A not-for-profit organisation that provides education support to young South African Black Women.
About Us
The Sedisa Trust for black women is a not-for-profit organisation that provides education support to young South African women by granting bursaries to enable entry into university and further postgraduate studies. We provide bursaries for tertiary programmes with Universities and Universities of Technology (Technikons) in South Africa that offer a combination of academic degrees and diplomas.
The Trust was established in 2012 with a vision to uplift and empower girls from marginalised communities who are often overlooked in the broader narrative of social and economic opportunities.
The Trust focuses on reaching out to and nurturing black, marginalised girls who possess untapped potential but face significant barriers due to their social and economic backgrounds.
Our goal is to level the playing field, to make sure that young black South African women in marginalised communities have a fair shot at success, just as other young women in more connected parts of the country do.
Education bursaries provided by the Sedisa Trust are designed to ease any financial burdens that may be incurred by beneficiaries throughout their academic journey.
How we work?
The Sedisa Trust provides young black South African women who want to further their education, from matric to tertiary study and from undergraduate study to post-graduate qualifications.
Bursary applications are open between 1 January and 30 September every year. Applications for bursaries can be sent to the Sedisa Trust anytime during the year, before 30 September. This period is standard every year, and applicants have to meet that deadline.
Bursary applications are open to young black South African women who have successfully completed their matric and who meet our entry requirements.
Our Story
The Sedisa Trust for Black women is solely funded by KAEFER Group, which delivers technical industrial services for industrial plants, ships and building – reliably, safely, efficiently, worldwide.
The Trust was founded out of KAEFER Group’s desire to holistically impact the communities that its workers come from, recognising the broad social challenges that impact the company’s blue collar workers. Initially, KAEFER Group wanted to provide opportunities for higher education to young black women to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, which would, in turn, create a pool of human resources that the company could tap into in the future.
Since 2012, the Trust has expanded its reach to broadly impact young black women from various parts of the country, beyond KAEFER’s footprint. It now provides bursaries across all fields of study to young girls in rural, remote and marginalised communities that are far removed from the opportunities that are offered in more urbanised centres.
When the Trust was set up, the trustees found that, while transformation is taking place in many parts of the country, young black girls remain marginalised and are seldom considered for the higher education opportunities that would allow them to pursue their dreams and ambitions. They simply don’t have the same exposure and access and The Sedisa Trust was born out of the desire to bridge this gap, to create opportunities where there were none, to give visibility to those who are often overlooked and to show that by changing the life of one girl child, we can change the life of a family, and in turn a community, and the nation.
Mission
To level the playing field and provide opportunities for higher education through our bursaries for young black South African women.
Vision
To empower and elevate young black South African women from marginalised communities, to enable them to become key contributors to society and to the economy in South Africa.