The two change-makers who have vast experience in the development of games are looking to invest their knowledge in South Africa and give back. They are, Ivo van Dijk, founder and director of Basecamp Games, and Maarten de Rooij, senior lecturer of Fontys Academy for Creative Industries. Both have a strong sense of social responsibility and are therefore closely connected to the project.

“We have already started with some extensive desktop-research about the challenges and opportunities for education in South Africa. We have also made contact with a South African publisher of educational materials and have already established a few connections to local universities and the Department of Basic Education. Gathering information from all these sources gave us focus for our pilot of the FAIR GAME project: Exploring and building literacy through applied gaming, starting in the Western Cape area, South Africa,” says De Rooij.

Because of their limited understanding of the local socio-economic climate the duo from Holland are embarking on a two-week intensive trip to Cape Town. De Rooij mentioned in an initial planning session with Cape Town based brand-building agency LIFE brand, that they are not coming to see the wild animals in game parks, they want to get their hands dirty and learn as much as possible in their two week stay, starting on Tuesday, 3 May. Using a human-centered approach, they want to facilitate workshops (applying mechanics and techniques derived from the video game industry) whereby they help South Africans come up with solutions to the issues that they face, particular learning numeracy and literacy.

Games have been proven a great tool to enhance learning experiences, training and furthering awareness of relevant topics. It's an exciting and still young field of work, dubbed ‘applied gaming’ or ‘serious gaming’. This is definitely not a short term project and we are looking for (education) professionals, civil society, Government, problem solvers, techies, web developers, design students and any other interested parties.

Two initial workshops are planned at one of the partner universities, Vega School of Brand Leadership based at 130 Strand Street, Cape Town. The first session is on Thursday, 5 May from 10:00 to Noon and caters for the educators, Government and non-profit organisations as well as interested students. The second session on Tuesday, 10 May from 10:00 to 12:00 is largely for techies, developers, coders, start-ups, gamers, gaming professionals or students and whoever else wants to get involved.

For more information, and to RSVP, email [email protected]. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook or on Twitter.