The SmilingOne foundation is a non-profit organization in South Africa that sheds importance on strengthening people and societies with attention to limiting crime. The Smiling One Foundation focuses on disadvantaged peoples and societies in schools, prisons, and townships. They thereby want to reinforce people’s personal development specifically and society in South Africa more generally.
Finding support and strength from within to boost both individual growth and positive development within the society.
The foundation implements so-called Circles of Change, embracing a program in personal leadership development, a training on navigating life in gratitude and service, and an entrepreneurial skills curriculum. This cycle of topics and exercises is centered around the individual within their communities. The efforts of the SmilingOne Foundation can allow clients to become pillars of support themselves. Sometimes, people who received assistance during prison projects become Change Agents themselves. Being stationed in school projects after reintegration, they help to support youth at risk, while they can in their turn assist and inspire others.
At Close the Gap we were grateful to suply the SmilingOne Foundation with 3 laptops to help their team of Change Agents with the organization’s administration. The devices are used to keep track of the data that often covers many sessions, projects, and interactions the foundation uses to obtain its goal. We are most grateful for the testimony our contact at the foundation gave us, highlighting how this management of data allows them to ‘deeply connect to the journey of our clients (students and inmates) and support them’. It inspires us once again to look at the scope computer assets can have, as it is most thankful to be of help to the meaningful and important work the foundation delivers.
