This week’s blog was going to be a follow up to the previous two, which reported on both Pakati schools. More on this further down, but first…
Good news!
Instead, we have some great news to report on!
Just this week it was confirmed to me that the University of Huddersfield Business School has accepted our request to become part of their Consultancy Project. Some students have been selected to contact me next week, to discuss how they can help, advise, and support us. They will regularly report on progress, before presenting their recommendations in mid September at the University.
The areas where I have asked for help from the Consultancy are as follows:
- Becoming a registered charity – this has been something I have wanted to do for some time, but it seems I never have enough time to get the important background work done
- Fundraising ideas/activities – in need of new ideas, different events both large and small
- Online presence – is our website fit for purpose? Are we using the right social media platforms? Are we getting the best out of them?
- Marketing strategy – need to tie everything we do together, turn it into a brand with clear plans, to generate more followers, donors & sponsors
I have to say this is a very exciting prospect for me! I can hardly wait to meet the students who are getting involved with Friends of Pakati & see what they come up with – and I hope we can help them succeed as this is an important element in their coursework.
I will update you on what goes on from time to time.
Other News..
Our next fundraising event is going ahead on Sat 9th July in my home town of Scunthorpe…
Our guest speaker to be interviewed by the Iron Bru Podcast team is none other than ex-Scunthorpe United player & Iron legend – NEIL COX!
Neil is seen above wearing his friendsofpakati.com t-shirt, stood between the Author and his son Daniel.
Dan is also performing at the event as part of the acoustic duo, E.v.i.e. featuring Evie Gallagher.
Podcast news..
We are planning to record Episode 8 of our podcast series very soon – listen to all previous 7 on our Podcast page https://friendsofpakati.com/friends-of-pakati-podcasts/ – and it will feature Vari Mayez of VaTonatsa Foundation.
Vari Mayez in South Africa recently attending a conference
She will be very familiar to followers & regular readers of this blog – here is a link to show one of her previous appearances with us: https://friendsofpakati.com/2020/04/25/saturday-star-vari-mayez-a-friend-of-pakati-under-lockdown-in-harare/
The podcast will be released in due course once our esteemed host, Bradley Mell, completes the edit.
And finally….
At the top of the page, I mentioned about following up on these two reports – https://friendsofpakati.com/2022/06/12/pakati-schools-report-part-1-the-challenges/ and https://friendsofpakati.com/2022/06/19/pakati-schools-report-part-2-overcoming-challenges/
The question we face is multi-layered, but boils down to how best we use our funds to benefit the two Pakati schools. Is it best to stick to the main aim of transporting IT out to Pakati, or, given the reported power shortages stopping them from using those computers already there (among many other things), should we change focus to helping them get their power supply restored?
There are discussions going on about this wuth all interested parties, including the practicalities involved and also how the local protocols are to be followed if we do go down this route. Much more on this is coming up in a future blog, as is a 6-month review of Friends of Pakati very soon!
