PALABORA FOUNDATION
| Palabora has been involved in developing communities surrounding the mine for the past 37 years. Palabora has always been a leader in South Africa in ensuring that its employees and families benefit from excellent employment conditions. The Palabora Foundation (Foundation) was established in 1986 and it has been operating in local communities for the past 18 years. The Foundation is the sustainable development arm of Palabora and the corporate social investment programmes are directly aligned with the core business of the mine.
Palabora and the Foundation have a long-term commitment to develop and maintain sound relations with neighbouring communities based on trust, mutual respect and active partnerships.
Foundation purpose
“Development at the Palabora Foundation means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Purpose
To assist local communities to be self-reliant.
Foundations achieves this by: Working in partnership with communities within a 50km radius of
Phalaborwa in the fields of:
- Education
- Skills Development Training
- Small Business Development
- Community Health and HIV/Aids
- Local Economic Development and Tourism
- Small Scale Community Projects
The Foundation facilitates the establishment of a pool of skilled people in local communities who can contribute to the further development of communities. |
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Overview
The Foundation produces a Five Year Communities Plan and Budget which is an integral part of the plan and budget of Palabora and it is reviewed annually. Unlike many other South African Foundations and Trusts, the Foundation is not a grant making organization and in partnership with government and other stakeholders, it manages and implements a number of programmes in communities from its two education resource centers in Namakgale and Lulekani which are adjacent to the town of Phalaborwa.
The Foundation has 41 fulltime and 34 part-time staff of which approximately half of the staff are involved in community relations programmes. This number is dependent on the number of Foundation programmes at a given time and is under constant review. The Ba-Phalaborwa community is situated in the Limpopo Province of South Africa.
Local communities are either:
- Very disadvantaged in the rural areas;
- Industrialized, moving towards mainstream society;
- Industrialized, part of mainstream society.
Over the years the Foundation has become a partner with provincial and local government, other local companies, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and communities in their efforts to improve the education and skills base, fight the high rate of unemployment in the region and reduce the impact of HIV/Aids.
Palabora, Foskor Limited and Sasol Nitro jointly fund the Programme for Technological Careers (PROTEC) and also the Phelang HIV/Aids Centre in partnership with JOHAP/OXFAM, the National Development Agency, the national Lottery and the Department of Health and Welfare.
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EDUCATION
  
The Foundation is addressing the situation of poor education in partnership with the Limpopo Province Department of Education. The primary focus of these partnership programmes is to improve educator development as well as educational performance from pre-school to high school. Interventions are aimed at creating a pool of high capability school leavers who
have the potential to pursue scientific, technical and accountancy careers at tertiary institutions.
Educator Development Programmes
The purpose of the Educator Development Programmes is to ensure that the schools are sufficiently well resourced with qualified human resources and learner support materials to provide a conducive learning environment.
School Governance and Management
The purpose of the programme is to improve levels of governance and management in schools.
Community and Schools’ Library Project
In the past historically disadvantaged communities have neither had access to community libraries and library programmes nor to competitions for learners and educators at local schools. In 1987/8 the Foundation built and equipped two community libraries at its education centers in Namakgale and Lulekani, which provide a valuable service to primary, secondary and tertiary learners. These well equipped, air conditioned facilities provide a venue where students from crowded and often non-electrified homes can study and have access to relevant books and other printed media, and computer based education.
On 30 June 2004 the libraries were officially handed over to the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality Manager with a cheque for R1,2 million for the operating costs of the libraries for a two-year period after handover. This will allow the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality, to budget for these costs after July 2006.
Environmental Education and Schools’ Eco-Clubs
The purpose of the programme is to create and raise awareness on environmental and sustainable development issues through environmental programmes.
Learner Support Programmes
The purpose of the Learner Support Programmes is to provide a pool of high capability learners who can go on to further their studies in scientific and technological careers at tertiary institutions.
South Africa has a dire shortage of school leavers with the correct symbols on the higher grade in Mathematics and Science to proceed onto those careers where the country is experiencing skills shortages.
PROTEC (Programme for Technological Careers)
Historically most of the learners in local high schools would not have had the opportunity or the correct academic symbols to proceed to tertiary education in scientific careers. The Foundation’s programmes in the last few years have changed this scenario and many Grade 12s now have the correct symbols to access high quality tertiary education. The PROTEC programme completed its eighth year of operation in 2005 and aims to provide a source of high capability students for Palabora and other local companies and industries. Learners who are talented in mathematics, English and physical science are selected for the programme in Grade 10 and spend three years on the programme.
These learners attend extra lessons in the afternoons and during school vacations to prepare them for scientific and technological careers. Industrial site visits are organized to local industries and Grade 11 learners attend an annual one-week environmental leadership camp in July. More than 50% of these learners have gone on to study engineering, sciences and accountancy at tertiary institutions and some have received bursaries from Palabora.
Master Maths (M2)
The Foundation’s Mathematics programmes encourage learners with potential to take mathematics on the higher grade. High school learners attend extra mathematics lessons in the afternoons, evenings and during school holidays at three interactive computerized Master Maths Centres. Lessons are competency based allowing learners to study at their own pace.
The performance of many of the learners has increased dramatically over the years and many have gone on to study technical subjects at tertiary institutions.
Mathematics Olympiad
The Foundation supports a number of initiatives to instill in the youth a love for mathematics, science and technology. In partnership with the provincial Association of Mathematics Educators of South Africa (AMESA) a local, regional and provincial Mathematics Olympiad for three different levels is organized in the six districts in the province.
Science Exposition
The local and regional Science Exposition is funded by the Foundation and organized by a Science Exposition Committee of dedicated local science teachers.
Internet Centres
The Internet rooms at the two education centers give learners have access to the internet. Educators also use the centers to access educational information in the afternoons.
The learners are encouraged to use the internet to visit educational and university websites to access information for projects and assignments and information on careers, life skills and bursaries.
Skills Development Training
Many school leavers who exit the system before Grade 12 do not have the necessary qualifications or skills to enter the mainstream economy or to proceed to tertiary education. The Foundation has a number of skills training programmes to alleviate the problem. The aim of the programmes is to train mainly unemployed youth in construction and building and carpentry, sewing and food preparation skills to enable them to seek work in the formal sector or start their own businesses to earn a living.
Business Linkage and Advice Centres
The purpose of the Business Linkage and Advice Centre is to empower Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises/Black Economic Empowerment (SMME/BEE) sector with relevant training, mentoring, counseling opportunities to provide capacity to them so that they can compete to provide the three sponsoring companies with goods and services.
This programme was jointly funded by Palabora, Foskor Limited, Sasol Nitro and SEDA.
Phelang Ba-Phalaborwa Community HIV/Aids Centre
The purpose of the programme is to use an effective HIV/Aids management system to minimize the impact of HIV/Aids in the community. Foundation achieves this by educating communities to change social behaviour and by monitoring incidences and trends in order to measure the effectiveness and impact of the programme.
The Phelang Ba-Phalaborwa Community Service programme was launched in the area at the beginning of 2001 and is funded by Palabora Mining Company, the Limpopo Province Department of Health and Welfare, Foskor Limited, Sasol Nitro and JOHAP/OXFAM and the National Development Agency.
- Peer Group Educators (PGE’s):
The Peer Group Educators aim to educate people in high-risk areas (for example, bottle stores, shebeens, bars and taverns) by talking with the patrons, handing out condoms and other promotional material. They also do door-to-door visits to people’s homes.
- HIV/Aids Support Group:
The HIV/Aids Support Group members conduct visits in the community. The support group meet on a monthly basis for capacity building purposes and to plan and review progress of their work. Through the support group members get counseling, support, medicine and supplements.
- Home Based Care (HBC):
The Home Based Care group provide a valuable service to the community.
- Bana Pele Project:
Protecting orphans and vulnerable children
The Foundation launched the project in three pilot communities to help Aids orphans and vulnerable children. The aim of the project is to assist children to access social grants and foster care grants. The project also has two project farms where orphaned children are cared for. Parents of vulnerable children work on the farm and the products produced help feed the families living there. The staff also facilitates the process of applying and receiving birth certificates and proper identity books for children who do not have.
The statutory Ba-Phalaborwa local HIV/Aids Council continues to meet on a monthly basis and deals mainly with policy and
district issues relating to HIV/Aids. The Ba-Phalaborwa HIV/Aids Awareness programme has been recognized as one of the most effective programmes in the province.
The Phelang Ba-Phalaborwa Community HIV/Aids Centre works in partnership with the Maphuta Malatjie District Hospital to roll out the Anti-retroviral therapy programme.
Early Childhood Education
The Palabora Foundation coordinates the operation of Early Learning Centres in communities around Phalaborwa catering for pre-school children.
Tourism Promotion Initiatives
The Foundation has played a pivotal role in providing secretarial and administrative support for the Greater Phalaborwa Trade and Tourism Council that was established in January 2004. The Trade and Tourism Council is working on a number of initiatives to promote tourism to the region and the town, to shift the community focus away from a mining town to a town that thrives on tourism. Phalaborwa is the gateway to the recently proclaimed Greater Limpopo Trans Frontier Park and local government and the Trade and Tourism Council are identifying and developing projects and programmes to ensure that the town and the community will be able to cater for larger volumes of tourists in the future.
  
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