Addleshaw Goddard has announced its first International Charity Partnership – The Kusasa Project in Franschhoek, South Africa. 

The Kusasa Project is a South African registered Public Benefit Organization (PBO), with its primary operations consisting of an independently-funded Early Learning Centre in the Western Cape of South Africa, known as The Kusasa Project Early Learning Centre. It was founded in 2006 by Dave Riordan and Doug Gurr to provide a quality education and encourage a brighter future for underprivileged children in an area characterised by significant wealth inequality. 

The Early Learning Centre offers places to approximately 125 children aged four to nine with a core focus on fundamental reading, writing, maths and communication skills, and an additional emphasis on nutritional and mental health, self-confidence, personal responsibility, community and social engagement. It aims to encourage academic curiosity and achievement and sporting and life skills development for the disadvantaged local children, taking a mission-focussed and committed approach.

Addleshaw Goddard has committed to a Corporate Social Responsibility agenda framed around the objective of Unlocking Young Potential. This aims to make an active contribution through supporting young people to reach their full potential through our three pillars: Access to Education, Access to the Profession and Access to Work. 

The partnership with The Kusasa Project is Addleshaw Goddard's first International Charity Partnership. Through employee-led initiatives, fundraising and engagement with the charity, Addleshaw Goddard will look to support the success of The Kusasa Project in order to help them achieve their goals in providing a great foundation for educational and human development of the children.

If you would like to learn more about The Kusasa Project, you can find further information about the work they have been doing at The Kusasa Project website.

Dave Riordan, Co-Founder of The Kusasa Project, said: "We are incredibly fortunate and pleased to have the opportunity to partner with a firm like Addleshaw Goddard in our mission of providing an outstanding educational foundation to the amazing kids of South Africa. Addleshaw Goddard’s CSR objective of unlocking young potential is precisely what The Kusasa Project is about. The Early Learning Centre exists to give the kids it serves the best possible start in life and the best possible prospects for the future. 

Addleshaw Goddard's commitment to a partnership with us demonstrates the firm’s appreciation for the life-changing impact of a strong educational start and the right of every child to have access to excellent teaching in a supportive environment. We are hugely grateful for Addleshaw Goddard’s support and excited about the difference that we know this partnership will make to the kids."

James Herring, Addleshaw Goddard's London Office CSR Partner, said: "Addleshaw Goddard is fully committed to our Corporate Social Responsibility strategy of Unlocking Young Potential. CSR is incredibly important to us, and we have done a lot of work with charities to this end. 

This International Charity Partnership gives us the opportunity to work alongside a great organisation which is helping to deliver a better future for children. One of the key pillars of our CSR strategy is Access to Education, and to that end we are delighted to be partnering with The Kusasa Project and look forward to working with them to help make a real difference."