Vodacom Lesotho hands over additional support to Resource Centre for the Blind

The Vodacom Lesotho Foundation (VLF) today donated M300,000 to the Resource Centre for the Blind (RCB) in Maseru. This injection is in addition to the M650 000 that the Foundation donated to the Centre last year on June 7th, 2022. At the same time, UNICEF Lesotho, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the Vodacom Lesotho Foundation in 2022, pledged an additional M300,000 through the Ministry of Education and Training, to match the Foundation's 2023 contribution.

This much needed shot in the arm is intended to ensure that the Resource Centre continue to provide much needed education to the visually impaired who would otherwise not receive any education. This will contribute to the total upkeep and running of the institution enabling it to provide a residential capability for those under their care as the Centre no longer gets annual funding from government and other traditional funders forcing it to shut its doors at the height of covid pandemic.

The Resource Centre is the only institution which offers sanctuary, support and primary education for young people with visual impairment. This results in the Centre being open to increased demand for its services but also being the only contributor to the national strategy for inclusive education at its level and specialization.

The Foundation’s support is in line with its pillar of access and inclusion as part of it five pillars of social impact projects in areas such as education, health, gender, youth entrepreneurship and public safety. Other notable access and inclusion contributions include a donation of 22 assistive devices to autistic and intellectually disadvantaged students of Thuso E Tla Tsoa Kae School in October 2022. To date Vodacom Lesotho and the Foundation has contributed over M40million towards changing Basotho lives. 

Commenting on the Foundation’s support to Centre, Mr. John Matlosa, Chairman of  the Vodacom Lesotho Foundation said, ‘we are committed to not only staying the course in our social contract with the Basotho nation through such critical interventions but also aim to bring in other partners and diversify our funding envelope to increase and amplify the impact of our interventions.’

The Foundations’ continued contributions are aimed at plugging the funding gap in social causes as third sector funding is increasingly declining globally in line with the global economic downturn. Private sector organizations are therefore challenged to step into partner with government, civil society, philanthropists, and development partners to offer the much-needed social safety nets. In this regard, Vodacom Lesotho Foundation and has recently forged relations with UNICEF Lesotho, to contribute to projects in support of child safety, early childhood education and girl coding, among others.