KSA through its programmes of WOP and KTC also address the issues of unemployment through soft and hard skills training.  Thus the utilisation of KSA as a service provider for the SAAMSTAAN project has been an excellent opportunity for us to expand the reach and scope of KSA life skills training as well as assist government in its task of tackling unemployment.

Life Skills Training – Schools Upgrading Project - Greater Cape Town area

For the period 21 August 2006 to the 2 October 2006 the Kolping Society of South Africa was involved in the training of 66 participants of the SAAMSTAAN school upgrading project.  These schools were located in the Greater Cape Town area and in particular focused on schools on the Cape Flats which had been identified for upgrading.  KSA participated in the soft skills training of participants at three schools.  This was in the form of a 10 day intensive life skills course.  The schools where training was conducted were Montana Primary School in Bonteheuwel, St Andrew’s Secondary School in Elsies River and Manzomthombo Secondary School in Mfuleni.  The participants of the training programme were in most cases members of the community in which the school was located.

Table 1.1 Summary Training Statistics for the Schools Upgrading Project – SAAMSTAAN

Life Skills Training – Road Maintenance Project - Klein Karoo

For the period 9 November 2006 to the 5 December 2006 KSA was involved in the training of 46 participants of the SAAMSTAAN road maintenance project in the Klein Karoo.  Life skills training was conducted in Albertinia and Barrydale for members of the local communities who had previously been unemployed.  The life skills programme delivered to these participants was essentially the same as that delivered to the school upgrade participants with one difference.  The Klein Karoo participants received an additional 2 days training focusing on environmental awareness as per EPWP request.  Unlike the Greater Cape Town life skills course, which were delivered predominantly in English, with a mixture of Afrikaans and Xhosa depending on the specific area, the training in the Klein Karoo area was delivered entirely in Afrikaans.  Participants were encouraged to speak English as a form of practice especially considering that

Table 1.2 Summary Training Statistics for the Road Maintenance Project – SAAMSTAAN

* Please note – Although 22 participants were trained, fees were only claimed for 19 participants.  The reasons for this are that the outstanding 3 persons either did not have identity documents or could not sign their names and we were unable to capture their thumbprints.

Course outcomes

The life skills course offered to the participants of the SAAMSTAAN project focused on five key areas.  These were:

1. Apply knowledge of self in order to make a personal decision
2. Investigate work opportunities in order to make a personal employment or work decision
3. Manage Personal finances
4. Apply accurate information about HIV & AIDS to everyday life
5. Develop Personal conservation ethics (only in the case of Albertinia and Barrydale Training)

It became clear that in all instances of the training, be it in the Greater Cape Town region or the Klein Karoo, the majority of participants appeared to suffer from a low self-esteem.  Often participants would not be very motivated and were on the course purely as a means to earn some much needed income.  The course definitely served as an intervention as well as an eye opener for many of the learners who could see that their own motivation would determine their success.

The workshop method used by KSA for life skills involves interactive activities; role plays as well as both individual and group work.  The aim is to create a safe environment for participants and allow for full participation.

Learner Feedback

KSA believes in continuously assessing the effectiveness of our training programmes.  We believe that the participants themselves should be given the opportunity to raise any concerns they may have with course material, method of facilitation and overall effectiveness of the course.  Each day learners are given the opportunity to give details about the aspects of the course they enjoyed or did not enjoy and more importantly why.  They are also given the opportunity to express any general comments they may have about the course for that day.

The majority of learners reported that they enjoyed the course thoroughly.  In particular they mentioned that it was very useful to be able to speak about their problems.  They learnt to work together as a team and also felt that their class mates could understand them better.  Some of the comments made in evaluations were as follows:

“Die kursus was leersaaam an opvoedkundig.“

“We learn so much about ourselves.“

“I see everyday as a challenge”

As KSA we recognize the importance of life skills training and find it a most useful tool in providing motivation and focus to participants who might have been de-motivated due to lack of work opportunities, social or economic circumstances.

Problems encountered & Recommendations

One of the problems encountered while delivering the life skills training was the levels of illiteracy amongst learners.  As an external service provider having played no role in recruitment of candidates we found that some learners were not at the necessary literacy level to engage fully in the workshop we had prepared.  This meant that certain aspects of the workshop had to be adjusted during the course to accommodate these learners.  In future it would be advisable to inform service providers before hand about the possible low literacy levels so that programmes can be adjusted before training commences.  There were cases where learners were functionally illiterate.  A method we use to overcome this problem is oral exercises as well as role plays to check understanding and we encourage other learners on the course who are literate to assist those learners who are not.

Another major problem encountered was the Identity document issue.  As a service provider we played no role in recruiting learners for the programme.  But at the same time our fees paid to us by department are reliant on learners having identity documents.  It thus becomes a problem that when we start our training course with learners and we find that they do not have any identity documentation.  As an NGO we have committed ourselves to train these people even though we essentially would not get paid for this training.  In some cases we have even paid for learners to get the temporary and permanent identity documents.  We do feel however that the department should take better care when recruiting for the programme as some service providers would not be able to assist learners in this regard and as such lose income from the course which they may be reliant on.

Conclusion

The role-out of the life skills programme to the SAAMSTAAN project is seen by KSA and the learners on the project as a great success.  The positive feedback received by the learners on the project and the team leaders who have witnessed the change in the learners’ attitudes is a testament to this.  KSA would like to thank the Department of Transport and Infrastructure as well as the Department of Labour for the opportunity given to us to make a difference in so many people’s lives.  We can only hope that the work we do will impact them positively and aid Government in fighting unemployment and creating a workforce of skilled people able to contribute to the country’s economy.

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