At Awarenet we think that the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in South Africa should be geared towards the needs of local communities rather than the needs of global big tech.

In 2010, Anna and Ron Wertlen had a vision of giving South African youth with little access to ICT in school and home environments the tools to master the myriad of educational opportunities offered by the internet and computer literacy. They therefore founded the Village Scribe Association Trust which created an offline e-learning network called Awarenet. 15 years later, with more internet, computers and smart phones available in disadvantaged areas in South Africa, Awarenet has morphed into a comprehensive program of use of ICT for educational purposes.

The Awarenet program now comprises robotics and coding classes, maths tutoring with the help of interactive online platforms, computer labswith free access for the community, curating and distributing SD-cards filled with digital resources for SD-cards in the smartphones of school learners and also two separate comprehensive local employment reliefs programs, the Social Employment Fund and YearBeyond - the latter with focus on building literacy and numeracy for primary school learners.