The Good Work Foundation

Today, South Africa marks Youth Day, the anniversary of 16 June 1976 and the generation of young people who demanded dignity, recognition, and a future worth having.

At Good Work Foundation, we are reminded every day of what is at stake when young people are given access to quality education and genuine support.

We work in rural South Africa, in communities where the barriers to opportunity are real and significant. And yet, every year, we see learners move through our programmes and into universities, workplaces, and lives they once could not have imagined for themselves.

Youth Day is not only a day of remembrance. It is a call to action. A reminder that the work of building a more equitable South Africa belongs to all of us.

We are grateful to every partner, donor, educator, and community member who makes this work possible. And we are proud to stand alongside the young people who inspire it.

Last year, our six campuses hosted the inaugural Pitch Your Business challenge, a competition that invited students to present their own, already-running businesses to a panel of judges.

The competition is part of the BYA's Introduction to Entrepreneurship stream, which helps students apply what they are learning in the classroom to real-world business challenges.

Meet the two winners from each of our campuses from 2025. From clothing and skincare to gospel music and beyond, these are the businesses, and the people, that set the bar.

“If you empower a teacher, you also empower all the learners they teach every day.”

These words from our Schools Liaison Manager, Crispen Bvumbghe, capture one of the most far-reaching parts of our work.

The Teacher Support Programme takes our impact beyond our campuses and into the classrooms of 42 partner schools.

Through practical workshops and real-time classroom support, we walk alongside teachers as they build digital skills and discover new ways to teach. In 2025 alone, we ran over 50 workshops and supported hundreds of educators.

The shift has been remarkable. Teacher Attitude Surveys from 2022 to 2025 show a clear journey from ‘Digital Apprehension’, to ‘Digital Integration’, to ‘Digital Advocacy’. Teachers are no longer asking whether technology belongs in their classroom. They are asking how they can go further.

Read the full story here: https://www.goodworkfoundation.org/our-why/our-stories/teacher-support-programme-when-you-empower-a-teacher-you-empower-everyone-they-teach

Learning beyond the classroom.

Our Conservation Academy students recently visited Perry's Bridge Reptile Park, where they had the opportunity to engage with a variety of reptile species and gain valuable hands-on experience in wildlife conservation.

The excursion offered practical insights into biodiversity, animal care, and the importance of protecting our natural environment. For students whose communities border some of South Africa's most iconic conservation areas, connecting that lived environment to formal learning is a powerful thing.

Experiences like these help shape future conservationists by grounding theory in the real world.

Thank you always to the belief and support of our partners Investec Rhino Lifeline and Konica Minolta SA in supporting us creating custodians of the wild.

Bringing opportunity closer to home with the 2026 Career Expo

Good Work Foundation has partnered with the Department of Education for close to eight years, co-hosting career exhibitions for Grade 12 learners in the communities surrounding our campuses. It has always been a shared commitment, and this year, that partnership expanded.

A district further afield, Bohlabela District, approached us with a challenge: their learners wanted to attend career exhibitions, but the distances were long and the costs of travel were high. They asked if GWF would be willing to help, to open its spaces and meet the department halfway.

Good Work Foundation ended up hosting the week-long Career Expo last month, across some of its campuses and local partner venues, closer to the schools. For a learner living near one of our campuses, the difference this made was big.

Across a week of sessions, hundreds of learners showed up. Universities and colleges made the journey too, some traveling close to seven hours to be there. Good Work Foundation Bridging Year students attended alongside the visiting Grade 12s.

"It was a success," says Mercyful Mathebula, who coordinates Careers and Student Support at GWF. "It was a first, and it really worked. I believe it is going to help going forward to have these kinds of events closer to the schools."

What does it mean to be a man, a father, a leader, and a contributor to your community?

The GWF Men’s Forum began in 2020 as a safe space for the young men of our organisation to talk openly about mental health.

Six years on, it has grown into a movement: men gathering to reflect on what it means to be a father, a leader and a force for good in their communities.

From vision boarding sessions to soccer matches with the local police, from painting crèches to hosting the Father’s Matter Workshop, these are men showing up for themselves, for one another, and for the young people who look up to them.

“There are many young people that we interact with that may not be biologically our children. We look at ourselves as social fathers,” says Fumani Mathumbu, who leads the initiative.

Read more here: https://www.goodworkfoundation.org/our-why/our-stories/the-gwf-mens-forum-building-brotherhood-purpose-and-positive-masculinity-at-good-work-foundation

Yesterday afternoon one of our OVC groups took part in a yoga session at our Hazyview Digital Learning Campus.

Yoga is part of our ‘Citizenship’ curriculum stream, one of the 'Four C's' of the Open Learning Academy (Conservation, Coding & Robotics, Creative Arts and Citizenship).

Alongside digital literacy and creative thinking, we are committed to developing the whole child: their sense of agency, their awareness of self and community, and their belief that they have a place in this world.

That is what citizenship is for. And sometimes, it looks like a child finding stillness on a yoga mat.

We understand that when curiosity is unlocked, a passion for lifelong learning is created. We aim to inspire all learners to believe that anything is possible with the right mindset.



Read more about OLA and the full curiculum here:
https://www.goodworkfoundation.org/our-work/programmes/open-learning-academy

Every journey at Good Work Foundation begins with a foundation of its own.

On Friday, we welcomed our newest staff members and interns at our official 2026 induction.

Over the course of the day, they were introduced to who we are, how we work, and what it means to be part of this organisation. The values that guide us. The communities we serve. The responsibility we carry together.

It was a day of learning, of questions, and of beginnings.

Welcome to the Pink Family.

For many young people, the step from learning into working is the one that carries the most weight. The Youth Employment Service (Y.E.S.) is one of the ways we walk that step alongside our graduates.

Through 12-month employment contracts, our graduates build on their studies with paid, practical experience, the chance to sharpen their skills and confidence, and a genuine foothold in the world of work.

In 2025, 43 GWF graduates entered YES placements. They served as Grade 3 Reading Programme Facilitators in our partner schools, supported the daily running of our campuses, and worked in hospitality roles at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve.

Thanks to partners like Investec, who provided 26 placements, many have already secured permanent positions.

This April, 65 graduates began their YES year.

Read the full blog here: https://www.goodworkfoundation.org/our-why/our-stories/a-year-of-working-a-year-of-becoming-y-e-s-internships-at-good-work-foundation

Happy Africa Day.

Africa Day is a moment to acknowledge the progress we have made on our continent, and to reflect honestly on the challenges we still face together.

It is also a moment to celebrate one of the most powerful things this continent holds: its young
people. Africa has the youngest population in the world. Around 70% of sub-Saharan Africa is
under the age of 30.

We choose to see this clearly for what it is: an extraordinary opportunity. A generation full of
energy, ideas and potential, ready to grow the economies, the innovation and the communities
of tomorrow. That future rests on something simple and vital: that young people are given real opportunities to learn, to work and to innovate.

This belief sits at the heart of Good Work Foundation. Our why is to address unemployment by
empowering young people with the tools to enter the job market of the future. We are pioneering
a digital education revolution in rural South Africa, challenging how we learn, what we learn, and
who has access to learning.

By 2030, we aim to empower tens of thousands of young South Africans who will step into a
world we cannot yet fully imagine, carrying the tools to shape it themselves.

To the youth of Africa, and of this country: the future is yours to build, and we are honoured to
walk alongside you.