The Green Futures Education programme relates to learning initiatives with a core conservation focus
These include nationally accredited training courses offered through our Green Futures Horticulture and Life Skills College, our Green Futures indigenous nursery and alien clearing and indigenous tree planting projects.
GREEN FUTURES COLLEGE
Established in 2003, our Green Futures Indigenous Horticulture and Life Skills College provides QCTO accredited training to 12 unemployed young adults each year. Our student candidates develop the skills and confidence necessary to market themselves and become employable, while at the same time contributing to the conservation and promotion of our region’s unique biodiversity.
The fully accredited course combines essential life skills like personal finance, business skills, computers, driving and health education with knowledge of environmental and conservation issues, and skills of horticulture and landscaping.
On completion of their course, the students are awarded a nationally (QCTO) accredited certificate in horticulture and are assisted in work placement. Successful students can also apply for a second year of tuition in (FGASA) field guiding level 1.
Since its inception, over 118 young people have graduated, and more than 90% of graduates have found employment on completion of the course.
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INDIGENOUS FYNBOS NURSERY
Green Futures students work at the on-site Green Futures Nursery, learning to propagate endemic fynbos plants and indigenous trees.
The nursery is run as a commercial enterprise and generates an income for the Green Futures College. It also has an indigenous landscaping team, offering its services to local municipalities and private individuals.
Contact Sharlene@grootbosfoundation.org or 028 384 8043
ALIEN VEGETATION MANAGEMENT TRAINING
To create employment in the eco-tourism sector, teams of unemployed women are trained to become local Alien Vegetation Management and Clearing Teams.
Their skills are put to use in the Walker Bay Fynbos Conservancy, where private landowners provide match funding and employ teams to remove the invasive alien vegetation from areas identified as having great conservation value.
Sixty-one previously unemployed people from communities in the area are currently employed in this project. This success means that we will be able to replicate the project in coming years.
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ECO-TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY TRAINING
This is a six month grassroots programme based on the internationally acclaimed online hospitality and tourism training programme of Lobster Ink. 12 carefully recruited, unemployed women from the local community complete 30 weeks of coursework in conjunction with practical on-site training with assigned mentors in the Grootbos lodges. Computer skills, life skills, business acumen and a language component supplement this curriculum, building active citizenship and sustainable livelihoods.
The hospitality training programme addresses the need for training opportunities in the area and supplies accredited candidates for professional placement to the local industry. Over and above placement, candidates receive ongoing mentorship from the Green Futures College should they decide to set up their own micro-enterprises.
This programme addresses the empowerment of the local women of the community by enabling them to generate their own income.
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