A small UK charity run entirely by volunteers has gained an international reputation for its work in sport and education linking young people in the UK and South Africa. The Bambisanani Partnership has used the power of sport to promote education, health, global citizenship and leadership to change lives in one of South Africa’s most challenging regions. The partnership was founded 17 years ago by St. Mary’s School in Leeds and Mnyakanya School situated in one of the most remote and deprived areas of KwaZulu-Natal.
2023: An outstanding year of activity and impact for the charity
2023 saw 4007 young people from both countries involved in Bambisanani activities. 41 young people from four institutions (St. Marys School, Menston; University of Leeds; Leeds Trinity University and Newcastle College) together with 11 members of staff volunteered in South Africa for a period of more than 3 months in total. This involved 33 different schools of which 17 were new to the programme.
In collaboration with Mnyakanya School and Rotary Clubs in South Africa and the UK, Computer Applications Technology (CAT) provision at Mnyakanya School has been dramatically improved with the school achieving specialised CAT status via assessment by the KZN Department of Education.
Mnyakanya School achieved its best ever examination results and recorded a significant increase in student enrolment citing the Bambisanani Partnership as an important factor in that success with particular reference to the ICT Suite and Water Installation Project provided by the charity
The partnerships Cycling to Success initiative continued to expand and in July a significant partnership agreement was signed with KZN Cycling that will see more than 5,000 young people a year, from some of South Africa’s most rural, remote and deprived areas how to ride and maintain bikes. 2,356 children have already participated in the programme.
The Bambisanani International Athletics Challenge expanded to include 15 schools from South Africa and the UK involving 335 students. Since this programme began 852 primary school children from both countries have participated in the initiative
Since the Bambisanani Partnership began a total of 16,703 young people have been involved in its various projects and programmes. Significantly this now includes students from primary schools, secondary schools, colleges and universities. Over the past three years the number of educational establishments involved in the work of the partnership has increased from 17 to 38
D.Geldart <D.Geldart@bambisananipartnership.org>
The post Small Charity Massive Impact: The remarkable Bambisanani Partnership appeared first on The Home Of Great South African News.
