The beginning of the year is always an exciting time for IY branches as we usher the previous year’s Matrics into post-school opportunities, welcome new learners and tutors and together decide on the goals and outcomes of the new year. On the 8th and 9th of March 2014, Nyanga branch held its annual Strategic Planning Weekend (SPW). Staff members, learners and volunteers came together for 2 days to discuss the year ahead and what nyanganites should do to make 2014 a success.
This year’s SPW was different from previous ones because the majority of learners who attended are new to IY Nyanga, having started at the beginning of the year. Furthermore, the weekend was facilitated by our Makhaza Branch Coordinator, Zukile, in line with IY’s value of collaboration and peer-to-peer support.
Over the 2 days, nyanganites worked in small groups to identify challenges faced by the branch, and come up with solutions to these challenges. On the second day, the team elected the 2014 branch committee who shall work together with the rest of the branch to make sure the branch accomplishes all things outlined at the SPW. Please find the full SPW on the following link: nyanga_spw_report_2014.pdf
On the 22nd of February 2014, the Nyanga branch held an Induction Day for new parents and learners, which doubled up as the first parents’ meeting of the year. The event, held at Zolani Centre was attended by more than 100 parents and learners.
The purpose of our Induction Day was to formally introduce IY to new Nyanganites and their parents, and to facilitate the meeting and exchanging of knowledge between old and new parents, learners and volunteers.
There were two components to the Induction day, namely the parents’ meeting and the learner session, which ran concurrently, after the initial welcome and introductions. Siphelele, the Branch Assistant, and our volunteers facilitated the parents’ meeting. This session covered a range of topics, including 2013 results, the IY model, what parents can expect from the branch, and what the branch expects from parents and learners.
Shuvai, the Branch Coordinator, facilitated the learner induction, in partnership with the Branch Committee and volunteers. This session covered topics such as learner conduct, attendance, expectations and the IY values. The branch committee spoke to their peers about their function and answered the different questions fellow learners had about being an ikamvanite. The learners later got into groups to investigate, discuss and debate the meaning of each IY value and present their findings to the larger group.
The day was a huge success, garnering positive feedback, from parents especially. Two parents indicated their interest in representing other parents on the branch committee, and both are looking forward to being actively involved at the branch.
Thank you to all the parents who attended, and to all our volunteers who showed up as true superheroes on the day. 2014 will be our best year yet!
The mentorship programme has been a great success since its formal inception 2 years ago at the Ebony Park Branch. There have been many success stories with many of the mentorship relationships going beyond the agreed time frames becoming real life long relationships.
Saturday the 8th of February was the start of our mentorship programme for 2014. About 40 Grade 12s waited eagerly to get introduced to their new mentors. The branch was overwhelmed with the positive response from professionals around Gauteng who were also eager to get started. The programme started at 10am, with Lewis Mash, the Alumni Coordinator taking the mentors through what mentorship at IkamvaYouth means and how long a commitment it should be. This was followed by a question and answer session where all the mentors could get clarification on concerns or questions they had.
One mentor, Lindani Lufu, who holds a Masters in Civil Engineering could not hold her excitement after beeing paired with a young Grade 12 learner who is an aspiring civil engineer.” All roads lead to success,” she said, with a big smile on her face.
We are excited to start the year with a BANG and the call for mentors still continues as we would love for all our Grade 11 Ikamvanites to have mentors walking with them too. Starting the relationships out early in the year will give the mentors enough time to work and encourage their mentees success.
IkamvaYouth celebrates 2013 matric results – 89% pass, 94% eligible for tertiary
Hailed as the class that has achieved the highest pass rate since the birth of the democratic government in 1994, 2012’s matriculants across South Africa achieved a pass rate of 78.2%.
With an 89% matric pass rate – 64% receiving a bachelor pass and a further 30% qualifying for diploma study – and 70 distinctions amongst its 154 matriculants, IkamvaYouth, an organisation that enables learners from poor communities to improve their marks, is proud that their class of 2013 has made a substantial contribution to the record.
The organisation’s director, Joy Olivier, is “simply thrilled” with the learners’ achievements. “IkamvaYouth is continuing to improve on its results while scaling”, she says. “With 60 more matrics than last year, we’ve managed to not only meet last year’s pass result, but more than double the number of bachelor passes achieved. This is very encouraging as we work towards achieving Vision 2030; which has every learner in South Africa reaching and passing matric, and then going on to access the post-school opportunities that set them on the path to earning a dignified living.”In 2013 seven branches had matriculants, with both Ivory Park (in Gauteng) and Umlazi (in KZN) producing their first matric cohort. IkamvaYouth’s Ivory Park branch marked this milestone with a jaw-dropping 100% pass mark, with 83% achieving a bachelors pass. Ivory Park branch ‘s top pupil, scored three distinctions in his final year of high school for Maths, Physical Science and Accounting.
Abongile Jojozi, from Chris Hani Secondary School, a learner at the Makhaza branch, said that aside from improving his results and achieving a whopping four distinctions, in Mathematics, Xhosa, Economics and Life Orientation, and narrowly missing out on distinctions in the rest of his subjects, the organisation taught him leadership and commitment.
“I knew I would get distinctions in Maths and Life Orientation because they are stuff that I practice everyday, I wanted to get good results but I was shocked at some of the results I got and I was even recognised as the top learner at my school.”
He plans to do a BSc at UCT, and is looking forward to volunteering as an IkamvaYouth tutor.
In congratulating the class of 2013, national co-ordinator Zamo Shongwe noted that “Ikamvanites have responded to the challenge to improve the pass rate in townships by showing that with extra work and focus, it can be done. We look forward to learners returning as tutors to give a hand up to other learners going through their paces at branches”
This has all been made possible by corporate, in-kind and individual donors who have invested in township youth and the spirit of IkamvaYouth: ABI, Capitec Bank, the TK Foundation, African Bank, Empower, the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund, DGMT, the Raimondo family trust, the Learning Trust, the Potter foundation, GDF Suez, ABSA; the many in-kind donors that avail space (municipal libraries, schools, community centres and universities) and learning resources (the Answer Series, Fundza) and countless other organisations, companies and individuals. It is thanks to these and many others, and the hundreds of committed volunteers, that IkamvaYouth is able to offer programmes in tutoring, career guidance and mentoring, computer literacy and lifeskills education. IkamvaYouth equips learners (the Ikamvanites) from disadvantaged communities with the knowledge, skills, networks and resources to access tertiary education and/or employment opportunities once they matriculate. IkamvaYouth aims to increase the collective skill level of the population, to grow the national knowledge base, and to replicate success in more communities.
The IkamvaYouth model draws from a large and growing pool of volunteers made up of students (from nearby universities) and local professionals. The organisation’s sustainability is driven by ex-learners who gain entrance to tertiary institutions and return to tutor. More than half of the volunteers at longer-established branches are ex-learners. Ikamvavanites are thus driving change as they develop from beneficiaries into benefactors.
BREAKDOWN OF IKAMVAYOUTH 2013 MATRIC RESULTS:
GAUTENG
Ivory Park (first matric cohort!): 100% pass, 83% bachelor, 17% diploma, 12 distinctions
Ebony Park: 94% pass, 62% bachelor, 34% diploma, 16 distinctions
KWAZULU-NATAL
Chesterville: 82% pass; 44% bachelor, 48% diploma, 23 distinctions
Umlazi (first matric cohort): 83% pass; 40% bachelor, 47% diploma, 3 distinctions
WESTERN CAPE
Makhaza: 83% pass; 64% bachelor, 28% diploma, 12 distinctions
Nyanga: 93% pass; 85% bachelor, 15% diploma, 3 distinctions
Masi: 89% pass; 88% bachelor, 1 distinction
MORE ABOUT IKAMVAYOUTH
IkamvaYouth is a non-profit organisation (established in 2003) that provides a volunteer driven, low cost and highly effective model of after-school tutoring and mentorship in resource-poor communities. It has branches in five provinces in South Africa: in Khayelitsha, Nyanga and Masiphumelele in the Western Cape, Ivory Park and Ebony Park in Gauteng, Chesterville and Umlazi in KwaZulu-Natal, Joza in the Eastern Cape, and Ikageng in the North West Province.
IkamvaYouth recently received the highly prestigious international STARS Impact Award for Education in Africa.
IkamvaYouth received this award while mindful of their Vision 2030, which sees all learners who start grade 1 in 2018, attaining a matric pass or the equivalent, and accessing the post school opportunities that set them on the path to earning a dignified living.
Issued by IkamvaYouth
For More Information Contact:
Media & Communication: Lorelle Bell, lorelle@ikamvayouth.org, 082 5201545
Director: Joy Olivier, joy@ikamvayouth.org
National Coordinator: Zamo Shongwe, zamo@ikamvayouth.org, 084 885 0004
2013 was a big year for IY, and it is with great pride (and relief!) that we can report, once again, our matrics’ excellent achievements. It is thanks to the superheroes who work or volunteer at IY, and those who support and enable this amazing team of people, that IY continues to deliver while growing significantly.
Overall, we achieved an 89% matric pass, and incredibly, 94% of these passes are diploma (30%) or bachelor passes (64%). With sixty more matrics than last year; two brand new branches established; a comprehensive survey of our alumni completed and all that went into our big ten year bash; the ikamvanites really pushed ourselves in our tenth year. And while having our work recognised by many accolades (including the STARS Impact award) is a great affirmation of all we put in, nothing makes it feel more worthwhile than sharing the excitement and joy with our learners as they celebrate the beginning of their shining bright futures.
But (as always at IY), there’s more to come. We still have two big hurdles to clear: the supplementary exams in march (all learners who failed and many of those who fell just short of the diploma or bachelor passes they were aiming for will be spending the coming weeks back with their books), and the all-important post-school placements. The next few weeks involve a lot of time on the phones and in queues at tertiary institutions, as we aim to ensure that all our learners enroll in the post-school opportunities that will set them on their career paths.
Our results by branch and province are as follows:
Gauteng
Ivory Park (first matric cohort!): 100% pass; 17% diploma & 83% bachelor
Ebony Park: 94% pass; 34% diploma & 62% bachelor
KZN
Chesterville: 82% pass; 48% diploma & 44% bachelor
Umlazi (first matric cohort): 83% pass; 47% diploma & 40% bachelor
Western Cape
Makhaza: 83% pass; 28% diploma & 64% bachelor
Nyanga: 93% pass; 15% diploma & 85% bachelor
Masi: 89% pass; 88% bachelor
Well done to everyone who made this happen!
60 tutors from both Ivory Park and Ebony Park branches came together on Saturday the 16th of November to be appreciated by IkamvaYouth. The day started off with normal tutoring from 9am to 12pm, thereafter , all the tutors were transported to the tutor appreciation venue called Wild Waters in Boksburg.
The day was filled with loads of fun, laughter, conversation, eating and drinking. Many tutors mentioned that they had never seen such a beautiful place and they had no idea that a place like this existed in Johannesburg. This venue was full of different types of water fun activities and the tutors could not pull themselves out of the refreshing water. Patrick Mashanda, the District Coordinator, also addressed all the tutors expressing how important they were to IkamvaYouth, reiterating that the work they put in has made a huge difference to many lives. It was a memorable day with many tutors saying that they felt very appreciated for the hard work they put into tutoring the learners.
Eventually we marked the end of the day by handing out certificates of appreciation to all the tutors. We appreciate all our tutors and we are already looking forward to starting 2014 with an even bigger bang!
Lloyd Lungu