Social Development

 

Every year the Telkom Foundation supports many organizations and initiatives that provide social services in disadvantaged communities. During the FY2107, R2.6 million was allocated to the various organizations listed below. In the year ahead.

The Telkom Foundation continued to sponsor infrastructure for the 24-hour national telephonic counselling helplines, for Lifeline and Childline. These services assist traumatised children, youth and adults by providing counselling, emotional support and immediate crisis management.

 

WEP@WORK Evolves into a Business

In Gauteng, we continued to fund the successful WEP@WORK programme, at Forest Town School for physically and cognitively challenged learners. A select few learners from disadvantaged backgrounds have been skilled and trained in Computer Hardware Awareness. For some of the beneficiaries, the training received at WEP@WORK has enabled them to live independently first time. The repaired computers can be sold and there is potential for the programme to make a profit and become self-sustainable. The Telkom Foundation has enlisted the help of FutureMakers, Telkom's enterprise and supplier development programme, to develop this as a business.

 

Connecting the Aged to their Families

In Kwazulu Natal, the Telkom Foundation has partnered with The Association for the Aged in bringing connectivity to a home for the aged. Many of the residents are lonely and only see their families infrequently. The Telkom Foundation has changed that by introducing Skype as a means of keeping in touch. We provided the hardware and software as well as training and support to ensure that these senior citizens can regularly contact their families and be part of their lives.

 

Thapelo Community Centre

The Thapelo Community in Soweto started as singing group but has brought more than entertainment to their community. It has grown into a key support system with a crèche and homework centre and an extensive vegetable garden. The homework centre provides local learners with a place to study that has electricity and connectivity. The Telkom Foundation provided computers and training for 30 youth members in basic IT skills. The Thapelo Community Centre provides training to more than 100 students for internships and see to placement of these students, 50 entrepreneurship trainees and over 200 youth in end user computing skills per year.

 

Ditshego Home of Laughter

The Telkom Foundation supported the Ditshego Home of Laughter with a R50 000 sponsorship that contributed to an event aimed at raising awareness and further funding for the NGO as well as marketing the services of the home within the community.

 

FAMSA

Telkom Foundation partnered with FAMSA to provide psycho-social services to 10 high schools in the Port Elizabeth/Uitenhage district. FAMSA provide counselling, training, mentorship and family orientated programmes aimed at supporting individuals, families, communities and society to build, restore and sustain functional relationships. The Foundation donated R433 200 towards a school intervention programme that addresses drug abuse, child headed households, teenage pregnancies, poverty, malnutrition, bullying, gender violence, gangsterism and chronic illnesses.

 

Kidz Clinic

Telkom Foundation donated four laptops with MiFi, each with data, to the social workers from the Kidz Clinic to enable them to attend to their work while waiting for their cases to appear in court. The Kidz Clinic provides free medical care, therapeutic intervention and treatment services to abused children. The project is run by Women & Men Against Child Abuse, a non-profit child protection organization committed to fighting for the rights of children and to end the abuse of children in South Africa.

 

Limpopo Entertainment Group

The Limpopo Entertainment Group is a drop-off centre, where approximately 150 children can do their homework. Telkom Foundation donated three laptops with data to assist with the administration of the project and for the children’s use for homework and research. In addition, the Foundation provided a financial donation for garden tools and seeds for a vegetable garden, money to upgrade the kitchen and to pay a stipend to three volunteers.

 

LoveLife Y-Centres

Telkom Foundation donated R1.5 million for renovations and to provide connectivity to LoveLife Y-Centres in five provinces. The youth centres are strategically set up in resources poor areas with a high HIV prevalence. The centers provide a range of exciting and innovative activities and initiatives aimed at the prevention of HIV and holistic youth development. Young people are benefitting from these programmes and partake in sports and arts and culture activities. With connectivity the high school learners of the community can now attend the Y-centres and do online research for school assignments.

 

Hospital Support

The Foundation donated toys and therapeutic equipment to psychiatric hospitals run by the Gauteng Mental Health in Cullinan, Wes Koppies and Sterkfontein. This supports the occupational therapy at the hospitals by providing materials for craft activities. The donation included sports equipment and board games as well as other games that are used to assess communication, participation, memory, interpersonal skills and interaction.

The Telkom Foundation funded the painting of the outpatients’ department and the purchase of a new dental chair for the Van Velden Hospital, a provincial hospital, providing a comprehensive health care services in Limpopo.

 

Mom Connect

Telkom Foundation funds a discounted SMS rate to the users of the MomConnect Service for expecting mothers in South Africa. MomConnect is a National Department of Health initiative, using mobile technology to register all pregnancies across South Africa. The objective is to educate pregnant women and encourage regular clinic visits. In the three years since its inception 830 000 k women have registered, 150 000 have rated the service, 40 million messages have been sent and 290 000 messages have been received by the help desk.

 

Vastfontein Community Transformation

Vastfontein Community Transformation is a NGO that focuses on the development and social upliftment of the communities near Hammanskraal and Soshanguve. Vastfontein Community Transformation runs the Batho Pele Christian School and a digital hub and ICT skills development training centre. The Telkom Foundation provided ICT equipment for all the schools classrooms and the training centre as well as providing new equipment to the management of the team. This will benefit the 300 primary school children that attend the school, the youth that receive training (45 students twice a year) and more than 10 staff members.