Learn Make Sew

From 2019-2021, we ran our Learn Make Sew programme five times, training almost 100 women. Facilitated by ONEOFEACH, the programme covered basic sewing skills as well as personal development, aiming to equip women from underprivileged backgrounds around Cape Town with the skills they need to enter the workforce.

Watch the short film below to learn more:

2019: Pilot Phase

We held four recruitment workshops in three locations - Oliver Kahn Safe-Hub in Gugulethu, CTC Ten Safe-Hub in Khayelitsha and Cesvi House of Smiles in Philippi - where the participants made simple jewellery from waste material under the guidance of our facilitators ONEOFEACH.

The workshops were advertised via posters in community centres, word-of-mouth and circulated via Whatsapp. Our very first group of 10 women were selected from around 60 applicants.

The pilot programme started in August with classes twice a week over the course of four months. We were super excited and proud to celebrate the graduation of nine out of the ten participants (one of the women had found full-time employment and left the programme) at the stylish Radisson Red Hotel at the V&A Waterfront in November which was also attended by radio personality Thuthula Mngenela as MC and Jo Blake, Senior Manager Talent Acquisition The Foschini Group who gave a talk.

2020: Rollout

In 2020, we trained two cohorts of 20 women each over the year.

Following recruitment workshops in January, we selected 20 women out of around 120 workshop participants to start the programme in February, twice a week for four months.

As the Covid-19 pandemic struck, we had to pause from April to June due to severe lockdown regulations and safety of those taking part. As soon as the restrictions eased, we restarted with appropriate safety measures, such as door-to-door transport for all participants. All 20 women completed the programme at the end of July!

Despite the ongoing pandemic, we were extremely happy to be able to offer a second cohort the opportunity to become part of our LMS programme. Cohort II kicked off in September and successfully completed the programme at the end of November.

2021: Scaling

Our first cohort of 20 women started in February and was lucky to be able to complete the programme in April without any Covid-19 interruptions.

This time around, we added a “train the trainer” programme: we selected four past students who were trained to become teaching assistants in future LMS programmes. The goal was not only to upskill them and to provide a specific job opportunity but also to enable us to scale the programme by adding new resources. It was a pleasure seeing them grow while also helping us with organisational tasks, such as communication with current students.

In June, another 24 women started their LMS journey and we were super excited to hire two of our teaching assistants for the duration of the programme!

Unfortunately, Covid-19 forced us to pause classes in July once again, which was particularly unfortunate, as we had planned a graduation ceremony for the past three cohorts in late July, which we had to postpone due to level 4 Covid regulations. But: Great news - Graduation for all four 2020 and 2021 cohorts took place in October at the beautiful Radisson Red!