The “Friends of Thandolwethu” are members – Italian for the most part – of an association born to assist a group of individuals from the local community in establishing and running the Thandolwethu Early Childhood Development Centre in Samora Machel township, on the outskirts of Cape Town.

This non-profit, which enjoys the patronage of the City of Reggio Emilia, intends to raise funds to establish the school by supporting the training of the staff,  the acquisition and renovations of the centre, and by promoting and Reggio Emilia pedagogic approach. Once operational the school shall be managed by a social enterprise and shall be self-sustaining.

The operational areas are:

  • Support to the project leaders in their academic growth, with the goal to obtain a qualification that allows them to manage an ECD, and at the same time support their participation in additional training activities specific to the “Reggio Emilia approach”;
  • Assist the project leaders to define a business plan and to form the social enterprise that will manage the ECD.
  • Collaborate to the outlining of the project for the renovations of the building that will host the ECD.
  • Raise funds for the realisation of the project in its entirety.

Chairperson: Annalisa Contrafatto – annalisa@friendsofthandolwethu.org

Friends of Thandolwethu