We welcome the ‘disruptive child’; the ‘difficult teenager’; the learner who is withdrawn, anxious or angry; and those who appear to cope but are masking, to keep the peace.  These are the learners who need us most.

We want to see young people thrive but poverty, loss, neglect and exposure to violence and abuse, have a devastating impact on mental health and wellbeing.  Instead of expecting school children to find their way to a social worker or psychologist – we open up a practice, on-site, at schools across South Africa, staffed by members of the community.
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We train first and then recruit, which means that we get to meet people over an extended interview and we can really get to know each other …and we fill the classroom so that many more people leave with new skills.  These Care Facilitators are the face of CK and have a clear grasp of their scope of practice. Where someone needs a different layer of support our resident school counsellor can focus on their request to enrol in counselling.
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By offering these layers of service and support, we are able to take a whole school approach including learners and their caregivers (educators, school staff, parents and guardians); building a culture of wellbeing where everyone feels a sense of belonging and everyone can thrive.
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If we don’t do this work, there is an African proverb that says: “the child who is not embraced, will burn down the village to feel it’s warmth.”

Nobody should be denied access to mental health care because they are poor or live in a remote place.  We are committed to the National Development Plan and the 2030 Agenda as we heed the call of the United Nations to “leave no one behind” and to “endeavour to reach the furthest first.” 

Letter of Commendation from the Western Cape Minister of Community Safety 2022
Letter of Commendation from the Department of Education (Gauteng – Tshwane South) 2023
Letter of Commendation from National Treasury Jobs Fund 2023
Letter of Support from Western Cape Education Department 2025

VISION
Our vision is to improve the social and emotional wellbeing of learners and promote
supportive school communities where learning and development can prosper.

MISSION
By investing in the social and emotional well-being of learners, Community Keepers create
supportive school communities where learning and development can prosper. We establish
ourselves at schools where we deliver services to learners, educators and parents or guardians.

Our objective is mental wellbeing where learners as well as educators, parents and CK staff:

  • realise their own potential
  • can cope with the normal stresses of life
  • work productively and fruitfully
  • contribute to their community.

Our values:

PARTNERSHIP: Collaborating with others towards a common goal.
TRUST: Being reliable in everything we do.
INTEGRITY: Exercising moral courage by accepting responsibility for all our actions.
PROFESSIONALISM: Utilising our skills to deliver a high-quality service

Our Board of Directors (“the Board”) meets quarterly to maintain close oversight over the activities of the organisation and annually to discuss strategy. Formal minutes are recorded and circulated before each meeting.

The management team consists of the CEO, five Area Managers who report into the Operations Manager and Development Manager.

The board approves the annual budget and provides the necessary authority for expenditure.  Expenditure outside of the approved budget must be approved by the board. No single individual exercises unfettered powers of decision-making.  The management team has clear mandates and carry out their duties within the guidance of a clear strategy and plan. The board holds the CEO to account and ensures that management complies with all legislation, regulation and policies. The governance structures strive to achieve transparency, accountability, integrity and ethical leadership and provide practical guidance regarding sustainable development of the activities of the company.

The South African National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 recognises the crucial role of social welfare service professionals, including social workers, in addressing poverty and inequality, aiming to increase their numbers and strengthen their capacity to support vulnerable populations and communities.

The BUILD BACK BETTER MAC (Ministerial Advisory Committee) recommendation (May 2022) says: “The implementation of non-professional interventions within a framework of psychological first aid . Such interventions involve training community members to identify mental health signs and symptoms, are cost-effective and lend themselves to task-shifting models.”

Accolades

Validated in the top 10 most-cited papers published by the journal Child and Adolescent Mental Health.   Four Steps To My Future (4STMF) (2023)

Community Keepers was named one of the Top 100 Global Education Innovations to watch out for in 2025.  An impactful and scalable innovation in the HundrED Global Collection.

In 2024, Community Keepers was named a CSI Legacy Awards Finalist

In 2023, Community Keepers won the Panado Dose of Care with Afternoon Express

In 2023, Community Keepers won the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) Innovation award (known as a Science Oscar)

In 2021, Community Keepers was named a semi-finalist in the South African CSI Legacy Awards 2022

In 2021, Community Keepers, through our partnership with AAA School of Advertising, was announced as GOLD winners in The New Generation Overall Student Group of the Year Award category.

In 2019, Community Keepers made the final shortlist (ranked 27 out of 400) in the African Civil Society Organisations excellence awards, a joint initiative between the Rockefeller Foundation and EPIC-Africa Foundation.

In 2017, Community Keepers won an award for social innovation at the Annual Impumelelo Social Innovation Awards. Our organisation was one of over 100 non-profit organisations that participated.

Our History

“I was deeply concerned when I discovered that there was only one state social worker and one psychologist to service 45 schools and 32 000 children in the Winelands. Today, Community Keepers employs 175 staff who service 89 partner schools (78 000 learners) each year.   We owe a debt of gratitude to our funders who believe in the work that we do and step up to show these vulnerable children that someone does care and someone is willing to share, so that they can have hope and a future.” Andre du Plessis, Chairman and co-founder

Concerned about this poor access to support, our founding members started interviewing children, youth, parents and educators from schools in the greater Stellenbosch area (2 000 people in 2007).  Their intention was to listen to the challenges faced and the needs they had, expressed in their own words. A common thread that we found across all ages was “the need to confide in someone’. The youth described this as a need to discuss issues with someone other than their friends and parents.

Community Keepers was registered as an NPO on 26 March 2009, and is unique in that we establish a full time, dedicated mental health facility on-site at schools which serve low income areas.  Instead of expecting people to find the time and money to go to services, we bring the service to them.

Follow this link to read an article in CFO South Africa Magazine: “How Capitec’s André du Plessis helps safeguard the future of children in Cape Town”