Good Work Foundation (GWF) recently announced that the new Huntington Digital learning Campus (HuntDLC) is now fully operational. HuntDLC is GWF’s fourth digital-learning campus and is located in Huntington Village in Mpumalanga, bordering the Greater Kruger National Park.
The campus, one of three located in the Ehlazeni district, will deliver GWF’s mission, empowering South Africa’s rural schoolchildren and youth with skills and capabilities that are required by a global world that is increasingly connected by the digital marketplace.
The digital-learning campus model has attracted investment from a number of prominent South African businesses that, following a “shared growth” philosophy, are focused on using technology and the opportunities inherent in the new digital African marketplace to address challenges such as youth unemployment and rural inequality.
GWF’s collaborators include Absa, Investec, the Industrial Development Corporation, Rhino Africa and Konica Minolta South Africa.
In addition, owing to the location of GWF’s existing campuses, the model has received generous support and partnership opportunities from world-renowned safari lodges in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve. These include Londolozi Private Game Reserve, Dulini Private Game Reserve, the Sabi Sand Pfunanani Trust, and now, Lion Sands.
HuntDLC’s primary funder, the More Community Trust, is a non-profit organisation whose core objective is to provide meaningful support to communities surrounding More Hotels.
“We are so grateful to you all for allowing us to live our purpose of creating opportunities and experiences for people to enrich their lives,” said Robert More, CEO and founder of More Hotels, at the launch of HuntDLC. “Thank you, and may this academy produce life-changing superstars in abundance.”
A key driver in GWF’s growth plan is consolidating the digital-learning campus model so that the benefits of a multiple campus programme can be demonstrated in a single district. Between 2016 and 2020 the organisation plans to add five digital-learning campuses to rural Mpumalanga, all located close to the Greater Kruger National Park. In total, a cluster of six campuses in this area will service 500 young adults, 30 rural schools and more than 10 000 pupils.
GWF’s head of programmes and campus operations, Maria-Goretti Awogu, emphasised that Huntington is an example of a deep rural village. The beauty of this model, she said, is that “it no longer matters where you come from, digital learning can reach you”.
GWF would like to thank the following funders of HuntDLC: The More Community Trust, the Industrial Development Corporation, Investec Rhino Lifeline, the Sabi Sand Pfunanani Trust, David and Evelyn White and Christie and Larry Hierholzer. GWF would also like to thank the Mpumalanga Department of Education, Londolozi Private Game Reserve and Rhino Africa for their ongoing support and belief in the digital-learning campus model.