The Valley Trust, which is based in the Valley of 1000 Hills and promotes a healthy and active life, has won two awards initiated by the Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (JHHESA).
Story: Publicity Matters
The hard-working and recently re-invigorated NPO: The Valley Trust has won two coveted international awards applauding their project delivery, presented to them by the Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa – a non profit organisation (NPO) that aims to improve the health and well-being of all South Africans.
JHHESA is affiliated to the internationally acclaimed Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Centre for Communication Programs, based in Baltimore (USA), a globally-respected public health communication organisation.
JHHESA hosts annual awards to motivate its South African partners and to add global recognition and credibility for their structures, initiatives and projects. The Valley Trust won awards for Programme Implementation and the Chief Financial Officer’s Award for Financial Reporting. It was the only NPO to win more than one award.
“JHHESA runs its own auditing process for all its partners, so for us to be acknowledged as having good reporting and accurate accounting procedures is really affirming for us,” said S’bongiseni Vilakazi: Executive Director, The Valley Trust.
“This is especially exciting as The Valley Trust has undergone massive changes – so it is great news that we won two of the awards, in two such strategic categories,” continued Vilakazi.
Vilakazi has been Executive Director since joining the organisation in January. “In an effort to respond to changes in its external environment, the Valley Trust was compelled to make substantial changes concerning staff and programmes – including a major retrenchment process that saw the number of staff reduced from 58 in October 2011 to the current 25.
“Our immediate focus was to address the negative impacts of the changes while steering the organisation into a new direction. It is a testimony to the hard work and dedication of the staff that there has been minimal disruption in the delivery of current programmes and in our winning these important awards,” considered Vilakazi.
The Valley Trust is a centre for health promotion, founded in 1953 and situated in the picturesque Valley of a Thousand Hills in KwaZulu Natal. Its vision is to support the communities of the Valley of the Thousand Hills to live healthy and active lives as full participants in a democratic South Africa.
The Valley Trust designs and engages in projects with people, aimed at bringing about developmental change at the individual, organizational, and whole systems levels. These processes include facilitation; supportive training; the creation and maintenance of partnerships; lobbying and advocacy; and sharing learnings through documentation and presentations in various forms.
For more info, contact The Valley Trust on 031 716 6800 or visit www.thevalleytrust.org.za