Participating organisations: Save the Children, UK (SCUK, Track Lead), Gods Golden Acre (GGA), Catholic Institute of Education (CIE), Dance for Life, SA (D4L), Scouting Association of South Africa (SASA), Stellenbosch University (SU), Targeted Aids Interventions (TAI).
The foundations of this track are
- Acknowledging the important role that volunteers and ground-level facilitators play in the process of implementing any project or program dealing with Aids and Children;
- Stipends and other remuneration at this level are seldom sufficient in value for the work done, or for supporting a family;
- Sustainability of the projects will be improved through accrediting the organisations and their materials so that subsidised learnerships can be taken on by the organisations, and the volunteer/facilitator staff can begin to develop a career path;
- Setting up these standards, and the model of "career pathing" volunteers will contribute to the recognition of this role and its institutionalisation into the Government budget.
Steps taken
- Participating organisations have explored and mapped the appropriate paths for accreditation
- Relevant SETA departments have been identified
- Training of 4LifeFacilitators has begun (is ongoing) in various modules according to the needs of the participating organisations
- Training for 4LifeFacilitators has been aligned with the Government unit standards to insure that once the SETA requirements are in place and monitored our facilitators will be on their way to receiving relevant qualifications
- The Track Lead has begun developing a step by step Guide to aligning and accrediting training of facilitators
Progress towards program objectives (September 2008)
The implementation of this track can be divided (broadly) into two categories: training and support of facilitators; and, accreditation of trainers and institutions. Training and support of facilitators has begun and will continue through the year. The accreditation process has been more difficult to implement.
Challenges
Government structures and systems have been one of the barriers to our implementation of this track. There is limited access to knowledge about these structures and systems and thus we have been dependant on consultants and government officials to aid the process. Deciding on which SETA to apply to, completing and submitting various phases of forms, and monitoring one's own organisation and training in terms of the specific standards set for each unit is complex. Also, once one phase has been completed we must wait for feedback from government before we can complete the next phase. This makes it hard to know when implementation will be finalised, however the processes have begun and are being monitored.
Expected outputs
- Accreditation of organisations as service providers
- Accreditation of materials i.e. training manuals in various skills
- Accreditation of staff as trainers and moderators
- Certificates for in-house training courses that are aligned with acknowledged qualifications
- Government subsidised Learnerships in some organisations
- Model for “career pathing” volunteers
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