A Success Story: The Etafeni Trust Fit for - SAfAIDS

The implementing organisations have adopted and revised the training curriculum to
suit their particular contexts.
Sample Case: Vrygrond Programme
“This is a model that shouldn’t only be given to youth in disadvantaged
communities. It is about life skills. You should hear the feedback from
bosses about the quality of our graduates. Our graduates have a great
work ethic and understand that a job as a cleaner is a stepping stone to a
better job; that a job can provide them with a reference which they won’t
get sitting at home. This programme has something for every community;
because you can make a change not only to one person’s life, but in the
lives of their families and communities”
– Vrygrond Centre Manager
“In a community like this you need to have a lot of direction and self-will
to achieve. The peer pressure is immense. This programme helps me to
manage the peer pressure and protect myself”
– 22 year old woman graduate, Fit For Life, Fit for Work Programme, Vrygrond
The Vrygrond programme began in September 2009, and the Programme Manager
learnt about the programme during her placement at Etafeni. This contributed to
a smooth replication process. The first group of 12 was trained in 2010 and the
programme registered a 100% placement rate, which is a notable success, and like
the Etafeni Programme, 60% of trainees are girls. Etafeni has allocated about two
years to get the programme up and running and to get things into place, before
they hand the programme to the Vrygrond Community Development Trust. This
mentoring and close support over a long period is a positive approach that enables
consolidation of the replication process, and effectiveness of scale-up.
The components of the Fit For Life, Fit for Work Programme are simple, practical and
easily adaptable, without distorting the objectives and impact intended.
This makes it easy to replicate in communities with similar contexts, which include
most communities in the southern African region. The Vrygrond Community
Development Trust and the Valoyi Traditional Authority Trust have invited the Etafeni
Trust to replicate its model of a community-built multi-purpose centre in poor and
AIDS-affected communities in Vrygrond and rural Limpopo. The Vrygrond Centre is
now complete and the Nwamitwa Centre is under way.
In terms of scale-up within the Nyanga population, there has not been much
exploration on this and the scope of this documentation shall trigger mapping and
crafting strategies for this angle of scale-up.
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