Raglan Road

Rhodes University International Student Volunteer Programme

The Raglan Road Multi-Purpose Centre

PURPOSE OF THE CENTRE

To serve the needs of the School Community by providing a variety of opportunities based on expressed needs.

BACKGROUND & OTHER INFORMATION

This Raglan Road Multi-Purpose Centre was established as a Pre-school by the Centre for Social Development (CSD) in 1990. It has run very successfully since, offering a quality pre-school education and day care centre to 110 pre-school children annually. With the growing involvement of parents, new initiatives arose and the pre-school was transformed into a Multipurpose Centre (MPC) which now serves the whole school community.

The process of transformation which started in 2000 was participatory and driven by the community themselves, with the CSD facilitating. The projects are identified by the community and are based on needs. The community prioritises the projects, they are established and then a period of consolidation is allowed before another Project is set up. Presently there are 10 Projects running. Nine of the ten are self sustaining. The Service Centre will be able to sustain itself once a subsidy can be accessed through the Department of Social Development. The project is community driven and has partnerships with Government organisations, Non-Government organisations, Service organisations, Church Groups, Local Business etc.

The Raglan Road Pre-School has grown into a service for the whole school community. Its core service is still as a pre-school for 115 boisterous three to six year-olds. But it is also providing a service to the elderly and, in conjunction with other CBOs, NGOs and government, is working towards meeting the wider community's social, cultural and other needs.

Besides the pre-school and full day care facility it now offers:
-Adult literacy (in partnership with the Department of Education ABET)
-A sewing programme (in partnership with the Department of Labour)
-Capacity building programmes for parents (CSD and community facilitators)
-Productive vegetable garden to supplement the diet of the pre-schoolers who get two cooked meals daily.
-A herb programme including the development of an on-premises herb garden and training on medicinal uses of herbs.
-Computer training. Rotary has donated four computers for this purpose and IBM several more.
-Training venue

Other service providers, such as Hospice, FAMSA, Society for the Physically Disabled, Child Welfare and Raphael HIV/Aids Centre will also offer their particular services to the community and train willing volunteers. The Department of Social Development has undertaken to provide R72 per elderly person per month catered for at the centre. It is believed the Service Centre will complement the pre-school. The elderly will revive the story telling tradition, and teach the little ones arts and crafts such as beading. Project Manage Bukiwe Tambo believes the centre will become a hub of integrated development for the surrounding community. "This would be the ideal place to start new projects. It means we could take a more co-ordinated and integrated approach to development in the area."