The Environment and Language Education Trust (ELET) is an NGO based in KZN, in operation for 37 years. Our organisation impacts development and transformation through Accredited Skills Training, Environmental, Teacher and Learner Empowerment and Employment Creation Programs, with an emphasis on marginalized and vulnerable Women and Youth. Our program focus is on Learner Support, Teacher Development, Early Childhood Development Learnership programs, Literacy and Environmental Education and Rehabilitation. Our principal accreditation is from ETDPSETA (10634) as a Skills Development Provider.

The Environment and Language Education Trust (ELET) is an NGO, established in 1984 in KwaZulu Natal. Our focus in the last 37 years has been on Education & Training, Rural Environmental Support Programs, Food Security, Entrepreneurship, Child Literacy Programs and Learner and Teacher Support Programs. Our overarching goals are to develop human capital, reduce poverty and inequality, and build social cohesion. We prioritise the provision of educational, entrepreneurial and employment opportunities for the most vulnerable and marginalised rural Women and Youth. In this regard, a core area of focus is the provision of Early Childhood Development (ECD) Learnership programs, in partnership with the Health and Welfare SETA. We establish known, well-resourced and proficient programs as a key feature of our impact in this field and our experiences have allowed us to replicate and scale up our intervention nationally with rural youth and women. Locating our ECD projects in deep rural areas allows us best to realise our goal of “Transforming Lives”.
Our programs are underpinned by ongoing research and development to align our projects to priority needs. This is an essential undertaking to optimise the use of resources and sharply focus our interventions for maximum impact.
During delivery of our programs, we add as much value as possible to maximise the impact of the program. An example of this is the rollout of additional skills courses (accredited and non-credit-bearing) to future ECD practitioners to increase their employability, knowledge base and impact in the communities they work. ELET is governed by a board of trustees, who broadly represent the fields of Education and the Environment. The main function of the Board is to provide guidance in policy formulation and financial oversight.

CORE GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND ASPIRATIONS

• Accountability, transparency and good corporate governance
• Recognising the value and potential of Education as a tool for transformation in our country
• To increase our footprint in the Learnership space and graduate as many women and youth as possible, creating stable careers for them
• To optimise human potential in our country so that people become self-reliant and retake ownership of their lives towards healthy, productive and prosperous ones
• To engage with a diverse cross section of thought leaders and organisations to determine the causes and effects of the most detrimental social ills and marginalization of people and use this information to formulate the best strategies to overcome them