About Elgin Learning Foundation

The Elgin Learning Foundation (ELF) opened its doors in 1996.  This was the result of visionary thinking of a group of people who saw ELF as a vehicle to support and empower  farm workers in the Elgin Valley through skills training programmes.  Seed funding was procured through the Wright memorial trust.  As this initiative gained momentum, basic training programmes developed to include the farm worker family as an integrated unit and to provide interventions that address challenges poor people face in a holistic way.
What has happened since 1996 can only be described as a small miracle. Whereas the organisation started with 8 staff members, the staff compliment has grown to 150 plus and more than 50 projects that run at any given time. The organisation has become a household name in the Elgin Valley and elsewhere in the country where we work. Our interventions have reached communities in the deep rural area of Namaqualand, the Northern Cape, Gauteng and Kwazulu Natal.
Apart from being active in various development projects and services, ELF’s core activity is accredited skills training through our Section 21, private FET college, the Elgin Community College.
We offer accredited training in health and social care, small business development and entrepreneurship, early childhood development, ABET, agriculture and technical trades such as bricklaying, masonry and carpentry.
More recently the Elgin Learning Foundation has formed a partnership with the Development Bank of South Africa and the Theewaterskloof Municipality with regard to being part of the Grabouw Sustainable Development initiative. ELF has adopted a green ethos which will be integrated into all ELF activities and programmes.
ELF operates from two campuses. Our main campus is found in the orchards and vineyards of Elgin and houses the departments Agriculture, Health and Social Welfare, Education, Knowledge and Quality Management. All matters financial and administrative are managed from this campus. The Occupational Trades Campus is situated in the village of Grabouw where the departments of Small Business Development and Technical Trades reside.