LCD's South Africa Programme

Aims & Objectives

The main aim of the programme is to improve the quality of education delivered to children in poor and remote areas of South Africa. This is done by:

• helping district departments to improve the way they work with their schools;
• improving the management and governance in schools;
• encouraging community involvement in school life;
• sharing the lessons learnt with all schools, communities, government departments and funders.

Developing teachers

LCD works with educators to help improve the quality of teaching within classrooms as well as the overall management and running of the school. Headteachers are supported in developing their leadership skills and teachers are involved in literacy training.

Supporting schools

LCD supports schools in a number of ways. Schools undergo training in financial management to increase understanding of
the importance of transparency in all financial matters.  

Schools can also apply for an annual School Improvement Grant. The school can spend the grant on its most critical needs, this could
be a new classroom, library books or even a well.

Click here to read more about schools in South Africa.

Involving the community

Community members and parents are encouraged to get involved in the running of the school by standing on School Governing Bodies (SGBs). This means they have a say in the education being delivered to their children as well as being able to hold the school to account.

Fundraising is also an important part of community involvement. It promotes a long term active interest in the schools prospects and development.

Link Schools Programme

Over 120 schools in the Eastern Cape are linked to schools in the UK. School linking enables children in these schools to learn directly from each other, adding an important international element to the school curriculum.

Click here for more information on the Link Schools Programme.

Global Teachers Programme

In 2006, over 25 Global Teachers carried out 5 week placements in schools in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

Click here for more information on the Global Teachers Programme.

Building district capacity

LCD works with district departments of education, helping staff to improve their support to schools and to spread best practice between all the schools in their areas (not just the ones LCD has the capacity to be involved with).

Sharing learning

LCD aims to share the lessons learned from the project with the Ghana Education Service and others in the education sector. This is hoped to influence national policy and therefore make a difference to education across the whole country.

Lessons learned from the Ghana project are also shared with LCD programmes in Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and the UK to promote best practice as widely as possible.

The Northern Cape Integrated Education Programme (IEP) is part of a USAID-funded programme that is being implemented in four provinces. The aim of the project is to improve student performance in numeracy, literacy, mathematics and science. This is achieved through training teachers on the target subjects, as well as working with school managers, governors and district officials so that they can all make a joint effort to help learners achieve better results.

In 2005, LCD successfully tendered to implement a School Health Advisory Committee Capacity Building Project in ten districts in the Eastern Cape. The programme aims to establish Health Advisory Committees (HACs) in 125 schools by March 2007. Once elected, the HAC members are required to be trained and mentored in order for them to be able to guide schools in developing a HAC policy which incorporates individual policies on HIV & AIDS, health and nutrition, school safety and drug, alcohol and substance abuse. HACs will also lead on drawing up actions plans to ensure the implementation of the policies within the school.