Access to knowledge through IT

GET INVOLVED

There are many ways to help us make our vision of knowledge through IT for everyone true
Go to DONATE

DONATE

As a local NGO we need your donation in order to provide high quality IT lessons to our learners in the awarenet programme. Support us!

Go to TEACH

TEACH

You are a teacher and want to offer your learners high quality IT lessons? Be part of the movement and join our professional network.

Go to LEARN

LEARN

Access to knowledge, creative projects, IT and Internet skills and improved employment chances. There are many reasons to join awarenet.

Go to VOLUNTEER

VOLUNTEER

You would like to get involved? Welcome on board! Find out how you can join our awarenet team and the weltwärts community.

I LOVE AWARENET

About us

Learn more about our mission of bringing knowledge through IT for everyone
We believe, everyone should understand the Internet and have access to knowledge

awarenet is an eLearning platform and social media tool that offers our learners a personal networking space, tools for blogging, online discussions and project work in wiki style incl. multi media. They learn how to present themselves online, how to connect and communicate responsibly in a secure and safe space. Groups meet on a weekly basis and work on various projects about culture, health, music, science, history and social services, whereby online and offline work is combined. Projects lead to major local activities and events such as public concerts, sport days, newspaper articles and social engagements. We further offer to install awarenet servers in existing computer labs and give combined introductory workshops for teachers, in which we train general IT skills and showcase how to integrate awarenet into the curriculum or co-curriculars. The platform is developed in such a way that remote schools without or interrupted Internet access can use it as well as it also functions when offline. The awarenet software is free open-source. The awarenet programme offers many opportunities to learners and teachers as well as partnering NGOs in the educational sector.

  • The awarenet Open Lab is a project that was established in May of 2017 in cooperation with Rod Amner, a VSA board member and Rhodes lecturer. The goal of the Open Lab is to give free Internet access to the members of the Joza community and educate them in ICT through the method of "learning by doing". The project has so far been very sucessful, as there are more than 450 members registered with us. In addition to just giving access to the Internet for free, we also offer specific courses, focused on computer education. So far we had a course involving Blockly, a variant of the scratch computer language, and a video editing course which has the goal of producing a short movie in which the participants appear as actors and cut the movie themselves in the end. We hope that we can continue the project for a long time, however it is dependent on donations. If you want to support the Open Lab feel free to donate items or visit our betterplace.org site to support us financially.

  • The awarenet Teachers course is another project that we have been working on. As part of the course, teachers from local primary and high schools are being educated about how they can use ICT to enrich their lessons. This means that we show them how to do reliable research on the Internet, how to design presentations which can be used in addition to writing content on blackboards and how to use email. The aim of the awarenet Teachers course is to improve the quality of the education which the learners receive through helping the teachers to adapt their lessons to the present.

OUR TEAM

We are a group of very different people united in the believe of a better future for everyone through IT

Kjetil Torp

Director
Awarenet helps me spread knowledge about the world we live in and the technology which sustains it. The most disadvantaged thereby acquire a tool to improve it.

Zintle Vambe

Project Manager
It´s a great privilege to be part of the awarenet team. The ICT project will help enhance learning at historically disadvantaged schools.

Thanduxolo Royi

Lab supervisor
I like working as lab supervisor because I can show children the Internet and how it can help them. It is important to me that they can get better grades through the Open Lab.

Martin Zabel

Volunteer
IT skills are not just knowledge, they are a vehicle enabling learners to acquire education by themselves.

Kela Iheanetu

Math Tutor

Latifa Abdoulahi

Volunteer
Being part of the awarenet team allows me to not only live out my passion for photographing and journalism, but also allows me to promote the projects of awarenet.

Simphiwe Gwaza

Project Coordinator

Richard Were

ICT Support

Clement Simuja

Trustee
IT and Educational Advisor
I became a trustee for Awarenet because of my commitment to the provision of ICT practices that contribute to eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities and develop environment-friendly society where everybody can exercise their rights and develop their full potential.

Rod Amner

Trustee
Chairperson
awarenet is the only organisation in Makana dedicated to ICT for development in a human rights frame, and for that reason it has my respect and support.

Dr Sarah Hanton

Trustee
Educational Advisor
I am keen to explore new eductional methods and ideas and I am committed to equality in education. What South Africa needs is good education for everyone.

Craig Renaud

Trustee
Legals, Treasurer
I am proud to contribute to the awarenet programme with my specific knowledge and I am happy to see the programme thrive.

Ronald Wertlen

Founder
German Partner
awarenet is about spreading awareness, and bridging the education gap.

DR ANNA WERTLEN

Founder
German Partner
With awarenet, I want to provide opportunities to learners who want to learn, but do not have the tools or access to knowledge. I believe that we can change lives with education.

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