Afri Twin is an international school linking initiative that facilitates mutually beneficial partnerships between students and teachers at schools in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. It was founded in 2001 by Jayne Martin, a South African then living in the United Kingdom who has since returned to South Africa. Afri Twin provides support for the programme by matching schools with suitable partners, providing guidance to participating schools and arranging workshops and other networking events. The benefits of Afri Twin partnerships include global learning, greater cultural tolerance and the improvement of learning facilities in disadvantaged schools. In 2010, there were over 250 schools in the United Kingdom and South Africa participating in the initiative.

School clusters

Participating schools are arranged in collaborative clusters of up to six schools, including at least one British school and one South African school, with one aim being the upliftment of a disadvantaged South African school in each cluster. Apart from physical visits to partner schools, students at twinned schools are encouraged to learn more about other cultures via

pen pal Pen pals (or penpals, pen-pals, penfriends or pen friends) are people who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail. Pen pals are usually strangers whose relationship is based primarily, or even solely, on their exchange of let ...

relationships,

video chat Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio and video signals by people in different locations for real time communication.McGraw-Hill Concise Ency ...

, and

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

ging, and teachers exchange teaching tips and ideas. School clusters also collaborate on themed projects that incorporate a variety of school subjects and foster

global citizenship Global citizenship is the idea that one's identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader class: "humanity". This does not mean that such a person denounces or waives ...

Funding

Some participating schools have received financial support for the initiative from the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

, a British charity that promotes international educational and cultural relations. Participating schools also undertake their own fundraising projects to help finance overseas trips and school upliftment projects.

School clusters

Funding

See also

References

Further reading