but we also invested in 31 Early Childhood Development Centres in Hammarsdale.
– 43 000 learners and 64 schools were impacted by our MRP Foundation Schools Programme in 2017 with significant plans for expansion in 2018
– Physical Education is crucial to a child’s overall wellbeing. This year saw various High schools and Primary schools compete in interschool sporting events – a healthy sign that sport is being enthusiastically adopted by regions, schools, educators and learners.
– Creative Arts flourished under the artistic guidance of theatre legend, Peter Court. Learners created artwork for Mandela Day, World Water Day and crafted an end of year school theatrical production.
– Educator development is a key part of the holistic education model with educators regularly being upskilled in content knowledge and teaching methods. Educators felt more confident and equipped to teach lessons and this year the content knowledge of the Maths teachers from our five KwaDukuza Primary schools involved in the JET elearning programme improved by an average of 9% more (built on from a 15% increase in 2016).
Skills Development
Our work readiness programme, Jump Start, develops the skills of young people looking for career opportunities in the retail sector and the supply chain and helps bridge the gap between education and the world of work. This year we launched our inaugural Professional Retailers Programme, an intensive internship to develop well-rounded professional retailers for buying, planning or store management careers, was a resounding success and all sixteen interns graduated with a job in hand.
Since 2007 our Jump Start Entry Level Programme has prepared thousands of unemployed youth for the working world in retail stores. We partner with retailers, such as the SPAR Group and Mr Price Group, to provide essential retail skills and to date over 10,000 unemployed youth have been placed in entry level positions after their life skills training and a week of in-store work experience.
– In 2017 the Jump Start Professional Retail Programme developed the retail skills of 16 interns with all of them finding employment after graduation.
– The Jump Start Entry Level Programme trained 3710 youth with 963 placed in job positions from 1 April to 30 September 2017.
– The Jump Start Entry Level programme is active in all 9 provinces across South Africa.
