The FunDza Literacy Trust (FunDza) is dedicated to sparking and sustaining a ‘reading revolution’ in South Africa (SA). Increased reading lies at the heart of better education and opportunities for all. Reading develops not only the language and comprehension skills necessary for academic performance but it also creates hunger for knowledge. Reading fiction, in particular, builds insight and empathy. Improved literacy is a pre-requisite for acquiring skills that lead to more employment opportunities, entrepreneurship and an improved economy.
FunDza’s programmes are directed at teens and young adults (13 to 25 years) from low-income communities across SA. Its vision is to contribute to the growth of educated, empowered and engaged young citizens and future leaders.
FunDza’s programmes inspire a love of reading by celebrating local stories and talent, to which readers can easily relate; and, create opportunities for self‐expression through writing. For it is only when people see reading as something that is meaningful and relevant to their lives that reading becomes important and young people start to identify as ‘readers’.
FunDza’s approach is innovative and integrated: the three programmes work together to help break down the barriers to reading and writing. These include: access to books, which are unaffordable to the vast majority of South Africans and which are not easily available due to under-resourced public and school libraries; a lack of engaging and relevant content, specifically to the average young South African growing up in townships or other low‐income communities; and, the ‘pull’ of competing technologies, such as cellphones and television, which reduce the amount of time people tend to spend reading.
Their Vision
To contribute to the growth of generations of educated, empowered and engaged young leaders and citizens of South Africa.
Their Offering
- - Reading for Pleasure
- - Writing for Expression
- - Literacy for Life
- - Training for Scale
