The FunDza Literacy Trust (FunDza) is delighted to be one of the twelve nonprofit organisations to benefit from Media24’s flagship ‘Giving You Space To Grow’ programme.
As part of Media24’s initiative, FunDza will receive R1-million worth of advertising in its print and online publications from August to December 2012. The sponsorship forms part of Media24’s Socio Economic Development programme for the 2013 financial year.
Media support is exactly what FunDza needs in order to build broad-based support, grow its programmes and increase its impact.
FunDza is dedicated to contributing towards the development of an engaged, empowered and educated youth in South Africa. It achieves this through its programmes aimed at improving the literacy levels of young South Africa from 14 to 25 years. Literacy lies at the very core of education – and it is a human right that we all deserve and which is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
However, FunDza concentrates its efforts not inside the classroom walls but outside of them – aiming to make reading for pleasure a sought-after and desirable activity for teens and young adults across South Africa.
Part of the reason for the poor performance of SA’s youth in terms of literacy, language development and education generally lies in the fact that there is a very low culture of reading in the country. A mere 14% of SA adults say that they are active readers and just 5% of parents read to their children. In addition it is difficult to grow a culture of reading in South Africa as books are expensive and there is little exciting reading matter that is geared towards getting people in low-income communities reading.
It is exceptionally powerful to see yourself and your life reflected in a book. Reading (and reading fiction in particular) holds the potential to transform lives. It helps to develop language and comprehension skills and creates a hunger for knowledge. It builds insight and empathy. Improved literacy is a prerequisite for acquiring skills that lead to more employment opportunities, entrepreneurship and an improved economy and stable society.
FunDza is growing a mini-library that can be accessed via a cellphone that houses a wide range of gripping stories written by local writers. Readers can comment on the stories and also send in their own writing for publication. In addition, FunDza supplies the popular Harmony High series novels to schools and organisations to get young South Africans reading.
In essence, FunDza’s programmes work together to build a culture of reading by:
- Creating demand for reading by producing high-interest, exciting and gripping stories that teens and young adults in South Africa relate to;
- Removing obstacles to reading by providing registered beneficiaries with access to great SA fiction;
- Leveraging the powerful reach of mobile technology to grow communities of readers and build excitement around reading;
- Encouraging young people to find their own unique voice and share their stories;
- Spur viral growth by creating hype around reading and writing and making these relevant pleasure activities.
The advertising sponsorship from Media24 will allow FunDza to grow in three key areas:
- Increase significantly the readership on its mobi network by hosting a national ‘mobi-read-a-thon’ competition planned for December 2012;
- Broaden FunDza’s support base by allowing it run a ‘share the love of reading’ campaign that would unite South Africans around FunDza’s outreach programmes;
- Raise the profile of the organisation as a whole and publicise the good work done by many of FunDza’s partners, supporters and beneficiaries.
Says Mignon Hardie, Managing Trustee of the FunDza Literacy Trust, “We are so excited to have been selected by Media24 as one of the twelve beneficiaries in the ‘Giving you space to grow’ initiative. As a small, start-up nonprofit organisation it is hard to spread the word about our programmes and the impacts that these are having. Media24 is providing FunDza with an incredible opportunity to grow our profile and, in so doing, reach more young people across South Africa and help them develop a lifelong love of learning and reading.”
FunDza commenced operations in April 2011 and received its first source of major funding in August 2011. In the first year of operations its programme have benefited more than 30,000 young people across South Africa. FunDza plans to more than double this area of influence in the next eighteen months. Thanks to the support from Media24, these aspirations are certainly within reach.