A new year ahead and our Q3 2022 highlights
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called?Opportunity?and its first chapter is New Year's Day.”
-?Edith Lovejoy Pierce
As we start a new year and look forward to the new and the unknown, there is a lot to be grateful for. At Aurora, there were many great successes throughout 2022 – and this is all thanks to the dedication and passion of our team, suppliers and partners. We would like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your contributions during the past year and are thankful for beginning 2023 with you.
A special shout-out goes to our main contractor, Lerole Power O&M as well as the collaborative efforts of all other contractors working on-site at the 94MW West Coast 1 wind farm. Together, these contractors have achieved 2 500 days of no Lost Time Injuries, something that is truly exceptional.
?In this first edition of 2023, you can look forward to reading about some of the key highlights of 2022, which includes the Socio-Economic Development programmes that received support from West Coast 1 during Q3 of 2022 and provide a glimpse into our Socio-Economic Development plans for the year ahead.?
CELEBRATING 2 500 LTI FREE DAYS
On 25 November 2022, a significant Health & Safety accomplishment was reached at the 94 MW West Coast wind farm. For the last 2 500 days since the wind farm commenced operations in 2015, there have been no Lost Time Injuries (LTIs). An LTI is when a worker becomes injured while executing their duties on site and, because of these injuries, the worker is prevented from completing their duties for a minimum of one shift or one full workday.
When considering the type of risks (e.g., electrical, technical, and physical) that are involved when working on a wind farm, the magnitude of having no LTIs for 2 500 days (which equals 6,8 years) becomes apparent. During the celebratory event, Mr James Claasen, CEO of Lerole Power, remarked that “safety is not only a priority but a personal value for me and the team at Lerole. Priorities may change given business goals and needs, whilst our values are ingrained in us, they are resolute. Our focus on safety is the unshakable cornerstone of our operations”.
?Aurora Wind Power congratulates the O&M team and all other contractors on this achievement. May your values and dedication to maintaining these high standards continue to build on this milestone.??
FLYING HIGH - DRONE PILOT TRAINING?
During Q3 2022, Lerole Power under their skills development programme commenced with full sponsorship of a local student from the Saldanha Bay Municipal region, who is attending and receiving training from the Drone Academy at the Genesis Youth Hub in Vredenburg.
The SACAA-certified RPAS Pilot License (RPL) course endures 12 months and forms part of the YES programme. Students attending the training are each equipped with a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) and receive practical one-on-one training sessions with a professional flight instructor. Training further includes technical drone maintenance, aerial mapping, and surveying as well as aerial photography and videography.
It is no wonder that this course has resulted in a 100% success rate of students gaining access to employment opportunities within industries requiring drone services.
DID YOU KNOW? ?
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT DRONES
There is a drone big enough to carry a person. The electric-powered drone can be fully charged in two hours, carry up to 220 pounds and fly for 23 minutes. Costs $200,000 to $300,000.
?An average drone can fly as high as 10km up in the sky.
OUR COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITIES THROUGH THE VALUED CITIZENS INITIATIVE PROGRAMME
?The iValue Entrepreneurship programme gave the youth from the Genesis Hub and learners from Louwville High School a platform to generate business ideas after exploring their character, working on their doubts and fears, anchoring their values, and developing their entrepreneurship mindset, confidence, and assertiveness. As a result, they were able to focus on looking at problems through a needs analysis, bringing solutions to the challenges they witnessed in their communities.
?Through the brainstorming session, they understood that entrepreneurship is more than just buying and re-selling products or running a tuck shop. With various creative exercises during these sessions, they understood the process of identifying and exploiting the gaps that exist in their communities as business opportunities. Through this business generation exercise and exposure to an entrepreneur from Johannesburg through an online session, the Valued Citizens young entrepreneurs gained perseverance, courage, energy, resilience, communication, and problem-solving skills essential for them to become sustainable entrepreneurs.
The learners and youth are both currently completing their business plans to ensure that they can access exit opportunities after completing the programme and capital through taking part in a business pitch next year. It must be noted in South Africa, small businesses are critical to our national economy. With a staggering unemployment rate of 33.9% and around
119 000 jobs lost in the second quarter of 2022, there has never been a stronger need for entrepreneurs to step up and fight for the nation. The South African Government has even called on small businesses to help them in achieving their 2010 National Development Plan (NDP) objective of creating 11 million new jobs by the year 2030.
The Sondela Open Dialogues Programme allowed learners to create solutions to the challenges they are confronted within their communities. The learners showed their commitment to upholding our constitutional values to support our democracy. They understood their role in shaping the communities that they are from by challenging the scourge of gender-based violence, discrimination, and the impact of inequalities. They argued that such challenges have carried on for so many years without being addressed because they are regarded as sensitive and complex. Through the Sondela Open Dialogues Programme, our Valued Citizens learners have gained confidence not only to speak openly about such social ills but also to identify their roles in addressing them in their school communities.
iCHOOSE to be Responsible Parenting affirmed to parents that parenting does not have a recipe. Therefore, parents need to evaluate their own parenting skills and how it impacts the upbringing of their children. Amongst everything, they understood that as parents they need to model the behaviour and attitude that they wish to see in their children as they are their first role models. They understood that it remains their responsibility to restore their family values, with them being the ones who champion those family values. Parents vowed to create a platform wherein communication would flourish between themselves, and their children and some groups became proactive in creating WhatsApp communication to support one another.
领英推荐
The holistic approach implemented through our Platinum Partnership with Aurora Wind Power sets in motion positive changes which are tangible as characters are moulded, essential soft skills are gained such as communication and problem-solving skills and meaningful trustworthy relationships are created with our learners, youth, parents and stakeholders – Saldanha Bay Municipality, West Coast Region from the Western Cape Department of Social Development, the West Coast District from the Western Cape Department of Education, the Genesis Hub to mention a few, adding value to a vulnerable ecosystem.
“We value your support as Aurora Wind Power and are thankful for the trust you have in our team composed today of 2 educationists from West Coast and 4 Alumni of our programmes from West Coast who became professional Training Officers.”
- Carole Podetti Ngono?Valued Citizens????
The Value Citizens full report is available on request.
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT BENEFICIARY
?Congratulations to Bonita Jonkers, the Owner of La Isla Bonita Transportation Services. Since 2020, under sponsorship from Aurora Wind Power, Bonita has undertaken a 2-year bespoke Enterprise Development programme with SAICA Enterprise Development.
Under the programme, Bonita received training and mentorship on her own personal and professional development as well as industry-specific knowledge and skills development (HR, finance) that will assist Bonita with improving her enterprise. During Q3 2022, Bonita successfully completed her assessment for the New Venture Creation accredited programme.?
As we close-out on this initiative, Aurora Wind Power wish Bonita every success as she continues to implement the skills and learning acquired over these last two years.
THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT - OUR 2023 SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLANS
?Towards the end of each year, our Socio-Economic Development strategy is reviewed by our Management and is put forward to our Social & Ethics Committee and Board of Directors for their approval.
?In 2023, we look forward to continuing with some of our current education and skills development programmes and have a few new additional programmes that have been included in our portfolio.
?As part of our efforts to improve educational outcomes in our local communities, Aurora Wind Power will continue to implement Early Childhood Development initiatives within Louwville.
We will sponsor the 2nd year of the HeyMath! HeyScience! programme at 7 public schools and implement our Bursary programme which will benefit 15 local students.
Under our skills development pillar, we look forward to introducing a new Enterprise and Supplier Development programme that focuses on our Alien Invasive Vegetation Management Service requirements on site. In addition, the 2nd year of the iValue Entrepreneurship programme will continue in 2023. A new programme, involving the sponsorship of two drone academy students, concludes our skills development portfolio.
SETTING OUR SIGHTS ON OUR 2023 OBJECTIVES:
We hope that you have enjoyed this newsletter and found the stories interesting and inspiring. We hope you had a lovely festive holiday break and that you are rested and rejuvenated for the new year. The team at Aurora are excited to continue our journey with you, our valued stakeholders, in 2023. ?
?Should you wish to find out more information about one of the stories in this publication, please feel free to reach out to [email protected]
Here’s to a wonderful year head!
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