Building bridges to inspire innovative Teachers.
At the end of July 2022, 16 out of the 20 students who started their formal studies will complete their first level of the fully accredited Plant Production Certificate.
Eight (8) students from this cohort are already placed in the workplace at Bluedelite Nursery. This is a monumental milestone after the 25 October 2019 start in South Africa of the Agri-Learn-And-Earn concept.
Learning Academy Worldwide presented the idea at the Brussels, BELGIUM event in October of 2019. It effectively ignited a movement where learning and earning in the community, in the trenches, became a test case for local learning.
READ MORE NEWS UPDATES HEREFLTR - Theophilus van Rensburg Lindzter (Learning Academy Worldwide), Tom Zoellner, Secretary General of FarmTechSociety and Nader Imani,Head of Global Education Projects, Festo Didactic
Learning Academy Worldwide represented AGRACDEMY, the South African educational initiative, at GreenTech 2022 in Amsterdam - an event described as 'the #1 horticulture technology platform in the Netherlands, where industry professionals from all over the world come together to connect, network, share knowledge and do business'.
Specific discussion between FESTO and LEARNING ACADEMY WORLDWIDE aimed at articulating a proposed public and private partnership that would propel the Academy's vocational training work in South Africa.
What we are interested in", explained Theophilus van Rensburg Lindzter "is to build upon innovations by: a) Deploying a micro-solution in two of the towns we work in b) Provide training in the science, knowledge and skills in order to strengthen the implementation of innovations (including a stable energy solution) and c) Provide a demo of those innovations that can potentially serve as a model deployable in other regions and countries.
Theophilus van Rensburg Lindzter, LAWW Founder, presents at the Annual General Meeting of FarmtechSociety.The generous support of donors enabled Learning Academy Worldwide to continue its upliftment work for younf people in South Africa. The AGRACADEMY project is the main beneficiary of the donoation where 20 young people study an accredited certificate in Plantproduction.
Partnerships with local communitiy organizations and a local Blueberry nursery means that the learning experiences of the young people lead to immediate work opportunities. In fact, 50% of the students are already placed in production work environments where they are able to earn a sustainable income. Most young people are the only breadwinners in their families and that the study opportunity is accompanied by income related to performance is of great help.
READ MORE HERE about the accomplishments and planned goals for the project.
As a direct result of a collaborative between Learning Academy Worldwide and Blue Delite Nursery, five (5) young women from the Southern Cape region in South Africa, currently participate in a unique Vocational Training in Agriculture experience.
Agri-business opportunities are powerful levers for change, social upliftment, eradication of poverty and meaningful employment and this unique approach is a key driver toward achieving those aspirations.
Learning Academy Worldwide and Blue Delite Nursery jointly fund the young women’s learning-and-earning experiences, including payment allocations toward their unemployment insurance fund contributions and retirement annuities.
Bluedelite Nursery assigned a staff member, knowledgeable of Horticulture, to regularly provide knowledge and skills to the young women as part of the work day. Recordings of those learning moments are edited, subtitled and integrated into the reflection and reviewing activities guided and managed by Learning Academy Worldwide.
It is abundantly clear that Mekeala Michaels, Mariana Moolman, Josephine September, Geraldine De Bruyn and Jolene Samuels have all been enjoying this unique experience since their commencement on 15th February this year.
This part of the program will continue for five months, where at different times, they will also be sensitised to specifically think of their own entrepreneurship ambitions and to improve their knowledge of business development plans, business management in order to be ready to start a fully accredited qualification in New Venture Creation later this year. Furthermore, since they are part of a bigger cohort of young people in the same program, they will share their knowledge and skills with the other participants in the nearby rural town of Haarlem. This learning component is a deliberate learning design strategy that seeks to leverage peer learning for the benefit of strengthening knowledge acquisition and skills development. It also elevates personal confidence and human dignity.
Connecting schools for global collaboratives of learning.
Building bridges to inspire innovative Teachers.
Creating space for innovative collaborative projects that solve real problems.
Customizing inexpensive technologies as tools to improve literacy and numeracy.
Facilitating Vocational training in Agriculture initiatives.
Mobilizing young people as critical connectors for innovation in learning.