Community engagement

      

The personnel and students of the Department of Social Work and Criminology are involved in a range of community service programmes and projects, including:

• job creation for women and street children;
• awareness-raising of child abuse;
• raising awareness of HIV;
• home-based care and support for AIDS patients/children;
• holiday projects for street children;
• women abuse;
• life skills;
• parenting skills;
• foster care;
• school holiday programmes;
• Correctional Services: Programme for awaiting trial juveniles;
• support programmes for victims of crime;
• crime awareness;  
• restorative justice; and
• crime prevention projects. 

 Project: Pretoria Local Remand Detention Centre: sentenced offenders

Dr Karen Booyens is involved in a continuous project for sentenced offenders at the Pretoria Local Remand Detention Centre, Pretoria. The project involves various programmes and courses for these offenders.

Towards the end of each year, offenders are acknowledged for completion of different courses and  receive certificates for successfully completing the following courses: computer skills, basic entrepreneurial skills and life-skills (stress management, anger management, victim awareness and restorative justice). The life-skills programme is presented by Dr Booyens. Apart from these courses, Dr Booyens and the offenders also participate in community outreach such as celebrating Nelson Mandela day, knitting scarves, and making fabric paintings for an orphanage in Hammanskraal.    

Scarves knitted by the offenders and the fabric paintings.