South Africa Community Internship (long-term)
Gain valuable experience when you join a teaching and community development internship in South Africa’s famous city of Cape Town. Plan and deliver a range of educational lessons as well as leadership and teamwork skills, then apply it in educare centres and township schools to provide lower income household children with a quality education.


Program Focuses
Join our international team in the spectacular city of Cape Town and work with children from the local townships while developing teaching experience and qualifications on this long-term internship. The internship begins with a 12 week volunteer project, where you will learn how to plan and deliver a range of educational programmes in local township schools and educare centres, gaining experience in teamwork and leadership. You will get the opportunity to try all of our projects in Gordon’s Bay, including teaching, early childhood development and sports as well as women’s empowerment.

After successfully completing this phase you will then undertake a 12 week work placement where you will further develop your teaching skills and assist in the running of educational programmes (including child care, sports, and creative play) for young children. You will work with a range of partner organisations or assist the GVI team in the operation and management of our project. With both pathways, you will work alongside professional community development teams, gaining valuable experience throughout.

Depending on where you are placed you may be expected to assist in the following areas: outdoor exercises and games, arts and crafts, music and drama activities, storytelling, health workshops, numeracy and literacy, and sports. Please note that it is not possible for you to choose exactly where you would like to be placed. We hope that you will be flexible and open-minded enabling us to place you wherever the need is greatest at the time and wherever we feel that your skills, interests and experience can be best utilised.

Location
South Africa is a country with an intricate history, deeply rooted in diverse nature, culture and tradition. The Republic of South Africa is a country in the southernmost part of Africa, with a coastline stretching across two oceans, the Atlantic and Indian. When you volunteer in South Africa, you can learn to speak some of its 11 official languages, visit its eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites, see the lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino that makes up South Africa’s Big Five, and try to spot the different plant species in the Cape Floral Kingdom, 70% of which are found nowhere else in the world.

Our community development project is run in the coastal village of Gordon's Bay. Here, our volunteers work in a nearby informal settlement (known as a township) called Nomzamo, at a local primary school and a local nursery school. GVI volunteers work with children from three surrounding communities: Nomzamo, Lwandle and Zola. 

Program Highlights

• Gain on the ground, practical teaching experience while volunteering on the base
• Get practical exposure to the industry through a work placement following the completion of your internship
• Earn your GVI ILM Leadership Development certificate, a qualification recognised by the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM)
• Immerse yourself in the bustling culture of the Southern Peninsula in Cape Town
• Coordinate workshops and developing practical skills within the community, including teaching sewing and computer literacy

If applying for this program to obtain credit from an institution, GVI can supply learning outcomes and support in the application. 

For more information, check out our video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EN-s2O3C8I