COTD Timeline
Children of the Dawn is a Non-Profit Organisation working to support and strengthen rural community initiatives which focus on caring for HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa.

We want to see a just, non-discriminatory and sustainable approach to rural community development, in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression. So we work to achieve food security, overall wellness, access to opportunity, and to eradicate poverty.

Our strategy is to generate a momentum of holistic, social, educational, economic and environmental justice, driven by community initiatives targeted at children and youth aged 6-24 Years old. In practice, this means working closely with community initiatives, social movements and supporters. Together, we deliver grassroots programmes, provide emergency relief and campaign for rural community development.

Our work falls into 5 pillars aiming at creating equal development opportunities for our beneficiaries through 25 open day centres:

  • Our CARE programme: each of our beneficiaries receives on-going nutrition support, schooling support, household goods support, administrative support, emotional and trauma counselling, access to safe places, and leisure and sports activities.
  • Our Children in Action Programme designed for children aged 5 to 13 gives our young beneficiaries the chance to access stimulating, fun and educational activities.
  • My Future, My Responsibility is our guidance and mentoring programme targeting teenagers aged 14 and older. Through a variety of modules, we create experiential learning experiences on which our teens can build themselves and get the tools to make position-life decisions.
  • For our beneficiaries who are in tertiary or technical institutions, we offer on-going Student Mentorship and Financial Assistance.
  • Cutting all our age groups and communities, we promote wellbeing and positive life values through sport via our Sport for Good programme which includes original codes such as Street Soccer, Rope-Skipping, Hiking, Frontball and Extreme Sports Camps.

Who We Are

Children of the Dawn was founded as a Non-Profit Organisation in 2002. Our head office is in Johannesburg, South Africa. Our programme extends to 9 rural communities namely Bushbuckridge, Mangweni, Ermelo (Mpumalanga), Mathabatha, Lenyenye, Musina (Limpopo), Lenyenye (Free State Province), Matatiele (Eastern Cape) and Mpumaze (KwaZulu Natal). We currently have 830 registered children and 200 children in the Musina Initiative with a total of 1030 children in our care. Children of the Dawn (COTD) was birthed in response to the number of orphans being left behind due to the significant number of Aids deaths South Africa was experiencing in the early 2000, particularly in rural areas. Since its inception in May 2002, Children of the Dawn (COTD) has sought to strengthen rural community initiatives, caring for HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children living in rural South Africa. The primary goal of Children of the Dawn is to help nurture and build vulnerable children within the family unit, in order to facilitate a promising future to children living in such challenging conditions.

We believe in the power of rural community initiatives. If we can support rural community initiatives to recognize, claim and access their rights and opportunities.

Children of the Dawn has a footprint in both rural locations in five provinces across the country. Rural poverty remains a key focus of our work, with a commitment to deepen the impact of our programmes and show real change in the lives of communities. We focus on rural development with nine existing rural programmes in which we have been working for many years.


Our Mission & Vision

Our Mission is to work with rural community initiatives to grant access and opportunities to children orphaned by parents that passed on or otherwise deemed vulnerable.

Our Vision of realizing social development through supporting and strengthening rural community initiatives which focus on caring for orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa. This is because we recognize that these are the lives that are most affected by inequality, injustice and systemic oppression. Consequently, we commit to supporting rural community initiatives for children and youth while prioritizing our support for rural
community initiatives and being a beam of hope in each village wherein we have an established centre.

Our Partners

MAMAS Logo
Laureus SA logos 2021
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Laureus Foundation SA LOGO white-on-blue
Solidarity Accor Hotels
National Lotteries Commission
NLDTF
Proudly Supported by Anglo American
Solidarity Accor
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