Since 2008, Wesizwe Platinum’s community development programme has been defined by the social and labour plan (SLP) commitments. However, the ability of the Company to secure funding to start mine development, and associated activities, was severely impacted by the global financial crisis.
Now that the Company has secured full funding for the mine development project, it is capable of delivering on its SLP obligations, making a positive contribution to sustainable community development.
The key areas for socio-economic development have been selected in close collaboration with community authorities and municipal government structures to ensure alignment with the local integrated development plans. These include infrastructure development, education and training, health support, local business development, provision of housing and job creation activities – including commercial agriculture and tourism. The Company acknowledges that it is through ongoing collaboration and engagement with local authorities that it will be able to fulfill its obligations.
CASE STUDY: WHOLE SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
Wesizwe Platinum has provided funding to Read Educational Trust for the implementation of the Whole School Development Programme in six schools in the Ledig area in North West province. The project, which began with a baseline assessment of the schools in 2010, will impact on 32 teachers and 2335 learners from Grade R to Grade 3.
The foundation phase provides a critical platform for the introduction and future development of language and literacy skills, the basis of all successful primary, secondary and tertiary education. The Whole School Development Programme assesses existing levels in local schools, identifies the areas for improvement and, with an experienced and qualified educational specialist, implements a programme of training and development for principals, educators, learners and parents.
The Whole School Development Programme will:
- Train school principals, leader teachers and foundation phase teachers of the chosen primary schools to implement READ’S tried and tested methodologies in their schools and to sustain the programme once READ withdraws;
- Train foundation phase teachers to explain the programme to the parents of the children so that they can play a role in supporting the children's acquisition of the language and literacy skills (particularly reading skills) to the extent possible, given their own level of education. (Even illiterate parents have a great deal to offer. They can be introduced to meaningful ways to assist their children.)
- Provide appropriate learning and teaching resources together with the training so that the teachers can introduce the methodologies in the classrooms immediately on their return from training;
- Evaluate the development of the programme on a continuous basis through classroom mentoring, assessment of teachers’ application of the methodologies as well as the use of instruments to evaluate the improvement of the students’ language, literacy and communication skills.
After the completion of the baseline assessment, two training sessions in early childhood development took place, one in 2010 and the other in 2011. Management training took place over two days as specified in the programme schedule. Foundation phase training took place through An Introduction to Literacy over two days, followed by Shared Reading and Planning over two days as per the arrangement with the local Department of Education.
Subsequently, monitoring of Shared Reading has taken place in all six schools in the presence of a Department official and on one occasion the Sponsor visiting during monitoring and during training.
It has been noted that the monitoring and mentoring of teachers from school level, especially by the principals needs to be consistent and that group/team work is beneficial to further development of teachers.
The success lies of the programme lies in the follow-up work that the trainer will do with the teachers as a means to sustain the project. |
Local Economic Development
Enterprise development is the foundation on which a thriving and sustainable local economy will be built to last long after the mine has closed. As such, supporting local emerging enterprises to the point where they can usefully provide the goods and services required by Wesizwe Platinum for the construction of a mine, as well as to the local community, is a key focus area for the management team.
A recently concluded audit of the vendors on Wesizwe Platinum’s database highlighted a need for training to build the business capacity in local small and medium enterprises and to this end, Wesizwe has developed a supplier development strategy.
Part of this strategy includes making sure that contractors working with the Company in large scale mine development identify work packages that can be set aside for small and medium enterprises.
The Company’s SLP defines specific targets for the participation of local SMMEs in mine development through smaller work packages which form part of the larger EPCM contract. All contractors have been presented with the Wesizwe Platinum SLP targets and they have to demonstrate, as part of the tender process, how they intend involving local SMMEs and how they will recruit local labour.
Community Skills Audit
Wesizwe Platinum has a significant role to play in local economic development, job creation and skills development as it embarks on mine construction with the aim of establishing a mine which is producing at full capacity within the next ten years.
There is an expectation and a responsibility for Wesizwe Platinum to ensure that the local community benefits from the mine.
As such, there was a need to conduct a skills audit in the community to determine the collective base of skills, competence and knowledge. Over 2 000 people were assessed in five weeks and this information has been captured in a skills database.
The data collected in the audit has already proved invaluable with the recruitment of local skilled labour and in guiding a skills development programme to address the scarcity of skills and the lack of capacity in the current potential labour force.
 Community members visit the various exhibition stands at the Wesizwe Open Day to learn more about the company and the opportunities that it will offer to the community during mine development and beyond.
|
