United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

South Africa is still struggling with the legacy of apartheid on all terrains of life. In the education environment this struggle is very clear for all to see. Schools in the previous disadvantaged communities are still struggling after 15 years of democracy to have the necessary equipment like necessary furniture for classrooms. One of the challenges these schools face is the lack of school desks or the fact that many school desks are damaged and are not repaired. Replacing dilapidated school desks is an enormous expenditure and the Department of Education due to financial constraints, cannot replace them.
As a Public Partnership venture, the Mangaung Correctional Centre has embarked on an innovative way to address this challenge and make a difference in South Africa.
Mangaung Correctional Centre, a centre managed by G4S Care and Justice Services started with an initiative to refurbish dilapidated school desks. Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein, South Africa, houses 2928 maximum security inmates, and some of these inmates acquire skills in woodwork and spray painting, which assisted to revamp old and dilapidated school desks in order to make a difference in the lives of young children.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Mangaung Correctional Centre has over the past five years, supplied ten disadvantaged schools with refurbished school desks. On the 2nd of September 2009 the 1000th school desk was donated to Matla Primary School in Bloemfontein during a festive ceremony. The ceremony was attended by about 2 000 school children, their parents, and teachers from the beneficiary school and surrounding schools. The following schools have benefited over the past five years in the Mangaung District in the Free State Province in South Africa. Karabelo Primary School 77 St. Mary’s Primary School 177 Kgato Primary School 74 Bartimea School for the Deaf and Blind 12 W. Thejane Primary School 114 Thabo Primary School 100 Tsoseletso High School 65 Hodisa Technical High School 30 Kgato Primary School 70 Tebelelo Primary School 120 Retsamaile Primary School 56 Matla Primary School 120 Total 1015 This project is effective and of long term significance. The Department of Correctional Services has also adopted this project and gave commitment to start a pilot project at Kroonstad, Free State Province. The project was initiated and duplicated in the Department of Correctional Services during 2010. In South Africa with its 247 Correctional Centres, we have a possibility to make a big difference to address this need and many others in the historically disadvantaged communities.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
Mr Frikkie Venter, Managing Director of G4S Care and Justice assisted his son with his homework and noticed a hole in his schoolbook. Upon questioning his son about the hole, his son replied that there was a hole in his desk. This got Mr. Venter thinking about other schools, especially those schools in disadvantaged communities who do not have the financial help to repair their school desks. He was sure that the Mangaung Correctional Centre, a centre managed by his company G4S Care and Justice Services can play a role in getting this off the ground. Some of these inmates have acquired specialised hand skills in woodwork and spray painting while incarcerated, and these skills could be place in practise to revamp old and dilapidated school desks.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The strategy was to enhance the quality of the environment in which children receive their education. The objective in this innovative project was to bring advantage to various beneficiaries on different levels. The children benefitted by getting a proper school desk to assist them with their education and we all know that good education can play an important role in combating crime. The inmates at Mangaung Correctional Centre get the benefit of doing something good for the community who they harmed by their crimes. The commitment of inmates in a community outreach project is beneficial towards a restorative process which enhances ultimately an overall rehabilitation goal. The engagement with business partners to join us in providing some funding for unrefined material is beneficial to the extent that several entities took hands to strive towards the strategy to enhance the education environment. This whole project shows how government and a public partnership can together address a need in the community.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The project was initially a vision of an executive manager to contribute towards the establishment of a conducive environment for children to be educated in. The viability of the project had first to be investigated and employees of the Mangaung Correctional Centre had to set up meetings with various parties of the Department of Education in order to establish whether it will be possible and practical to assist with the refurbishment of school desks. The Department of Education was very enthusiastic to assist to kick start this project and introduced Mangaung Correctional Centre to schools that had severely dilapidated school desks. Mangaung Correctional Centre collected the ramshackle school desks and had to establish a production line of inmates to start with the process. Inmates would first establish whether the wooden top of a school desk could be sanded and turned around, in order to save on costs. The steel frame of the desk would be sanded and then spray painted and then a new top will be fitted to the frame. The production line was well established and the operational plan was to repair the first school desks and then donate it to a school, whilst collected other school desks to repair. So in effect – we started with a pool of repaired school desks and moved along from one school to another, delivering and collecting new school desks to repair simultaneously.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
Over the past five years we learned a few valuable lessons. Since schools cannot dispose of school desks, the Department of Education needs to be involved in identifying schools with a need for refurbished school desks. The challenge in the beginning was to get the right person(s) in the Department of Education to assist with the project. One of the lessons we have learned when we got involved was how big the need for refurbished school desks are. Some old and new schools in townships are struggling to get furniture and children sit on the floor to write. This is even more reason to grow this initiative to other correctional centres in South Africa. We have learned from this project that inmates as well as business partners want to get involved in sustainable projects where the community can directly benefit.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
This project is effective and is already in its fifth year of existence and of long term significance. The main technical resource is the group of inmates housed at Mangaung Correctional Centre who has a specific skill regarding woodwork and spray painting. Inmates volunteer to be part of this project based on their level of skill regarding woodwork and spray painting. At any given time during the day a group of 25 inmates will be busy with sanding, spray painting as part of the refurbishment of the school desks. The other resource is a financial institution that provides funding for the raw material utilised for the refurbishments of the school desks. The financial assistance is a commitment from the financial institution as part of an investment in the young people of our country. There is continuity in the funding process and for the past five years the financial institution has made a tremendous contribution to sustain this outreach project

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
This project is effective and of long term significance. The Department of Correctional Services has also adopted this project and has started with a pilot project at Kroonstad. In South Africa with its 247 Correctional centres, we have a possibility to make a big difference to address this need and many others of the community.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
Firstly it is an innovative idea that has been successfully implemented. This is the first Correctional Centre where it was started in South Africa and where it is still being operated to the benefit of the children in schools. Secondly its impact is felt where it is needed, namely service delivery. Governments needs to deliver education to its children, but schools without the necessary school desk does not contribute to a conducive education environment. The schools that benefited are the schools where children need it the most. Thirdly, we have proven over a period of five years that it is sustainable and can be rolled out to other Correctional Centres to make even a bigger contribution towards the children of South Africa.


Institution Name:		G4S Care and Justice Services
Institution Type:		Public-Private Partnership
Contact Person:		Carin Van Eyk
Title:		Manager
Telephone/ Fax:		011-3410600
Institution's / Project's Website:		011-3410604
E-mail:		carin.vaneyk@za.g4s.com
Address:		17 Kent Road, Dunkeld Gardens, Dunkeld
Postal Code:		2121
City:		Johannesburg
State/Province:		Gauteng
Country:		South Africa

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information