Building Sustainability: Capacity building to increase impact

Required Investment: $25,000

Project Goals: As Global Camps Africa and Camp Sizanani continue to grow, we are committed to increasing the capacity of our staff to meet the emerging needs of the organization and the young people we serve.  Over the next year, our strategic approach to development will require additional training for staff and volunteers in the areas of communications, effective facilitation, health and nutrition (including HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health), first aid, and early childhood education.  Accredited certifications that result from Global Camps Africa-sponsored trainings will empower our staff and volunteers to not only better serve the organization and our campers, but also their families and communities.

Duration of Project:  4 years

Target Population Group:  Global Camps Africa’s South African volunteers and staff members living in the disadvantaged communities where our campers and club members are from.  Camp Sizanani’s volunteers and staff members have similar backgrounds to the primary beneficiaries of the GCA programs, including poverty and other socio-economic challenges.  The volunteers and staff who will receive training and certifications are primarily aged between 20-35 years and are also affected by HIV/AIDS.

Project Location: Johannesburg (Gauteng Province – South Africa)

Project Impact (projection):  Forty volunteers and staff members will receive professional development opportunities that will support the growth of Global Camps Africa’s programs, ensure the high quality of the programs as they scale up, and create a sustainable infrastructure of knowledge and skills from which Camp Sizanani can continue to expand to meet the needs of more vulnerable children in South Africa and beyond.

Project Description:  As a quality control measure, Global Camps Africa conducted a skills audit of volunteers and staff members in 2017. The results of the audit showed that various improvements in technical and soft skills needed to be made in to elevate the overall competency levels of staff and volunteers.  Upskilling staff and volunteers will improve the quality of support provided to the children and youth participating in GCA programs.

Since the skills audit, GCA has completed a pilot training program that resulted in: 41 volunteers and staff members trained (in January and May 2018) in HIV/AIDS ??? by instructors from the University of Pretoria; 3 staff members becoming enrolled to study Auxiliary Social Work; 1 staff member trained in monitoring and evaluation and;  1 staff member trained in technical writing.

The 2017-2018 pilot program was successful, and though progress has been made in improving the skills of staff members, there are still significant skills gaps that need to be filled in several key areas.  An investment of $25,000 will ensure that the skills of 40 volunteers and staff members are developed to meet the emerging needs of the organization now and in the future.