Phandulwazi advances Collaborative Learning &
Development for people to “Reach Their Dreams” Revamp and relaunch
marked for 2023
By Thandisizwe MGUDLWA
CAPE TOWN/South Africa: Phandulwazi Educational
& Development Centre in Langa, Cape Town is mobilising stakeholders
to to advance Collabarative Learning & Development.
According to Phandulwazi, Collaborative Learning will foster collaborative planning and development.
Since its inception in 1988, Phandulwazi Educational &
Development Center has given birth to Ulwazi Youth Centre, Phandulwazi
Educare Centre and another branch in Mthatha, Eastern Cape province
among other developments.
At its inception, the founder Zora Mehlomakulu was driven by a desire to see people reach their full potential in life.
Previously called Phandulwazi Workers Skills Development Project, the
organisation is situated on 13 Johnson Ngwevela Street in Langa (ZONE 5
(opposite Zone 16) Cape Town, South Africa.
The Phandulwazi (Searching for Knowledge) concept, which is a skills’
development and multipurpose centre, is really based on promoting
Collaborative Learning & Development through partnerships and
cooperation with mostly like minded groups.
The sharing of information, resources and ideas greatly influences the Collaborative Learning & Development model.
Phandulwazi (Searching for Knowledge) exists to develop, nurture and
train people, youth and children, families, enterprises to become
economically self reliant, to build communities and impart to others,
skills, knowledge, information, resources and a user friendly networking
nerve group for the intellectual, spiritual, emotional and
socio-economic development of all people, so that we can all live happy,
healthy, fulfilling, prosperous lives and achieve our full potential in
this great life.
Phandulwazi has been addressing challenges like unemployment, skills
shortages, crime, underdevelopment, poverty among other societal ills
plainly due to the partnerships in has forged over the years.
This has been done with the collaboration and cooperation with
stakeholders & shareholders including government departments to
bring about a peaceful and prosperous society. Some of the independent
groups Phandulwazi has worked with over the years include Ikamva Labantu
a charitable Trust that has helped millions of people across South
Africa. Ikamva promotes sustainable socio-economic change in the most
vulnerable communities.
Another group,Ilitha Labantu provides services for women and children affect by violence in South Africa.
Some of the milestones for Phandulwazi include “kulula.com plants 1
250 trees in Western Cape in celebration of Youth Day” in 2011; 67
minutes spent with children by the Early Learning Resource Unit (Elru)
in 2016; Reach Your Dream programme; Afternoon classes for bead making;
Lungelo Health Care Centre Community Development and many other
programmes.
The 34 year old organisation has been looking at a number of
projects, programmes and campaigns in addressing the challenges we face
in our country; and especially Cape Town with the special focus being on
the under-served communities, these are clearly areas that suffer the
most from everyday hardships of urban & rural lifestyle due to
historical and current imbalances.
For example, over the years we have positively impacted, equipped and
empowered more than 1000 people through multiple programmes with our
partners on various artisan skills, business and entrepreneurship
programmmes to mention but a few. And our work has resulted in the
creation of jobs.
The organization was born out of a need at a time when there was
unemployment and generally a skills crisis, which by the way still
confronts the country.
The organization further targets different organs of society
including the media, civil society, business, labour and governments to
promote collaboration and communication on issues affecting various
sectors and to further lobby for the government’s support in promoting
the interest of stakeholders and attending to the needs of the
communities accordingly.
Phandulwazi media blogs further express and reflect the work, vision
and mission of the organisation with a viewership of more than 400 000.
The blogs are Africa Biz (http://africa-biz.blogspot.co.za); The African Recorder (http://theafricanrecorder.blogspot.co.za); Choose n Grow (https://choosengrow.blogspot.com); & TM Publishers (https://tm-publishers.myshopify.com).
Phandulwazi is big on enterprise and skills development and the
transfer of skills, information, knowledge and resources, promoting
networking, participation & involvement and boosting of capacity
building for the business and the private sector broadly.
As it is approaching its 35th Anniversary in 2023, moves are in place
to revamp and relaunch this proud and glorious institution to be more
relevant and in line with the modern challenges facing communities in
South Africa and elsewhere.
On this front, we can list the Ikamva Youth Alumni | Facebook … 2022
organized by the Phandulwazi Educational & Development Centre in
Langa, … “Support them on their journey to reach their academic
potential.”
The current main operations are Outreach programmes including,
children’s workshops by Encounters, youth groups, Afterschool programmes
(Equal Education Foundation), and business workshops, to name a few.
Other organisations have a working relationship with Phandulwazi and
community structures from youth & women groups, the elderly, etc.
The revamp of Phandulwazi includes the partnership Space Academy and
Business Exploration Company (PTY) Ltd with a mission to provide
research-focused interventions to bridge the performance gap, directed
by legendary Pule Keswa.
Space Academy and Business Exploration Company (PTY) Ltd milestones
include creating, implementing and evaluating a programme to establish
and run a Youth organisation in Noupoort (Northern Cape); Preparing a
tertiary directorate for a Strategy Review session ( UCT Human Resource
Directorate); Setting up an organizational mechanism for 8 Cooperative
working under Township Patterns and Conducting strategy planning
workshops for Think Twice organisation.
These are serve to further support the Collaborative Learning & Development model.
Phandulwazi is one of the early enterprises in South Africa to be
formed on the basis of the Black economic empowerment (BEE) programme.
On this front we call on investors, businesses, and industries to
partner with groups like Phandulwazi for mutual benefit and to create
jobs for locals while these enterprises stand to thrive, an example here
is the retail giant, Boxer.
And community ownership should be around 49 – 51% agreement, subject to negotiations.
Phandulwazi’s association with Kwaito music, through our Kwaito Star
programme is inspired by our love for the youth. We believe Kwaito has
succeeded in reflecting the good, the bad and the untidy sides of South
African ghetto life.
Kwaito is a weapon against the status quo. It also seeks to promote
initiatives and entrepreneurship rather than depending on other people
or the government for empowerment.
Kwaito has entertained and inspired millions of youths and elders in
South Africa and abroad to seek to do good, be good and do better in
life among its many achievements.
People and the youth especially, can now engage and empower themselves through our Kwaito Star app: https://soundcloud.com/discover
YouthsCareer.com which is, is another partner Phandulwazi is now
working with to achieve our aims and objectives. YouthsCareer.com is an
informative online portal, The portal hosts Job Opportunities,
Scholarships, Internships, Volunteering and Tenders all in one place.
Rainbow Talent Agency has also joined in: https://www.rainbowtalent.co.za/.eduweb.africa
has also come on board as another valuable future partner for
Phandulwazi. eduweb.africa is the only comprehensive online platform to
offer educational resources for parents, schools, students, school
suppliers and teachers by creating a central informative digital space.
Phandulwazi is currently engaging with more possible partners.
Phandulwazi’s committee of Phandulwazi reaches out to the public as we love everybody.
We strongly believe that every human being matters, everybody has a
story to tell and everybody must be supported to fulfil their God-given
purposes.
That is why we encourage people, organisations, institutions,
industries, and sectors to engage and interact with us through advice,
suggestions, partnerships, donations, proposals, business plans etc, on
how to rebuild our society for the benefit of everybody. You can connect
with Phandulwazi through our page Phandulwazi KwaLanga on Facebook.
Thandisizwe Mgudlwa is the Director at Phandulwazi, an award-winning
journalist, and bestselling author of the children’s book, Kiddies
World. He holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship from the Regenesys Business
School.
