When Scottsdene High School headmaster Karel Cupido was asked what he would do if tens of thousands of rand were donated to his school, he might have chosen computers or textbooks, but he opted for a borehole.
The sports ground at Scottsdene High, situated in an impoverished community 40km from Cape Town, with 1 400 learners crammed into classrooms designed for 800, was a run-down sandpit.
”I said if we can get our fields back, then we have a tool that we can use,” said Cupido, whose learners are drawn from communities where unemployment and drug abuse are rife.
Two years later the sports field sprouts green grass. On February 13 the school held a symbolic ceremony to host Cambridge University Press (CUP), the funder which has supported the development and maintenance of the sports field to the tune of R70 000 for 2007 and a further R70 000 for 2008.
For rugby coach Peter Links the benefits are real, even though – with 100 rugby players – he still coaches without a scrum machine and has only three contact shields and two tackle bags.
In the past the school had to make use of a municipal field several kilometres away, but it can now start practices straight after school.
”Sport plays a big role because sport keeps children away from wrongdoing. A child in sport is a child out of court,” he said.
Although a former learner also supported the borehole development, the relationship between the school and CUP was born out of a rugby match with the Perse School in Cambridge four years ago, which the home side narrowly won, impressing representatives of CUP.
What followed was a ”getting to know you process”, said CUP chief executive Stephen Bourne, who believes that trust has to be developed in funding relationships.
Key for schools, said Bourne, was understanding what the donor could get out of the relationship – from providing opportunities to teach British students about communities of which they were not aware to developing an ethos of giving among students.
Cupido said the experience of raising funds had taught the school about strategies to access additional funds and approach potential funders.
”I don’t think it’s so difficult. I think it’s a question of taking the initiative. There are people who can help you. There are clear-cut ways,” said Cupido.
Scottsdene is not the only school ever to source funds from places other than government. In fact, a recent Unesco study notes that in the context of Education for All, the global pact to achieve certain education goals by 2015, over the past 15 years there had been a growing interest in ”cross-sectoral ÂÂÂcollaboration” in education.
But the report says partnerships needed to be grounded in international efforts to improve education ”so that business and civil society partners are protagonists in efforts to ensure synergies and avoid fragmentation and duplication of efforts”.
The report defines a successful partnership as the extent to which the relationship results in better teaching and learning, improved infrastructure and community participation. Defining needs, ownership of the project, accountability and sustainability were all ÂÂÂcrucial factors to success.
Wayne Blauw, project manager for the Western Cape Education Foundation (WCEF), which was established in partnership with the Western Cape education department to facilitate public-private partnerships, said there needed to be more collaboration between donors and service providers.
”There is a lack of integrated and coordinated effort,” he said.
The WCEF hosts a number of donor-driven projects, including a R15-million donation from PetroSA to build a new school in Vredenburg and a library support project funded by the Transnet Foundation.
Blauw said schools were encouraged to source funding, with an emphasis on partnership and relationship-building between the school and the donor.
He defines one of the key ingredients for success as a commitment from the school’s side and an understanding of what their needs are.
Blauw said the WCEF was in the process of creating a database of funding flowing into schools – a move that would make it easier to coordinate funding efforts. – West Cape News