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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the 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. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. 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 penfriends, penpals, pen-pals) 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 letters. Occasion ...

relationships,

video chat Videotelephony (also known as videoconferencing or video calling) is the use of audio and video for simultaneous two-way communication. Today, videotelephony is widespread. There are many terms to refer to videotelephony. ''Videophones'' are ...

, and

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

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 a form of transnationality, specifically the idea that one's identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader global class of "humanity". This do ...

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 lang ...

, 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