General Purposes

About this grant

The Umtapo Centre provides training, education and capacity building in the areas of peace, human rights, race relations and reconciliation. Since its establishment, the center has worked mainly in the KwaZulu-Natal province, a region that has been wracked by interethnic and racial violence. Increasingly, it has focused on youth and young people in schools, inculcating values of tolerance, peace and respect for diversity.This grant will enable the center to continue and broaden its interventions and training programs, building on lessons learned to work with youth and communities in other parts of the country. In particular, it will focus on teachers and educators in schools and advocate for peace and antiracism education to be integrated into the school curriculum.Recent activities included establishing and providing support for youth peace centers in communities in KwaZulu-Natal; organizing an annual competition in schools to promote peace, tolerance and reconciliation; providing training and capacity building in community mobilization and advocacy to ensure that people understand and can access their rights; developing resource tools and media on peace, human rights and antiracism practice; and publishing a quarterly newsletter focusing on the challenges of building a nonracial society.