Siyakwazi is a community-based organisation founded in 2013 who Support children with disabilities and barriers to learning under the age of 7

Within rural communities in the UGU District, KwaZulu-Natal.

OUR HISTORY

Siyakwazi began in 2011 through working alongside Masakhane, a locally based community care centre that made referrals into homes of children with disabilities.

Recognising a need to provide specialised services for children with disabilities, Siyakwazi was formed in 2013 to provide inclusive services for all children within ECD centres, support to families through home-based programmes as well as support for local schools. Programmes were established within the community and later, in 2018, a resource centre was built which would become the heart of all our work and activities.

Today our programmes involve Inclusion and School Readiness in an effort to support every child reach their full potential.

The Principles

Underlying What We Do

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WE BELIEVE THAT ‘ALL CHILDREN CAN LEARN’

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EARLY IDENTIFICATION AND INTERVENTION

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USE OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES

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COLLABORATION

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WORKING TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY

Supporting children with disabilities requires lots of hands, its not just the teacher or ECD practitioner’s responsibility to support inclusion. Inclusion must come from the whole community.

Vision & Mission

To see inclusive communities where children 0-7 years are given equal opportunities to learn.      

Our Team

The area our programmes are based is amongst the poorest and most under-resourced in KZN: the average annual household income is R14 600 which is half the amount compared to average for KZN. Only 26,4 % of adults are employed and 27.2% have a matric or higher level of education despite the high levels of school attendance at 92,5%.

Our work therefore aims to address a community need for employment and upskilling. Our team consist of Siyasizas (translated form isiZulu as ‘we support’). All our Siyasizas live within the area that they support and develop relationships within the community. Some of our Siyasizas are people with disabilities, whilst others have members of their family who have disabilities and in some cases have children with disabilities supported by Siyakwazi. It is through this approach that we are able to build a model of advocacy and holistic inclusive support.

Cathy
Cathy
Mpume
Mpume
Xoli
Xoli
Nontuthuko
Nontuthuko
Thuwe
Thuwe
Nosipho
Nosipho
Mata
Mata
Nozuko
Nozuko
Thembile
Thembile
Sihle
Sihle
Thobile
Thobile
Mlungisi
Mlungisi
Nomali
Nomali
Nomzamo
Nomzamo
Kaizer
Kaizer
Thenjiwe
Thenjiwe
Bongisile
Bongisile
Penny
Penny
Vero
vero
Zandile
Zandile
Gaby
Gaby
Swenky
Swenky
Msizi
Msizi
Fikelephi
Fikelephi
Nomvu
Nomvu
Banele
Banele
Zwe
Zwelakhe

Siyakwazi creates an ‘eye opener’ into the potential of every child to learn and supports teachers and parents with specific ways to include children with disabilities and/or learning barriers with specialised tools and resources.

Download Our Resources