Artisan Training Foundation x The Knowledge Trust

Swazi Gamede- Artisan Training Foundation Bursary Recipient

Through a collaboration between the Artisan Training Foundation and The Knowledge Trust, a bursary was offered to the highest rated applicant to become an artisan through training at the Artisan Training Institute, one of the leading, quality-driven technical training centres in South Africa. It is the technical-skills training provider in the Gauteng – Regional Centre of Expertise, officially recognised by the United Nations University. The Artisan Training Foundation was born out of the Artisan Training Institute’s (ATI) highly successful donor-funded programme which has worked in partnership with funding organisations, both national and international over the past ten years. The Foundation believes in a world in which every single person contributes, has their own purpose, and lives a life of meaning; a world of youth with sustainable livelihoods. The Knowledge Trust believes in making education more accessible to more people, more often. They assist their community in achieving study and career goals  and one means they use is by providing access to various bursaries on offer with their education partners. There is clearly a strong synergy of purpose between The Knowledge Trust, the Artisan Training Foundation and the Artisan Training Institute, which makes collaboration easy.

The Knowledge Trust was able to deliver a meaningful campaign that sourced hundreds of applicants to apply for the Artisan Foundation sponsored bursary. The Artisan team was determined to appoint informed and guided candidates. To achieve this The Knowledge Trust helped them do this by facilitating a webinar to address potential candidates’ questions and offer knowledge about the industry. The campaign was a success and appointed a lucky bursary winner for a 3 year Electrical Engineering programme. 

Swazi Gamede was the successful bursary winner and started training to be a Fitter and Turner on 21 April 2021 and completed Phase one and Phase two of the training on the 9th July 2021 with an ‘Excellent’ rating. He will now be placed with a host employer to begin his workplace training, after which Phase 3 will be completed, and then finally the trade test. Swazi will then be a fully qualified artisan!

Swazi says “Being allowed the opportunity to come and learn at ATI was a very fun and enjoyable experience. I was able to get a lot of exposure and learned a lot of things I did not know before. Mr Masilela, my trainer, was always willing and open to helping me where I struggled and helped develop my skills.”