Islamic Relief South Africa runs youth volunteerism and community programming that aims to foster social cohesion and interconnectedness by empowering young people with the skills and experience to design and implement community projects that address local needs.
Collaboration that fosters holistic community development
The Osizweni Community Development Project is an integrated and robust collaboration between IRSA and the Gauteng departments of education, agriculture, health, and social development. This holistic community development programme ensures that vulnerable children and their guardians receive integrated nutritional, educational, health and other developmental support.
The project – which benefits 480 children and guardians – is run from the Osizweni Community Care Centre, where community members can access a food garden, support groups and counselling services, parenting education programmes, paid learnership opportunities, teacher training, sewing, gardening, and other courses that can lead to income-generating activities.
This project exemplifies how supporting and empowering individuals can ripple through and uplift entire communities. Participants of the sewing programme, for example, use their newly gained skills to alter school unforms for children in the community, while participants who work in the community garden not only learn agricultural skills, but also help to feed their community with sustainable and nutritious food sources. The Centre’s food garden is also used as a hub of learning for neighbouring community food gardens.
The Centre also provides quality early childhood development and primary schooling, which IRSA supports by covering the costs of teacher salaries, feeding schemes, transport and stationery for learners, and school maintenance.
