The Career Aid Foundation will operate as the South African Coast Guard Training Institute. The Institute is hoping to secure a site in the immediate vicinity of Cape Town Harbour. The harbour is centrally located and is the hub of the South African Maritime Industry. Furthermore most maritime companies’ head offices are located in Cape Town and it is possibly the only place in the country where there are Maritime Employment Agencies located for the industry.

The Institute is passionate about creating employment opportunities for the underprivileged in the maritime sector. The Institute’s vision is to be the number one training institute for seamen in the world as well as the number one enabler through which financially disadvantaged school leavers can be employed in the maritime industry.

The Institute’s mission is:

• To provide free basic safety course training (entry level) to financially disadvantaged school leavers.

• To empower financially disadvantaged school leavers to become sought after seamen.

• To be the leading training Institute for seamen in the world within 5 years.

In order to function as a financially viable organization, the Institute’s learners will consist of non-paying and paying learners. Paying learners will receive training at a fair market related rate, while financially disadvantaged learners will receive free training. The Institute hopes to also receive learnerships from organizations such as the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) and the Transport Education Training Authority (TETA) to help fund the training of the financially disadvantaged learners. The Training Providers that will utilize the Institute’s facilities will not charge a fee for the training of financially disadvantaged learners. They will furthermore pay a monthly rental for the utilization of the Institute’s facilities.

The Institute also hopes to provide training for other sectors of the Industry such as the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), Lifesaving Association (LSA) and so on. The Institute will also hire out it’s facilities for functions, as the right infrastructure will be available, and finally the running of a maritime employment agency to be able to place these trained learners into successful employment.