The Edu-village is a collaborative and distributed network of learning environments that provide diverse and accessible learning opportunities for vulnerable and disadvantaged populations.
What skills and resources were you able to draw from the community for this project?
• Partnerships (growing in size, width and depth) • Diverse Stakeholders and ever expanding • Knowledge specific to variety of skills • Tools materials equipment • Funding specific to come projects • Hope and purpose • Self-sustainable opportunities and approaches • Depends on projects and stakeholders
The challenges
The village serve to develop/generate personal and collective agency through bridging, bonding and linking service providing organisations and individuals creating social capital for education within the collaborative environment. The Edu-village offers opportunity to discover and explore potential within individuals and groups, harnessing this potential in a collaborative environments creates accessibility to diverse learning, encourages sharing, recognizes, validates and establish skills and knowledge. Ubuntu.
Addressing the challenges
• Development of an information management system which will develop an online village which participants can develop learner profiles and access learning environments, resources and skill development opportunities. • Development, establishment and maintenance of partnerships with multiple stakeholders • Developing a network of ever expanding social capital • Community exchange store supporting the project development – rewards system • Mentorship pathways • Discovering and harnessing the potential of individuals, services and oragnisations. • Access funding for specific learning environments
The achievements
The Edu-village initiative was uncovered in 2015 reflecting on the organic grass root developments of a transdisciplinary collaborative training platform in marginalised and impoverished communities in the Free State province of South Africa. The innovative training platform identified as both a virtual and a living village addresses skill and knowledge acquisition to promote and support self-sustaining opportunities. These learning opportunities are developed and created on collaborative platforms and take on many different forms. For example building a skate park, learning festivals and bench marking visits. Reflecting on the learning environments, participants, skills acquisition and resourceful approach a theoretical framework was emerging.
Johannesburg, South Africa