Every year, 18th July is celebrated across the world as Mandela Day. Commemorating the life and work of Nelson Mandela, the day is about recognising his commitment to instilling equality, combating poverty and changing the world for the better.

For us at Alison, Mandela’s legacy of tirelessly working to improve the lives of his fellow South Africans stands as both example and encouragement for our work in empowering people around the world through education.

These five free online courses can inspire you to take action against poverty in your local area and implement positive social change in your community.

Community Development

Regardless of the issues facing your local community, before you can begin to tackle them together, you need to establish a strong sense of community spirit and solidarity. This sense of common project and identity is integral if your community is going to succeed in improving your shared situation. Alison offers a range of highly affecting courses in community building that will help you lay the groundwork for an energised and close-knit community that is ready to tackle challenges collectively.

Childcare

Childcare can be extremely expensive and quality services are in short supply. The lack of confidence in existing services, and the prohibitive prices of much good childcare, means that many parents’ professional lives suffer as they don’t have anyone to care for their children while they work. This means that their earning potential is limited and often results in both parents and children becoming caught in a poverty trap. Organising a Community Childcare Program can be an incredibly beneficial service that unlocks the full potential of your community and helps give families the tools they need to rise out of poverty.

Community Gardens

Whether your community is rural or urban, the benefits of setting up a community garden are exponential. From providing a social outlet for retirees, to offering young people a safe and productive outlet, a shared garden is a great way to engage all generations across the entire community. The mental health benefits of working with the earth are well documented. The project also has the potential to generate food for struggling families, while also providing a community industry in the form of a produce market, which results in both jobs and income.

Fundraising

Nobody knows your local community better than you do so the best tool you can have is one that puts resources at your disposal without any strings attached. Being able to raise your own funds so that you can direct them into the projects you know your community needs is a powerful asset for any community to have. Learning how to fundraise effectively will grant your community an independence that will be felt by all involved. It also helps emancipate struggling community members as it teaches them how best to generate their own funds collectively.

Community Health

Nothing is as integral to the success of a community as the health of its members. However community health can be a tricky subject to navigate, particularly when poverty can result in drastically different situations for different members. As ever, knowledge is the key to understanding and thus improving the situation. Alison offers a variety of courses aimed at explaining potentially divisive community health issues, from the opioid crisis to drugs in the workplace. A better understanding of these problems will result in a dialogue that can then seek to remedy these community health issues. Our course in CPR, defibrillators and First Aid is also required learning for all conscientious community members.