The role of the Nelson Mandela Institute (NMI) is to help develop a sustainable future for South Africa by investing in the countrys youth and creating viable and sustainable communities. To achieve this, the Institute aims to transform the education system by focusing on foundation-phase learning as well as on further education and mantaining traditional "ilima" values.
Sustained research by the NMI suggests that the South African schooling system is not teaching children to think, read, write and enumerate with any confidence. Through partnerships with the Department of Basic Education, the Department of Higher Education and Training and the University of Fort Hare the NMI is committed to continuing research and implementing initiatives that will begin to suggest ways to transform the education system.
The Institutes work is achieved through a host of programmes, including Magic Classrooms, Ilima Lokufunda and the Grounding Programme at the University of Fort Hare .