Cape Town workshop – December 2017

In December 2017 Common Good First partners from Glasgow Caledonian University, Reykjavik University and Nelson Mandela University made their way to Cape Town. Colleagues from the University of the Western Cape hosted several days of meetings which focussed on technology and the digital platform.

The project partners visited two digital literacy projects in the Western Cape.  Seeing the projects stimulated useful discussion on the user requirements and equipment we will need for the digital storytelling labs which CGF will create in South Africa.  One of the projects in the Western Cape is a pilot e-skills initiative based in a primary school in Wellington; it teaches basic computer and internet knowledge to a group of young people, women and the unemployed.  This training will enable the students to participate fully in the digital economy and, after six months of classes, here they are, ready to graduate!

The second project was Usiba Loluntu in the Gugulethu township.  There, Sandile Banjwa (below) told us how he created this programme to keep young people in school, motivated by coaching and tutoring.  The initiative also teaches coding skills and really lives up to their vision of “Eradicating illiteracy through Innovative Learning”.

We were inspired both by the dedication of the leaders of these two projects, as well as the commitment and enthusiasm of the learners.  We hope that we will continue to work with them both as CGF develops over the next couple of years.

Another full day was spent listening to pitches from local South African web agencies who were competing to build the platform to host our digital network.  We listened to a number of very high quality presentations and, contracts permitting, we’ll announce the successful bidder in early 2018. Watch this space!

Leaving the best to last (…),  some of  the team spent their final morning doing preliminary work on the mid-way project report for the Erasmus+ office in Brussels.  Luckily, the terrace at the guest house made for a handy temporary office and gave the folk from Northern Europe a last dose of sun and warmth before heading back to sub-zero temperatures in Scotland and Iceland.

Finally, here’s a short film by Bundu Media’s Will Gardner about our successful few days in the Mother City.