EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL
able high quality education for learners from disadvantaged backgrounds.
We will leverage our experience in the US in high performing charter schools as well as low cost affordable private schools in India. We know that although we have international experience in this space, this does not necessarily translate into a solution in South Africa.
The foundation’s philosophy is that initiatives in education need to be developed and administered locally and we are keen to learn from the local experts in order to drive the strategic di- rection of our work for these third sector schools.
MICHAEL & SUSAN DELL FOUNDATION SOUTH AFRICA “
The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation is the private family foundation of Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Computers, and his wife Susan. Our foundation focuses on expanding op- portunities for children living in urban poverty, by providing opportunities for them to grow up healthy and educated in a safe environment.
To date, the Dell family foundation has committed more than $650 million to assist non-profit organisations in major ur- ban communities in the United States, South Africa and India around the world.
We work in close collaboration with grantees and other foundations to support thoughtfully planned, data-driven pro- grammes showing clear paths to achieve lasting transformations in our focus areas.
Education-related grants make up about two-thirds of our giv- ing. Globally, we are committed to improving student perfor- mance and increasing access to education so that all children have the opportunity for life-long success. Our vision is to focus on opportunities with the greatest potential to directly
and measurably transform the lives of children living in urban poverty.
The foundation is excited about the potential for positive change in the education sector in South Africa and chose to be here because of the opportunity to effect great change in this country.
We have been in South Africa since March 2009 and came into the education sector in South Africa, very open to learn- ing from other foundations and organi sations that have come before us.
A large amount of money has been invested in education over the past 15 years in South Africa and not due to a lack of real will and effort there has not been a huge shift in the results for students and the system as a whole.
We have sought to identify high school level education pro- grammes with proven impacts for young people from under- resourced schools. We see the need to invest in third sector school projects that provide affordable, sustainable and scal-
In the United States, a persistent achievement gap between stu- dents from different economic circumstances and racial and eth- nic backgrounds plagues the majority of communities. We are working to improve student performance and graduation rates for all students through focused efforts to improve urban school districts through performance management, to strengthen school leadership, to expand quality school options, and to encourage determined low-income students to higher learning through col- lege preparation efforts and our scholarship programme, the Dell Scholars programme.
In India, in addition to a large number of children not attending school, there is an equally pressing need to improve the quality of education available to underprivileged children who are en- rolled in schools. Through our work we aim to improve learn- ing outcomes for such children from early childhood through school graduation.
Our investments are focused on large-scale interventions for in-school academic support and after-school academic sup-
port to help students achieve grade-specific learning levels and improving the quality of schools through better teaching and learning processes. We also support programs that provide life skills development that increase the opportunity for youth to exit poverty through meaningful employment after high school graduation.
Measurement is a big part of what we do in all the geographies in which we work, although it takes a different form depending on the context. The US is relatively data rich, therefore we rely on external sources for data, while in India information is scarce and we therefore field our own assessments. We would like to continue assessment rich projects in our work in South Africa.
The motivation for assessment is to fund what we believe can continue to improve; we cannot do this without introducing measurement. We have a belief in growth and improvement, and would like to support organizations to do this. In order to improve, organizations need a clear view of where they are.
We would like to support organizations that are able to see the gaps as well as the opportunities in their models and projects and we would like our funding to help the organizations we support to improve and grow. We look for data driven re- sults, greater impact at a systemic level and a more sustainable model once we have stepped out as a funder.
We are pleased that we have collaborated with an experienced foundation, the Zenex Foundation, and we are seeking other opportunities for further collaboration with other funders in the future.
”
In South Africa, barely one in ten students qualifies for university and only five percent graduate. Our aim is to enable more economically disadvantaged young people to get to university, graduate and sustain employment. The Dell Young Leaders scholarship program provides holistic support to vulnerable South African university students to get them to graduation and beyond and is inspired by the focus on supporting high potential students at risk. We seek to support students with a high impact holistic bursary programme with a good deal of wrap around academic support, mentorship and internship opportunities to help these students succeed. We launched this program in the faculties of commerce and law at UCT last year and are about to take in our second cohort of learners including those from the medical faculty for 2011. We have awarded 65 bursaries to date. The DYL programme will expand to other universities around South Africa soon.
76 CHAPTER 3 | TOWARDS IMPROVED COLLABORATION
www.ed.org.za DELL YOUNG LEADERS 2011
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