Fortunately, we live in a society which recognises that the government cannot provide education without the material assistance of private donors and social investors. The education sector of the donor environment in South Africa is massive, well in the order of R8 billion per year! 

Project Build has been developing school infrastructure for 40 years and would like to do this for many years to come. In these years we have built close to 6000 classrooms benefitting hundreds of thousands of young people and educators. My reason for extrapolating this into such a vast number of beneficiaries is the second point I want to make in this article that for the social investors making this type of investment is a true legacy and a blessing for many years ahead for the school involved. We visit schools for our second, third or fourth intervention and see buildings that we built perhaps 20 or so years ago, when we still traded as Urban Foundation and then as Natal School Project. And because of the success of the first buildings, we are welcomed with open arms, it is a true celebration when Project Build arrives.

But here’s the thing, we cannot do it alone, we need our social investment partners, our donors to join us. The value of brick and mortar classrooms in schools is well recorded. There is growing evidence of a correlation between the adequacy of a school facility and student behaviour and performance. 

Mr Hugh Bulcock Senior Manager Infrastructure Planning â€" Dept of Education KZN, in an article he wrote in the Project Build 2015 Review said: “Pre 1994, resourceful rural communities, out of desperation, resorted to building schools with rudimentary facilities, with meagre means at their disposal.  Amidst this background of deprivation, communities have for the past 38 years looked beyond the confines of the establishment for assistance and have found a willing partner in their endeavours through Project Build and its forebears, the Urban Foundation and Natal Schools Project. The contribution of Project Build in providing in excess of 5300 classrooms in KwaZulu-Natal over this period is an achievement that cannot be overstated.” He says too that “The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education is eternally grateful and needs to continue the relationship with Project Build if it wishes to make significant inroads in the abovementioned backlogs”.

The Hon. MEC for Education, Mr Mthandeni Dlungwana, continues this theme in his message of support, which appears in our 40th Anniversary Review. I quote, “An important goal of the National Development Plan is to provide every school with the physical infrastructure and an environment that inspires learners to want to come to school and learn and for teachers to teach.”  He adds, “Project Build’s sustained contribution to education is especially commendable as the number of classrooms stands at over 6000. That there is a relationship between the physical environment where learners are taught and the effectiveness of teaching cannot be doubted.” So, we at Project Build find ourselves in a very specific niche as an NGO, in building classrooms. We invite you to talk to us, to partner with us to help make a difference literally to the future of our country. It is a social investment that will bear fruit and of which you will be proud for decades to come.

T: 031 307 5322
suzanne@projectbuild.org.za
www.projectbuild.org.za