ABSA Msinga District

Partner(s):

The Department of Education (DoE) is SAIE’s partner that identifies the target schools and regions for BusinessVENTURES training and teaching materials. Training for this project shall take place in the Msinga District. Educators may however come from further regions to attend the BusinessVENTURES training.

It is a very traditional rural area with 99% of its population living in rural areas. The Municipality is in the central part of the District Council area, sharing boundaries with Nkandla to the east, Umvoti to the south, uThukela District to the south-west, and the Free State and Mpumalanga provinces to the west and north, respectively.

The nature of the topography is such that the Municipality is largely located in deep gorges of the Tugela and Buffalo Rivers. This effectively isolates the municipal area from the immediate surrounding municipal areas. The municipal area is accessible via the R33 road, linking it with Dundee, Ladysmith, Pietermaritzburg, Kranskop and Weenen.

The population of Msinga is estimated to be 160 000 people, in an area of 2 500 sq km, resulting in a population density of 64 people per square kilometer. There is a dominance of the three peri-urban settlements of Tugela Ferry, Pomeroy and Keate’s Drift. The population densities of these three areas are higher than the rest of the area. The population density pattern is further reinforced by rural villages that act as satellites to the three major settlements.

The net growth of the population has been 2.2% per annum with a decline of 3.17% in the urban areas. This decline in the urban areas is negligible, as 99% of the population is rural.

The population dynamics result in a growing rural area and a declining urban area in Msinga, contrary to most other areas in the country. This can be attributed to the fact that the urban areas of Msinga are very small and are unable to provide the normal range of goods and services provided in urban areas. As a result, the population utilizes the neighbouring areas of Emnambithi and Umvoti for urban services.

For more information please visit http://www.msinga.org/.

Our Involvement:

SAIE provides schools and educators with quality, innovative learning materials (BusinessVENTURES kits) and the requisite training in terms of content knowledge and methodology in Outcomes Based Education (OBE) and entrepreneurial development. SAIE’s BusinessVENTURES materials conform to the DoE's curriculum structure classified under the Economic and Management Sciences (EMS: Grade 2 to 9) and Business Studies (Grades 10 to 12) Learning Areas. Learners are empowered through the quality materials and effective teaching, in order to develop entrepreneurial behaviour and resourcefulness and business knowledge. This prepares them for either creating their own jobs or participating in the post school life in a more entrepreneurial way.

Project Progress:

Funding for this project has recently been approved and training is scheduled to begin in February 2010.

Funder:

Product:

BusinessVentures

Location:

KwaZulu-Natal