South Africa

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation South Africa office opened in 2009. A mix of factors—including steady economic growth, radical income disparity, a well-developed infrastructure and political system, and the ability to exert positive influence across sub-Saharan Africa—make South Africa an environment ripe for interventions that can scale exponentially.

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation South Africa: Education

In South Africa, barely one in ten students qualifies for university and only five percent graduate. Almost 20 years after the end of apartheid, racial disparities remain extreme. The goal of our work in South African education is to ensure that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds have access to quality schools, that they complete high school prepared to succeed in higher education, and that they are ultimately prepared to obtain long-term employment. Our current work focuses on two primary projects. 1) The Dell Young Leaders scholarship program, which provides holistic support to vulnerable South African university students to help them through graduation and beyond, and 2) on supporting an emerging network of high-quality impact schools dedicated to improving the outcomes of individual school children and to forging new educational models which influence improvement throughout the nation’s struggling school system.

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation South Africa: Health

Our health initiatives in South Africa focus on communities where there’s a widespread need to deliver basic services to orphaned and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS. We have also funded a variety of pan-Africa initiatives that provide basic health services including vaccines, and access to clean water, sanitation and better nutrition to specific target communities.