The South Africa based charity Education Africa runs a Social architecture Project that aims at building affordable education facilities in the impoverished regions of South Africa. Students of architecture from international universities come to South Africa to design and construct pre schools, skills centres and facilities for the disabled. Only simple and inexpensive materials are used, and unemployed local residents assist the students, encouraging the important transfer of skills and knowledge. The project also works as an enabler to social tourism in disadvantaged communities.
In the spring of 2008 Education Africa chose to collaborate with the Nottingham Institute of Architecture at the University of Nottingham and identified a community in the township of Jouberton, Klerksdorp in the North West region to build a pre school to accommodate 120 children. The University of Nottingham will be working with AngloGold Ashanti’s community outreach programme in facilitating this project and raising the necessary funding to make the project a reality. The project will be looking to develop the existing social infrastructure in Jouberton and expand its functional and social potential.
