1. Arts, culture & SPort (i) Arts & Culture Arts & Culture currently houses five codes, i.e. Gumboot Dance, Indlamu, Dance Club, Poets’ Corner and Umgido. It gets student teachers to write poetry and perform traditional dances and then go out to schools to perform their activities. It also ensures that learners are supported to get involved in similar activities through workshops. Finally, competitions are also held in order to encourage learners and strengthen their talents.
(ii) Sport Sport is responsible for organizing Sport tournaments for learners in the Pinetown and surrounding areas.The Associate also arranges sport tournaments for University students in order to promote healthy living. Currently tournaments for soccer, netball and volleyball are inexistence.Efforts are underway to include the previously ‘white’ sports so as to ensure that black people are represented in various national sporting codes.
2. Debating The Debating associate targets both University students and learners from schools.Students participate against other institutions and also residence debates. Students also learn how to coach and also how to adjudicate. We currently have two leagues for schools in existence, i.e. primary school and high school.A total of 14 schools participate, reaching over 140 learners. Through this Associate learners are trained to be confident, assertive, engage in research and critical thinkers. All schools that participate are disadvantaged as mainstream leagues in South Africa are still driven by former Model C schools.
3. HIV, education and bursaries (i) HIV It currently has two projects; one which offers counseling skills to student-teachers and another which arrangespeer support structures for school learners (PSSP).The PSSP uses University experts in the field of HIV/AIDS as well as university students to train learners on issues involving HIV/AIDS.Four elected learners and one teacher per school attend University funded workshops, fortnightly.After completing the workshops students are expected to implement what they’ve learnt in their respective schools.University facilitators facilitate the implementation process. In terms of the counselling programme, students are trained on counselling skills, and, through assistance from Peer Educators, are encouraged to support and counsel their peers on a myriad of social issues.A total of five schools per annum are trained.
(ii) Education & Bursaries Education & Bursaries is two-fold, dealing with education and literacy as well as support for financially needy schools and learners. Under Education; we have the Taking the University to the People Project (TUPP), which has seen a partnership between the CDA and Imbasa Foundation (Based in the US) being launched.We will also be launching a tutoring project with the Department of Education to support non-achieving schools. Under Bursaries we sponsor bursaries, uniforms and desks for needy schools.We mostly work with orphaned children.
4. Masakhane The Masakhane Associate offers a youth leadership course for learners in their 11th grade. These learners come from different backgrounds but predominantly from disadvantaged areas.Schools from all the regions in the KZN province are represented; a process of inviting schools outside the province has begun.Top University Academics, government members, celebrities and leaders from the private sector are invited to speak as guests. The project is seven days long and is fully funded by the money raised by the CDA.A total of 200 learners coming from over 50 schools participated in 2008.Topics covered include gender, diversity, leadership, conflict management, ethics, HIV/AIDS and the African renaissance.
5. ROTARACT Rotaract clubs are part of global effort to bring peace and international understanding to the world. This effort start at the community level but knows no limits in its outreach. this associate looks at all aspects of community development and Rotaractors have opportunity to visit other countries and bring joy to others. For more on this associate check out the Rotary website or follow the link below: http://www.rotary.org/en/StudentsAndYouth/YouthPrograms/Rotaract/Pages/ridefault.aspx
6. IMBASA Saturday Academy The Imbasa Saturday Academy is initial educational partnership established in cooperation with the IMBASA. The goal of this program is to provide subject tutoring, matriculation exam preparation, and admission counseling to the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth graders. for more information on IMBASA project follow the link below http://www.imbasa.org