In South Africa, two new community projects have been announced by wind farms owned by Lekela-led consortia. As part of these wind farms’ development programmes, Loeriesfontein Wind Farm and Khobab Wind Farm have funded training for two local construction companies, and Noupoort Wind Farm has helped to establish a literacy programme for young learners.
The first project, at Loeriesfontein Wind Farm and Khobab Wind Farm funded training for two small businesses’ labour force, comprising 23 people. The training has been extensive and includes special height training skills to reduce safety risks. Various critical skills training specialists provided on-site coaching, supervision and mentoring, as well as tutoring on the Small Builders Manual by the Masters Building Association, over a 4-month period.
The contractors, Elton Januarie, Owner of Essay General Traders, and Patrick Souw, Safety Representative of Essay General Traders & Elysium Projects JV, have highlighted how the training has enabled them to erect scaffolding quickly and safely, speeding up construction as a result.
The second project, funded by Noupoort Wind Farm, is providing a further twenty children with one-on-one literacy coaching in order to help young people whose education has been disrupted by the COVID-19 lockdown.
The programme has been running since 2017, with the aim of bringing all Grade 4 learners to the appropriate reading age. A total of 188 learners from Ikhwezi Lokusa Primary School, Eurekaville Intermediary School and Noupoort Combined School were assessed earlier this year, so that a literacy plan could be devised based on the outcome of the assessments, which indicated that many of the children were not reading at the level of their grade.
The funding will be used to pay for two coaches, buying literacy material for the Grade 4 learners as well as training, coaching and mentoring for the reading coaches.
Both programmes, carried out through operation and construction management company MAMSA, reflect Lekela’s long term approach to community investment, boosting both local enterprise and improving education. They are part of the company’s wide range of projects supporting communities across our sites in South Africa, Egypt and Senegal.