Using a caseload system to improve attendance and delivery at an after-school programme

Ensuring attendance of young people in after-school programmes is challenging. A non-profit organisation in Cape Town, South Africa, is improving attendance by incorporating a coach caseload system.

Waves for Change (W4C) is a sport for development organisation that uses surfing and mentoring to promote the wellbeing of high-risk children from local disadvantaged communities. The organisation was founded in 2011 with 15 children and two coaches and has since grown to 250 children per week and 18 coaches across three sites.

More than one in three local young adults is no longer attending school, is unemployment or not in a training programme (NEET) (Statistics South Africa, 2014). W4C pride themselves on employing and training locals to be coaches instead of relying on volunteers. Essentially the coaches mentor the children in the surf therapy programme and, in doing so, get the opportunity, through on the job training, to build knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs) required in the field of youth care. Through W4C they also have the opportunity to be enrolled in a nationally accredited child youth care course delivered by the National Association of Child Youth Care Workers (NACCW), which is intended to both improve their engagements with youth in the surfing programme and increase their opportunities for employment in the longer term, preferably in the youth care sector. They are also provided with opportunities to become certified in lifesaving (through the Fish Hoek Surf Lifesaving Club), surf instructing (through the International Surf Association) and first aid (through St John’s Ambulance).

The coaches also create networks in the community by visiting homes and delivering teacher training sessions at local schools. Interacting regularly with the key caregivers in the children’s lives ensures a more holistic engagement with participants and promotes community support for the program.

In 2015, W4C conducted third party evaluations in partnership with the University of Cape Town (UCT). Recommendations for future programming included improving child attendance and coach performance and the tracking of both.

To address this, W4C decided to implement a caseload system. This involved improving the monitoring system and training the site managers to capture child information and attendance digitally. Once this was done, each child in the W4C programme was assigned to a coach. Each coach is expected to conduct an informal counselling session (referred to as a 1:1) and visit the child’s home twice per year. Caseload performance is factored into site and coach performance reviews.

Improving the capacity of site managers to capture attendance remotely on electronic devices means Waves for Change can action 1:1s and home visits for participants with poor attendance and can refer individuals to the in-house social worker if necessary. This has led to reduced drop-out rates (35% in 2015 to 17% in 2016), higher dosage (target was for 75% of children to receive 75% of the curriculum, so far 85% have been exposed to a least 75%), children returning to the programme (31% of drop-outs have returned) and stronger intervention effects.