Swedish partner: Söderhamns kommun

Water Management

In UGU District, as in South Africa in general, to communicate information between the producer of piped drinking water and the consumers is a major problem, especially in the rural areas. Major reasons for this are the lack of junior engineering staff who can work with information and education, and the fact that information on internet is available to very few.

In South Africa there are laws and bylaws on effluent standards regarding industrial waste water discharged. The Water Authority in UGU District feel strongly that many Industries do not comply with the effluent standards. The reason is often lack of knowledge by the Industries concerned. Another factor can be lack of resources from the Environment Health Office to make adequate inspections and to enforce penalty charges for those that do not comply with effluent standards.

The project aim is to, together with the Water Authority set up a strategic working plan on how to meet the set national standards.

Project Area

Technical Services and Infrastructure

Swedish partner

Söderhamns kommun

International partner

Ugu District

Adult education in contruction

This is a one year project resulting from an earlier established partnership between Söderhamn municipality and Ugu municipality in South Africa. The project is in the field of adult education and the main focus is on construction and development work.

In South Africa there is a great shortage of skilled construction workers, while unemployment is very high, especially among young people in rural areas. Following this background, the project aims at training instructors/tutors in basic construction and apprenticeship methodology. The aim is to develop work based learning methods to disseminate basic skills in construction o the rural population.

The main activities will be geared towards exchange visits with building and construction gymnasium schools in Söderhamn and the expected result include:

Formal partnerships will develop between a national school, business, employment and the municipality.
At least 15 instructors trained on basic building and construction and they in turn become tutors for at least 20 new trainees.

Project Area

Education

Swedish partner

Söderhamns kommun

International partner

Ugu District Municipality

Distant learning

There is very little adult education available in the rural areas of Ugu District. The aim is to set up distance education for adults and to educate at least 10 teachers in distance learning. The courses given shall be based on local needs but in this project distance learning pedagogics is the main goal.

After a year 10 teachers from Ugu District shall be educated in distance learning and 4 groups with 15 students in each, have gone through courses given as distance learning. When the project is finished Ugu District shall continue to work with distance education together with the municipality of Söderhamn.

Project Area

Education

Swedish partner

Söderhamns kommun

International partner

Ugu District Municipality

Distanspedagogik steg 2

The overall objective of the project is to obtain an increased level of democracy and prosperity by improving access to education in rural areas and thus achieve higher level of education and increased employability.

The activities undertaken have been creating a distance education network where education providers, managers, project managers, coordinators, teachers, technicians and administrative staff are included.

Project Area

Education

Swedish partner

Söderhamns kommun

International partner

Ugu District

Teacher and principle education

The background for this project is a big lack of skills among teachers and principles in South Africa. The reasons for this are, for instance, low status and the fact that many teachers have died in AIDS which have lead to the employment of young teachers with no education.

The aim of this project would therefore be to start a process which will raise the competence among teachers and principles and in that way raise the quality in the educational system.

The goals of the project are:

to educate 60 teachers during two years= 30 per year
to educate 30 principles during two years= 15 per year
to considerably enhance the possibilities, for the groups mentioned, to fullfill their tasks in a good way.

This project will move on from the experiences made in the first distance education project. The goal is to work with an additional 20 teachers during the next three years. Together with principles, the four teachers that were involved in the first project , they will form the base for a network in distance education.

This network will be important and work with:

educate more teachers
adjust courses to distance education
be updated in the development in distance education and technique in this field
spread the idea about distance education throughout Ugu District

The Municipality of Söderhamn cooperates with Ugu District Municipality and, through them, also with The Departement of Education and Esayidi FET College. This forms a stable setting for future work. The final goal is that the stakeholders in Ugu District will continue this work, supported by CFL in Söderhamn.

Project Area

Education

Swedish partner

Söderhamns kommun

International partner

Ugu District