103 0- Job Talk: A Groundbreaking Project Training Disabled Drone Pilots in South Africa

A Different Way of Seeing

In today’s episode Lois speaks with the team responsible for devising and implementing a groundbreaking project to train certify and employ drone pilots with disabilities in South Africa. The team comprised Dean Conde, Elmarie Cronje, Kim James, and Venetia van Wyk, as well as the drone pilot participants Ferdi van Eerden and Sandile Mkhize.
During the conversation we looked at how the project was created, the various role-players who were needed to help facilitate the implementation, and some of the challenges of introducing a brand new project that had never been tried before. We also looked at the steps that would need to be put in place for such a programme to be duplicated in the future.
After outlining the project, Lois spoke to Ferdi van Eerden and Sandile Mkize, the first accredited drone pilots with disabilities in South Africa. They discussed their experiences on the project, the accommodations that they had to make, and some of the realities of finding employment as a person with a disability.
Find out more about the drone pilot project by e-mailing Elmarie Cronje:
e-mail: [e-mail]
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This episode edited by Craig Strachan using Hindenburg PRO – find out more on Hindenburg.com
Credits and music by Charlie Dyasi of Naledi Media.