Since 2011, Designing Hope has been running a programme to distribute school uniforms to children orphaned by AIDS and vulnerable children in southern Africa.
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Since 2011, Designing Hope has been supporting vulnerable children in Southern Africa by providing them with school uniforms through the ‘Uniforms & Differences’ programme.
Through this fundraising campaign, the charity aims to support more than 200 children in Eswatini and South Africa this year, whilst also supporting the work of women trained in sewing at the Garden of Skills.
In southern Africa, many children who have lost one or both parents to HIV are now growing up within their extended families. Due to a lack of resources, they often wear the worn-out uniforms of their brothers, sisters or cousins, which are frequently worn, torn or mended time and time again.
In Southern Africa, the school system is modelled on that of Anglo-Saxon countries. Consequently, school uniforms—whose colours reflect each school’s identity—are compulsory for all pupils until the end of secondary school.
The uniform is intended to erase social differences. However, due to a lack of resources, particularly for children cared for by their extended families, the uniform instead becomes a sign of poverty and can be a source of mockery, discrimination or exclusion.
By providing a new uniform that fits them properly, this project enables children to attend school on an equal footing with their classmates. It restores their self-confidence and enables them to approach their schooling with greater peace of mind.
Furthermore, school fees are particularly high relative to the local standard of living, largely due to the cost of the uniform, and can amount to as much as one month’s average wage.
Since 2011, the provision of school uniforms has helped to reduce the costs incurred by foster families caring for orphans, thereby facilitating the children’s integration into these families.
Furthermore, having a uniform in good condition also helps the children to settle into school, boosts their motivation, and consequently improves their attendance.
Every year, Designing Hope entrusts the NGOs Fundzisa Live in Eswatini and Silethithemba in KwaZulu-Natal with the task of selecting the children who will benefit from this programme.
Members of these partner organisations visit schools across their districts, meeting with teachers, social workers and school heads to draw up a list of the pupils most in need of this programme.
The applications are then reviewed, and a list of beneficiaries is drawn up, specifying the type, size and colour of each uniform.
By distributing school uniforms to the most disadvantaged, Designing Hope also supports the women who earn their living from this work.
Launched in 2011 in Eswatini, the sewing programme has become more professionalised by moving into the Jardin des Savoir-Faire, opened by Designing Hope in Malanti with the support of Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche.
At this centre, located in a rural area, vulnerable women receive vocational training in sewing thanks to a workshop equipped with industrial sewing machines. There, they make the shirts, tunics, skirts and other items that make up the school uniforms.
The workshop also has the necessary patterns and an embroidery machine for producing school badges. Several thousand uniforms have already been made and distributed through this programme.
Each uniform produced thus supports both children’s education and the economic empowerment of women. Find out more about the sewing training and the income-generating activity resulting from this initiative
Thanks to your support, Designing Hope aims to fund the production and distribution of school uniforms this year for 210 vulnerable children identified in Eswatini and South Africa:
- 30 HIV-positive children receiving care at Piggs Peak Hospital in Eswatini;
- 120 children from partner schools located around the Garden of Skills in Malanti;
- 60 children living at the Halfway House Roosboom in South Africa.
Each uniform distributed represents much more than just a piece of clothing: it promotes integration into school life, reduces discrimination linked to poverty and helps children regain their confidence and dignity.
The uniforms are made locally by seamstresses at the Garden of Skills in Malanti, Eswatini, thereby simultaneously supporting female employment, vocational training and children’s access to education.
The amount raised will directly determine the number of uniforms that can be made and distributed over the coming months. Any additional funding will enable us to extend the programme to other children identified by our local partners.
Beyond the production of shirts and tunics, larger donations will also help meet other essential needs. Many children still go to school barefoot, in flip-flops or in shoes so worn out it is hard to imagine. The additional funds will therefore be used to provide new shoes for the most vulnerable children, as well as to complete the uniforms with trousers for boys, skirts for girls and jumpers to keep them warm during the southern hemisphere winter.
Every euro raised will thus help to improveorer concrètement les conditions de scolarisation et le bien-être des enfants accompagnés par l’association.
This project has a direct impact on the lives of the children it supports. By providing them with a new, well-fitting uniform, it enables them to attend school with greater confidence and in better conditions.
It also helps to support the local economy by providing work for women trained at the Garden of Skills.
The cost of the various uniform items varies according to the children’s age and identified needs: shirts, tunics, skirts, trousers, shoes and jumpers.
Every donation, whatever the amount, makes a tangible contribution to improving a child’s daily life.
