What we do

South Africa has a low culture of reading, and many young South Africans from under-resourced communities have little or no access to reading material that is relevant to their lives and worlds. FunDza creates and publishes materials that ignite a love of reading, specifically aimed at teens and young adults who have never previously identified as readers. Through experimentation and research, we have learned that young people are more likely to become readers if they are introduced to texts that are meaningful to them. Thus, creating local content that speaks to young readers’ hearts and minds, and that reflects their circumstances, is of paramount importance. FunDza also develops the writing potential of young people by offering a platform for them to share their work as well as giving them feedback and workshops.

Our main platform is fundza.mobi – our ‘library on a phone’ (or computer). Readers, writers and course participants can connect with FunDza through our mobile-friendly and data-light site. The site is also free if accessed through the Moya Messenger App and Freebasics.com App. There is also a FunDza app for android devices – FunDzapp. Currently, around 300,000 individual users access FunDza content on a monthly basis.

READING

South Africa may be ‘book poor’ but it is ‘cellphone rich’, with many young people being able to access a cellphone. FunDza has a mobi site – a library on a phone – where new original content is added daily. There is a new story every week, blogs and articles around topical issues, and much other professionally written content.

Read more about FunDza Fanz programme here.

WRITING

Readers can also send in their work to be edited and published on the site, thus joining a community of writers. We also have a mentorship programme where we mentor promising young writers to become professional writers for us, and run a Fellowship programme where aspiring writers complete an online writing course and  attend a series of workshops.

Read more about FunDza’s writing programme here.

LEARNING

FunDza offers free online courses on our mobi site based on our content and covering a range of topics. Participants receive a certificate of completion (and excellence, if they achieve above 70%). There are also customised courses available focused on a particular topic and/or where schools or organisations can monitor their own learners’ progress.

Read more about FunDza’s Learning programme here.

TRAINING

FunDza offers training courses to teachers and reading club facilitators to support the development of reading and writing teachers and advocates.

Read more about FunDza’s Training programme here.