Community Stakeholder Recognition and Appreciation Awards - False Bay College

As part of its TVET month activities False Bay TVET College decided to award 12 community organisations with a Certificate of Appreciation. The awards were in recognition of the long standing partnership the college has with these stakeholders and their sterling role in promoting technical and vocational education and training as a pathway to the upliftment and self- development of the youth. The best thing about honouring our stakeholders with awards is that it is aligned with the overall marketing communication strategy. We also made sure that we create appreciation posts for social media which forms part of PR and creates awareness of the fact that we value our stakeholders. This was a simple way of saying to our stakeholders "We know you, we value you and we realise the impact you have in our business".

Arthur Ketile, FBC community liaison; Talia Marcus, Youth Unemployment Prevention Project (YUPP), Souchan Jackson, FBC Mitchells Plain campus manager.

The marketing department has a long list of community stakeholders who are equally active in advocating for TVET colleges within their communities. Clear criterion was developed to choose the top 12 organisations to be awarded.

Following a rigorous selection process, 10 organisations and two individuals were selected as the recipients of the historical Certificate of Appreciation Award signed by the college principal, Karin Hendricks, and the deputy principal of innovation and development, Christiana Nel.

Due to strict Covid-19 protocols, the college realised that it was going to be impossible to host the award recipients at the same venue for a handover ceremony. The marketing department decided to arrange individual handover ceremonies for each of the recipients in the comfort of their own offices or homes. The marketing community liaison clerk and the digital marketing officer visited the recipients from the 15-30 September 2021 to hand over the certificates.

The recipients expressed their appreciation and gratitude to the college for acknowledging their role in community development using education as a tool of upliftment.

Pastor Zondi, who accepted the award on behalf of the Langa Baptist Church, had this to say, “We as the Langa Baptist Church, we no longer see ourselves as a church, our role is much bigger than that, we see ourselves as an agent of change within the community of Langa. We are humbled by this award by False Bay College in recognition of the work we do, we pray that this award will inspire us to continue to do more.”

Pastor Charles Jacobs from the Academy of Youth & Development Opportunities said, “Thank you a thousand times False Bay College for always being there for the many young people in our communities who need your career guidance.”

Malungisa Funda of the Emanuel Empowerment Centre mentioned that the college is playing a huge role in Khayelitsha especially in the lives of people who live in informal settlements, who thought it was not possible for them to make it in life.

This was a very important initiative by the college. One which has been well received and highly appreciated by all recipients of the certificates.