11th Grade Learners at IkamvaYouth Makhaza are now speaking about hate crimes. So what is a hate crime? A hate crime is when a person or group of persons targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, etc. Our students at Makhaza are using Siyayinqoba’s workshops on addressing this issue and hopefully… beating it out of their lives!
Part I of our lesson on Hate Crime focused on defining a hate crime and to understand that it does not happen only in South Africa. Using a poem from the US, learners were able to hear tutors Christopher Fan and Ginia O’Neil speak about the history of United States after slavery and the hate crimes committed on blacks in their country in the 1930s. Students then were asked to speak about groups they feel are victims of hate crimes. Examples they provided were Somalians, immigrants, gays, lesbians, Indians, Asians, and many more. Moving beyond this, the learners agreed that hate crimes come about negative stereotyping. To make this idea clear, the tutors made the learners draw their depiction of a Somalian, a Politician, a gay person, an Indian, and an artist. The pictures drawn were of stereotypes (i.e. Somalians in grass skirts, a man wearing makeup, a woman wearing a sari). We finished Part I by having the students talk about what groups in their neighborhood could be targeted and what they can do about it.
to be continued.
This past Saturday Africa Unite hosted a School Summit on Xenophobia, where they had several dozen learners from twelve schools in the Cape Town area come together and discuss the perils of xenophobia and how to combat discrimination in our schools.
The event was very successful with several speakers from bodies including the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Department of Education. Learners compiled a list of recommendations during the event and it has been sent off to the Department of Education and other political officials. We hope this is only the beginning of a campaign to combat discrimination and racism within the schools of our community.
Viva, Africa Unite! Viva!
Please have a look at the Summit Recommendation list
We IkamvaYouth and Equal Education are calling upon ALL tertiary institutions, companies, organisations, business, governmental bodies, and volunteers to participate in this year’s Careers Indaba. We Need Your Help! We want to make this Careers Indaba a huge success for our learners and for the community!
The Careers Indaba take place on Friday, the 27th of August from 1400 to 1700 at the Nazeema Isaacs Library in Makhaza, Khayelitsha.
To fill out the RSVP Form, please click here. If you know of anyone who would be willing to participate, please let us know and let them know as well!
At IkamvaYouth we wish to empower students to be successful students as well as citizens. To do this, we wish to make our students aware of social pariahs that can be just as important to them as an upcoming exam. With this in mind, IkamvaYouth at Makhaza has embarked on introducing Siyayinqoba!, a programme promoting youth awareness of social issues such as HIV/AIDS, Teen Pregnancy, Hate Crimes, and much more. “Get Informed! Get Involved” is their slogan, and so IkamvaYouth Makhaza has chosen to get their learners informed and involved.
From 22 July 2010 to 29 July 2010, IkamvaYouth Makhaza’s 11th graders were introduced to a lesson on Teenage Pregnancy. They began with a fun icebreaker that made words that are uncomfortable to say easier to talk about. Afterwards, the 11th graders tackled the reasons why teenage pregnancy happen and what consequences might occur as a result. The topic ranged from STDs and HIV/AIDS to dropping out of school, being kicked out of your home, and also to never being able to obtain a proper education for social mobility.
During the second part of Teenage Pregnancy, the students began deliberating on the positives and negatives of engaging in sexual activities at a young age. They compiled a list of reasons on why to stay sexually active as well as a list of reasons to abstain. Results ranged from enjoying sex to peer pressure, disease and HIV to pregnancy, and even to opinions as wanting to be a sexually experienced partner in the future. No opinion was ridiculed nor disregarded, thanks to the open atmosphere offered by our learners.
Siyanyinqoba is here to stay, and we believe that equipping this group of learners will help them become great citizens and also give them full access to their future success.
JOIN US NEXT TIME FOR OUR 3 AUGUST WORKSHOP ON HATE CRIMES AND XENOPHOBIA!
During my break at the National Arts festival this year, I was able to attend workshops on securing funding for non profit organisations. Although the workshops were designed for arts based organisations, there are some lessons that we can learn. These tips apply most specifically to MIE, which I think we can get funding for separately as a creative way of facilitating holistic growth and learning for our learners.
The first workshop was Hands On/ Masks Off by Tony Lancaster CEO National Arts Festival. Tony worked for Old Mutual Foundation and has experience in receiving funding proposals while working for the Foundation.
The first thing Tony said was that the biggest no no is to tell a corporate that you are getting money to make them look good. They probably have a department whose job is to do research and make them look good, therefore your project alone will not reach that objective. Instead look for a way to synchronise their brand with yours, based on shared values.
He said your brand should have a fixed strategy with a consistent message. Your application should be based on their brand and its consistency – which should amplify their core message.
Image and integrity
- Be clear on what you’re about as well as what they’re about
- NB – corporates employ people who do research for them therefore don’t try to change what they do – don’t try to influence their business strategy, they know what they’re doing.
Begging Bowl Syndrome is a big no no
- See NB = value of project to the corporate
- Show them how they will reach their objectives, based on their values
- Put the value in rands
- Okay to include your salary in the budget
- Don’t be apologetic = be proud
- Do your research, ie read their press releases
- In your paperwork include problems you’ve encountered and how you solved them – don’t gloss over this
- Look for creative low cost ways to surprise them
- Make them believe that you’re taking care of their interests
- If you can’t keep your promises – warn them ahead of time
- Read their annual reports
- Find out financial year of different corporations
- Speak their language
Michelle Constant CEO Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) on Looking for Corporate Social Opportunities
According to Michelle, the largest shore of funds comes from marketing as opposed to CSI.
She suggested the following corporates to look into: Thebe Bank, Telkom and FNB for visual art, Plascon Paints for in kind sponsorship and the MTN Foundation for Education.
In an ideal sponsorship:
- Both parties benefit equally
- Strong potential for return on investment
- Benefit and uplift community
- Create good brand awareness
- High positive reputational impact
- Fit perfectly with brand strategy
- Contribute to company BEE scorecard
- Must be able to assess/ measure the no. of people reached
- Look for long term approach
Why business gives money
- Create awareness/ exposure/ promote company
- Build brand/ image reinforcement
- Social responsibility/ community involvement
- Showing that they care
- Experiential/ create loyalty and affinity
- Create business opportunities
- Job creation
- Education
- Media exposure
- Employee engagement
Conditions required to ensure success:
Requirements for perfect brand synchronisation
- Aligned values and agreed objectives
- mutual respect and understanding
- commitment from all
- targeting CSI or marketing within the corporate
- flexibility and willingness to experiment
- keeping good communication channels
- a partnership that is well executed, exciting and creative
- provides ongoing assessment
What Business wants to see from your proposal
- Spend more time preparing proper budgets and cost analysis
- Your proposal must include:
o In for lines – summary budget, what and how whether it’s directed at Marketing or CSI
o Clearly spell out benefits the sponsor can expect
o Be clear on all expected contracted media plans – especially TV
o Address skills development aspects (education NB)
o Clearly show whether provincial or local government structures will be involved and provide support
o Do proper research about the company approached as a sponsor to understand how their objectives can be met
o Do not tick all boxes in terms of what you do
I hope these tips work. In the meantime please send me info on MIE from the different branches. I want to put together a proposal for BASA to match us up with a sponsor for MIE.
Lloyd Lungu