Equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories that provide students with hands-on experiences to bridge theory and practice
Through its Community Engagement (CE) projects, the college aims to find solutions to the problems communities are experiencing and they benefit directly from the projects. The CE projects are rolled-out in various areas and target specific audiences. The projects are often involves formal partnerships with one or more partners.
The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) Food Resilience Flagship Project in collaboration with UNISA: CAES (Agriculture and Animal Health) have agreed to register and commission an ad-hoc Community Engagement Project that will provide free consultancy services to projects that are supported by the COJ on condition that COJ avails the project resources (i.e. land, labour, infrastructure, equipment, inputs etc.) for supervision and mentoring the project recipients in support of profitable agricultural production that may provide Experiential Training for ± 20 UNISA students per year. Ideally the project is geared to serve CoJ’s at community centres in Region A (Diepsloot & Ivory Park), Region B (Waverly & Westbury), Region C (Tshepisong & Roodepoort), Region D (Diepkloof), Region E (Alexandra), Region F (Betroms & Pioneer Park), Region G (Orange Farm) and Eikenhoff Empowerment Zone. In 2016 the project registered 62 community members in Plant Sciences, 68 in Food Security, 52 in Agricultural Economics and 53 in Animal Sciences for training purposes at Afrika Tikkun Community Centre in Diepsloot. It must also be stated that more participants are reached at times when academic staff from the Department of Agriculture and Animal Health present agricultural production related topics on UNISA Radio.
In 2017 academic year, 25 community youth from Region C (Sparrow Village Hospice and Orphanage) participated. Additionally, In 2017, 25 Experiential Learning students were engaged for 3 months (i.e. July to September) in a “Train the Trainer” program whereby by academic staff members trained students as part of their academic development to make presentations (practically and theoretically) in simple agricultural concepts to 25 youth from Sparrow Village under the mentorship of academic staff. Experiential Learning students will submit their WiL Reports as evidence of participation in the CE. Suffice it to point out that 10 graduates will from 1st November 2017 joining the said “Train the Trainer” program as Interns who are sponsored by AgriSETA with monthly stipends of R3 750 to be paid for 12 months. Interns will write monthly reports that will be submitted to AgriSETA being statutory requirement. Urban Agriculture Community Engagement for 2017 culminated in the commemoration of the 2017 World Food Day Event at Sparrow Village Hospice and Orphanage on 20 October 2017 where the Guest Speaker was Mr. Rodney Mudzuli: Regional Manager: Urban Agriculture Food Resilience Unit in the Social Development Department of City of Joburg - Region C. Additionally, Mr M. Makungu, Prof DMM Mosise and Prof SL Lebelo were appointed to the Board of Sparrow Village Hospice and Orphanage.
CAES: AAH will use Participatory Approach which will entail the Transfer of Skills through structured training and advisory services at different venues including Afrika Tikkun Agri-Resource Centre (Region A) and Sparrow Village Hospice and Orphanage (Region C). Additionally, UNISA will provide consultancy services pertaining to Environmental Impact assessment, feasibility studies; soil survey, land use assessment etc.
In developing countries, the prevention of infection is a priority area for all healthcare workers (HCW) and providing nutrition education interventions to such HCWs would assist them and, in turn, directly benefit their communities. A reduction in disease transmission can often be effected by behaviour change and, therefore, health and nutrition education that is aimed at informing the community participants about the cause of disease and preventative measures, is vital. Some of the nutrition-related education encourage breastfeeding as a means of preventing diarrhoea while others are directly related to food, for example those regarding the many food-borne diseases that may be reduced through improved food hygiene.
The health and life skills training courses will equip the community HCWs and caregivers and other community members with knowledge and confidence in decision-making regarding critical aspects of health and nutrition management with the aim to improve and optimise nutrition, health, food security and business opportunities. Thus, the purpose of the courses is to facilitate evaluation, comprehension and application of information on specific nutrition-, health-, sewing- , baking-, barista skills and basic farming-related matters. Completion of these courses will provide knowledge of general.
The Mothong African Heritage Project in collaboration with various institutions and the Department of Science and Technology aims at cultivating plant species with medicinal and cosmeceutical potential and developing a processing plant on site. The farmers and community will be cultivating the material to be supplied for manufacturing. The farmers and community are also involved in data collection and participation of the research trials which are conducted at the site. The site will therefore not only be developed as a commercial farm, but also as a research centre where different stakeholders are involved.
A number of stakeholders are involved in the project, supporting the project in different ways. Some of these are the Department of Health, City of Tshwane municipality, Department of Environmental Affairs, Agricultural Research Council, Department of Science and Technology and GDARD
Last modified: Tue Dec 09 14:02:18 SAST 2025