Where did it all start?

PASCaP was conceptualised in 1989 in response to the overwhelming effects of poverty on the lives of children in South Africa's apartheid townships. Unemployment, alcoholism, child abuse and gangsterism were some of the debilitating problems confronting children and family life. Often, the removal of children from these circumstances into foster or institutional care compounded the difficulties experienced by families, and children especially suffered the potentially irreversible effects of losing touch with their parents.

PASCaP was  designed to facilitate the development of after school projects in high poverty profile communities as an alternative to child removal, to minimise or prevent family breakdown, and to provide development programmes for children at risk. The after school projects also serve as neighbourhood safety centres for children and young people as they incorporate many elements aimed at protecting children from crime and rights violations such as child physical and sexual abuse, lack of adequate nutrition and a high level of physical insecurity. The centres also assist children to cope with some of the common effects of poverty such as gangsterism, low self-esteem, and a lack of positive role modelling, .

PASCaP's first pilot programme was launched in Parkwood, a township in Cape Town, in 1992. The programme was a phenomenal success! Within 3 years the pass rates of children attending the programme rose by 70%, indicating improved levels of children's psycho-emotional and intellectual functioning. Children also appeared more relaxed, and less prone to physical and emotional threats.

Requests for similar projects were received from many other communities around Cape Town. However, instead of setting up these programmes ourselves, we designed and presented a learning programme for unemployed community persons so that they may develop the skills to initiate, manage and facilitate developmentally-appropriate after school projects within their own communities.

Today we present a range of learning programmes in after school youth and child development in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces of South Africa. We also provide a range of support programmes for communities initiating their own after school care or neighbourhood safety centes for children and youth.

To read about one of our project impacts, please click here.

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