On 7 March 2022, the "Joy of Moving (JoM) Pilot Project" was launched in South Africa through the implementation of a training program on the JoM methodology for over 30 teachers and principals of 7 South African primary schools which host a total of over 10,000 pupils.
The Pilot Project was implemented by Kinder Joy of Moving (KJoM) together with the Ministry of Education/Department of Basic Education (MoE), the Michele Ferrero Entrepreneurial Project (PIMF) and Ferrero South Africa. It is based on the solid collaboration established over the years with the MoE, the Michele Ferrero Entrepreneurial Project (MFEP) and Ferrero South Africa, aimed at requalifying the working environment of primary schools in disadvantaged rural South African communities, which often have very poor, if none at all, sports facilities.
Such institutional cooperation with Ferrero South Africa and MFEP has focused on supporting rural primary schools in communities within the Sedibeng district (in Gauteng) where the Ferrero factory is located. It has so far resulted in the complete refurbishment of Randvaal Primary School premises, including its sports facilities, and the construction of the Laerskool De Deur Sports Centre.
The Pilot Project aimed at promoting the adoption, by the participating schools, of the Joy of Moving methodology within their normal school activities.
MFEP-South Africa provided infrastructural, logistic and coordination support to the counterparts involved. In particular, it started building renovation activities - currently (2023) nearing completion - of the sports infrastructures of the Primary School of Sicelo, one of the 7 schools participating in the Pilot Project.
Kinder Joy of Moving provided instead experts who carried out training activities, through face-to-face sessions and remote monitoring activities, throughout the 2021-2022 academic year.
Following the successful outcome of the initiative, it was agreed with the same counterparties to extend the aforementioned activities to 7 new rural schools in the Sedibeng district, which host another 6,000 pupils.
Also in this second project - currently (2023) under implementation - infrastructural support activities are planned for the improvement of the sports facilities of two of the seven new schools participating in the initiative.
Ferrero in South Africa
The second Michele Ferrero Entrepreneurial Project was launched in South Africa in 2006.
In 2009, a modern production plant was built in Walkerville (Midvaal) in Gauteng - one of the South African regions with high rates of unemployment - in an area characterized by a low level of urbanization, about an hour from Johannesburg.
The Group’s current commercial offices in the country are based in Johannesburg.
The Ferrero plant not only produces products for the domestic market, but also for the whole free trade area known as SADC (Southern African Development Community), which, along with South Africa, consists of the following 14 countries: Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Latest Social Activities
INTRODUCING JOY OF MOVING IN RURAL PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN SEDIBENG DISTRICT
Joy of Moving Pilot Project
Joy of Moving Pilot Project to support rural primary schools in South Africa, conceived and implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Education of the Republic of South Africa, Kinder Joy of Moving and the Michele Ferrero-South Africa Entrepreneurial Project.
Joy of Moving Pilot Project
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NEW LAERSKOOL DE DEUR SPORTS CENTER
Walkerville is located in the Sedibeng district of the Gauteng province. It is a small residential area about 30 km (20 miles) south of Johannesburg, the provincial capital of Gauteng and the largest city in South Africa.
The township of Midvaal, where Walkerville is located, has a very low population density (about 65 inhabitants/km² versus Johannesburg's 2,900 inhabitants/km²) and is home to several rural/peri-urban primary schools.
In many emerging countries rural schools generally face many more challenges than urban schools. They have greater difficulty in accessing adequate financial resources. Their pupils often need to travel long distances to attend classes, with limited access - or no access at all - to public transport. The best-qualified teachers tend to prefer schools in urban areas where, in general: living conditions and access to professional opportunities are better; dropout rates are lowest and the attendance rates highest; and crowded classes attended by children of the same age group are less.
Also in light of the above, in 2019 the Michele Ferrero Entrepreneurial Project in South Africa decided to support the construction of a sports center at the Laerskool De Deur primary school, located in a peri-urban area about 12 km from the Ferrero factory. More than a third of its more than 1,300 alumni benefit from the National School Nutrition Program, which provides a nutritious meal to pupils from underprivileged families. The school was equipped with basic sports facilities which have been upgraded and transformed into a real sports center. This structure now has a soccer field equipped with a new and modern irrigation system; tiers covered by canopies and changing room with showers and toilets for the students.
The project was conceived and implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE), its district representatives and the active support of the Laerskool De Deur principal.
The new sports facility is also accessible to four other rural schools - located in nearby neighborhoods hosting over 4,000 pupils - which, at present, do not have adequate sports facilities.
The importance of promoting sports activities in rural South African primary schools should not be underestimated. In the country, according to recent surveys, only about 50% of children carry out sufficient physical activity and obesity in children and adolescents has reached critical levels.
Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports the rapid growth of obesity in the African region, where childhood overweight and obesity more than doubled from 1990 to 2013. It is estimated that children of overweight parents and those malnourished during pregnancy or childhood are more likely to become obese later in life. If obesity in South African children continues to rise at its current rate, it is also estimated that 3.91 million school-age children will be overweight or obese by 2025.
Preventing childhood obesity is therefore not just about improving children's health, which is an essential goal in itself. It is an action that also contributes significantly to preventing obesity, ill health and premature deaths among adults.
The construction of a sports center at the Laerskool De Deur primary school also represents a good springboard for promoting the Joy of Moving methodology in local schools. In fact, the objective of this Group CSR project is to encourage the younger generation to adopt an active lifestyle. This methodology aims to get children moving through play, developing skills in four main areas: physical fitness, motor coordination, cognitive function and creativity, life attitude. In this way, it shifts the focus from performance to entertainment, and from competition to collaboration.
The township of Midvaal, where Walkerville is located, has a very low population density (about 65 inhabitants/km² versus Johannesburg's 2,900 inhabitants/km²) and is home to several rural/peri-urban primary schools.
In many emerging countries rural schools generally face many more challenges than urban schools. They have greater difficulty in accessing adequate financial resources. Their pupils often need to travel long distances to attend classes, with limited access - or no access at all - to public transport. The best-qualified teachers tend to prefer schools in urban areas where, in general: living conditions and access to professional opportunities are better; dropout rates are lowest and the attendance rates highest; and crowded classes attended by children of the same age group are less.
Also in light of the above, in 2019 the Michele Ferrero Entrepreneurial Project in South Africa decided to support the construction of a sports center at the Laerskool De Deur primary school, located in a peri-urban area about 12 km from the Ferrero factory. More than a third of its more than 1,300 alumni benefit from the National School Nutrition Program, which provides a nutritious meal to pupils from underprivileged families. The school was equipped with basic sports facilities which have been upgraded and transformed into a real sports center. This structure now has a soccer field equipped with a new and modern irrigation system; tiers covered by canopies and changing room with showers and toilets for the students.
The project was conceived and implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE), its district representatives and the active support of the Laerskool De Deur principal.
The new sports facility is also accessible to four other rural schools - located in nearby neighborhoods hosting over 4,000 pupils - which, at present, do not have adequate sports facilities.
The importance of promoting sports activities in rural South African primary schools should not be underestimated. In the country, according to recent surveys, only about 50% of children carry out sufficient physical activity and obesity in children and adolescents has reached critical levels.
Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports the rapid growth of obesity in the African region, where childhood overweight and obesity more than doubled from 1990 to 2013. It is estimated that children of overweight parents and those malnourished during pregnancy or childhood are more likely to become obese later in life. If obesity in South African children continues to rise at its current rate, it is also estimated that 3.91 million school-age children will be overweight or obese by 2025.
Preventing childhood obesity is therefore not just about improving children's health, which is an essential goal in itself. It is an action that also contributes significantly to preventing obesity, ill health and premature deaths among adults.
The construction of a sports center at the Laerskool De Deur primary school also represents a good springboard for promoting the Joy of Moving methodology in local schools. In fact, the objective of this Group CSR project is to encourage the younger generation to adopt an active lifestyle. This methodology aims to get children moving through play, developing skills in four main areas: physical fitness, motor coordination, cognitive function and creativity, life attitude. In this way, it shifts the focus from performance to entertainment, and from competition to collaboration.
The Laerskool De Deur Sports Center
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Laerskool De Deur Sports Center: construction of changing rooms
Laerskool De Deur Sports Center: construction of water connections for the locker room
Laerskool De Deur Sports Center: locker room block completed
Laerskool De Deur Sports Center: coverage of the bleachers completed
Laerskool De Deur Sports Center: overall view
Laerskool De Deur Sports Center: regeneration of the lawn
Laerskool De Deur Sports Center: gatehouse, portal and access walkway
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Entrance with guardhouse to Sports Center
Aerial view of the Sports Center
Aerial view of the soccer field
Changing room with “Belvedere” for school staff
Covered bleachers for the spectators
Handover ceremony of the Sports Center
Match on the football field
Match on the football field
Match on the rugby field
Match on the net-ball field
Match on the net-ball field
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Past Social Activities
Financing of the “Love Matters” project, residential seminars for raising awareness of and preventing AIDS - a disease that still affects approximately 10% of the population in South Africa, especially young people - which over 600 young people took part in.
In 2012, the Ministry of Education in South Africa launched the “94+ school projects for Madiba”. Its aim was to provide infrastructural assistance to at least 94 South African schools, in occasion of Nelson Mandela’s 94th birthday, through a joint effort with local private companies.
Michele Ferrero Entrepreneurial Project in South Africa answered such call by fully renovating the premises, including the sports facilities, of the Japie Greyling Primary School (later renamed Randvaal Primary School), a rather extensive peri-urban educational complex not far from our Walkerville plant.
Thanks to this project, the school: was able to significantly increase the number of students enrolled, which were about 250, before the start of the initiative, and currently are about three times as many; has been equipped to accommodate also special needs pupils; has been given a canteen where government programs supporting nutrition for local children can be held.
In 2017, a Primary Health Care Centre was built at our Walkerville plant.
This facility allows to:
1. strengthen and improve the assistance provided to our workforce in the field of occupational health care;
2. offer to our workers medical assistance services in the field of preventive health care and general medicine;
3. extend the access to the aforementioned services to the children and, more generally, to the family members of our employees.
In 2012, the Ministry of Education in South Africa launched the “94+ school projects for Madiba”. Its aim was to provide infrastructural assistance to at least 94 South African schools, in occasion of Nelson Mandela’s 94th birthday, through a joint effort with local private companies.
Michele Ferrero Entrepreneurial Project in South Africa answered such call by fully renovating the premises, including the sports facilities, of the Japie Greyling Primary School (later renamed Randvaal Primary School), a rather extensive peri-urban educational complex not far from our Walkerville plant.
Thanks to this project, the school: was able to significantly increase the number of students enrolled, which were about 250, before the start of the initiative, and currently are about three times as many; has been equipped to accommodate also special needs pupils; has been given a canteen where government programs supporting nutrition for local children can be held.
In 2017, a Primary Health Care Centre was built at our Walkerville plant.
This facility allows to:
1. strengthen and improve the assistance provided to our workforce in the field of occupational health care;
2. offer to our workers medical assistance services in the field of preventive health care and general medicine;
3. extend the access to the aforementioned services to the children and, more generally, to the family members of our employees.
Primary Health Care Centre at Walkerville plant
FULL RENOVATION OF FORMER JAPIE GREYLING PRIMARY SCHOOL (NOW RANVAAL PRIMARY SCHOOL), IN WALKERVILLE (GAUTENG)
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Aerial view of the Ferrero factory in Walkerville
Aerial view of the Primary Health Care Center (PHCC)
PHCC inside
PHCC inside
Complete restoration of the roofs of the Japie Greyling School
Japie Greyling school exteriors completely refurbished
The Japie Greyling school (now renamed Randvaal Primary School) after the renovation
Hon. Angelina Angie Matsie Motshekga, Minister of Basic Education, at the inauguration ceremony of Japie Greyling, at the end of the complete restoration work
Inauguration ceremony of the Japie Greyling
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