IkamvaYouth is speedily setting about garnering the support and partnerships we need to establish more branches across the country. Our results come with the responsibility to replicate, and while our high impact model is also low cost, scale is nevertheless expensive.
IkamvaYouth is also very fortunate to be supported by visionary donors who’re providing the means we need to grow in the face of the overwhelming need for our services. However, in looking far forward into the future of our organisation, we’re planning to create an income stream that is directly related to our key assets: the wonderful ikamvanites. Our first step in this direction was a brainstorming workshop held in April last year, facilitated by Freda Gray.
Now, with generous support from the Bertha Foundation, IkamvaYouth is working with Mindstir, an innovation company, to develop a social enterprise who’s aims align with the organisation’s key mission of enabling ikamvanites to access post-school opportunities, which would also generate profits, to be donated to IY.
The current thinking is around linking BBBEE Skills development contributions to student loans, bursary programmes, learnerships and internships. Business struggles to find the right students to support: they mostly recruit students via campus exhibitions/ advertisements but receive loads of applications and it is costly to sift through them, get aptitude tests done and eventually when they select the students they will sponsor, they are not sure if the relationship will work. Businesses have to spend money on “institutional based theoretical instruction” as it contributes to the Skills Development points they can earn to make up their BBBEE score.
As IkamvaYouth works closely with committed learners who prove themselves over many years, the organisation can provide these businesses with an attitude indication and develop a way to match students with corporates.
One potential solution is to provide a service to corporates similar to that where foundations manage CSI spend for companies, but focused on bursaries and student loans. Corporates would pay us a small management fee and this enterprise takes the pain and cost of recruiting students as well as reduced risk that these learners will drop out of tertiary.
On 3rd February, Freda Gray and Anneke de Bod facilitated a scoping session where ikamvanites and key supporters collectively brainstormed the concept and set the scope for the pre-feasibiliy study. Ikamvanites were lucky to be joined by IY Chair and MD of TSiBA education, Leigh Meinert; Amrik Cooper from ikapadata; Prof Darren Lorton, Executive Dean of Applied Sciences at DUT; Charles Ainslee from the Learning Trust ; Lolita Barends from Capitec and Susan Godlonton (IY board member and PhD fellow at the University of Michigan); each of whom contribute significantly to supporting and growing IY.
The scope for the pre-feasibility was set, and interviews are currently underway. IkamvaYouth is grateful to all those who’re giving their time to participate, and we’re looking forward to finding out whether our ideas have wheels to hit the road towards self-sustainability.
This past weekend of the 3rd and 4th March our Makhaza held their 2012 Strategic Planning Weekend. It was an excellent opportunity for volunteers, tutors and leaner reps to participate in core operational planning and goal setting.
The Main goal of our SPW was to elect a branch committee (in charge of roles and portfolios) and for new volunteers (grade12 from last year returning) to take ownership of programme and become part of the management team. It was also a great weekend for the leaner reps and tutors to get to know each other better.
Being a branch committee member isn’t easy, with the prestige comes a huge amount responsibility and high expectations from the rest of the learners and tutors to raise the branch up for the year and provide quality programmes.
We decided to shake things up a little this weekend and work together to provide all the branches with a working document that is the branch com constitution, outlining why it exists, the main aims and goals as well as cementing responsibilities of the various programmes.
Unathi Smile, a volunteer and intern at Makhaza says, ‘the weekend was a great experience for many of us, but speaking for myself it was a brilliant way of putting things in perspective. Saturday afternoon, what I took with me is that, 26 heads are so much better than 1 head, meaning if one person had to sit and think about burning issues at IkamvaYouth Makhaza branch, that would not have been a great experience and I assure that somebody would have taken time in thinking about these and finding solutions at the same time. Sunday morning was just too good to be true, learner reps appointed members of the branch comm. and I am proud to say that I was appointed for two portfolios, namely, Career Guidance and Computer (Khan Academy).
We had to present goals, what needs to be done to reach that particular goal, by when the goals should be reached and by whom. I have no experience of leading a team but it is great to learn and persevere at the same time meeting the needs of the learners and those of the Makhaza IkamavaYouth branch. I have taken away with me memories and have learned that one must not under estimate the ability of others.’
Zesipho Dyonase, Grade 9, says that “I have learnt that you don’t have to hold back any ideas or views that you have, you must voice them out. I have taken away with me the spirit of working together as a team, through that spirit, nothing can bring IkamvaYouth down.”
And our youngest branch comm member, confident and outspoken Grade 8 learner Luxhase Yokwana, head of tutoring says “I had so much fun, and definitely took away a lot of things, one of them being able to work with other learners from different grades. My parents were so proud of me when I told them that I am in the IkamvaYouth Makhaza branch committee, what is left of the Ikamvanites now is to put the plans into action.”
Read the full report here and have a look at our new Branch Comm Constitution
Our new Branch Committee 2012!
Plans become action lists
Puthang running through why we exist and the issues faced at the branch
As is becoming a tradition at all IkamvaYouth branches around the country, the Ivory Park Winter School was once again a roaring success. Special thanks to African Bank for helping fund the winter school programme. Click on the image below to download the full report.
Since Susan Alexander began the Careers Indaba (winter school) in 2008 it has become an annual event at all 5 IkamvaYouth branches. This year 500 learners across the country were engaged in these 2 weeks programmes. At Masiphumelele 68 learners attended the library everyday to discover new information, meet new people and to explore themselves and their futures.
IkamvaYouth has the primary goal of enabling youth living in townships to access education. Thus the winter school had to squeeze in some tutoring time, much to the disgruntlement of the learners. Luckily a full scale revolt was evaded by the dedication of our volunteers who orchestrated literacy and numeracy fundamental sessions and somehow made learning fun!
Or maybe their discontent was quelled by the wide range of exciting and novel workshops and excursions; tai chi, computer blogging, drumming leadership, yoga, drama, creative writing, dance, debating and many more. A wonderful day was spent rock pooling under blue skies in at Cape Point and at St James with SaveourSeas Shark Centre. The budding journalists were bused off to Pinelands for a crash course in magazine production. Read about this project at www.livityafrica.com. We also made a trip to University of Western Cape for a Fun Day for all 3 Western Cape branches.
The daily speakers were amazing, providing real life testimonies about hard work and commitment, as well as developing learner’s knowledge about career and study options. One visitor of special note was Vice Chancellor of the University of the Free State and acclaimed writer Jonathan Jansen. Mr Jansen gave an inspiring talk to the learners, which was followed by a lively discussion about education in South Africa. He even offered the Ikamvanites 5 full scholarships to the University of the Free State. He must have been impressed!
The winter school is hugely significant for the underlying impact that it has on students: social skill development; productive engagement throughout the holidays; time to explore ones own interests; meeting and talking to peers; learning to appreciate volunteers; learning to believe in yourself. A Grade 10 learner commented: ‘I have had the bets time of my life here and I will always carry this memory with me’.
When everyday you are faced with the issues of poverty you have little time to think about yourself or to dream about your future. When these learners do take time to dream they do so within the confines of their self and society’s expectations of them. This mindset makes these expectations a reality and contributes to maintaining the cycle of wasted potential and poverty.
The winter schools give a chance for young people to think outside of these boundaries and to gain access to information that inspires them to dream far beyond them. IkamvaYouth is focused on harnessing these potentials and with the help of Masiphumelele Library they are achieving this.
On the last day of the winter school we held a drumming workshop conducted by the Rhythm Workshop (www.rhythmworkshop.co.za). I saw the vibration of a room full of 80 eager, excited and inspired faces, grinning uncontrollably as they followed the drum beats. It is times like this that make me love my job! Everyone who contributed to making the Careers Indaba a success helped to put smiles on faces and to inspire young minds.
During Winter School the Nyanga Branch was honoured by the presence of Nina who facilitated workshops for a week on Radio broadcasting and production.The learners took part in sessions where they were required to share life experiences and learn more about life from each other using the radio workshop and record their thoughts and interview each other.
Comment from a learner: “we learnt alot from the workshop and Nina and her team taught us how to use the microphones and how to record, I think I would like to be a radio presenter”
Comment from Nina: “The young participants were amazing, enthusiastic, and smart. For some, expressing themselves in English proved very challenging, but they were always checked in and present with the process. The revelations of radio were exciting for them too, handling equipment, recording their voices and playing it back in a very vulnerable public space. Considering time and language constraints, we covered two production modules that would best serve the workshops; interviewing and audio diaries”.
For the first time ever Nyanga had more than 20 tutors joining the Nyanga Winter school which was attended by 55 learners which helped us to experience a ratio of 1:5 (one tutor and five leaners)
I would like to use this time and thank all tutors who took part in our Winter School and all the people who volunteered their time and facilitated workshops for our learners. Thank you too to our partners and sponsors for making this important event possible: UWC, Fedics, Dr Peter Mills and the Answer Series.
I would like us to all share our experiences on this Blog and write about what we have learnt during the two weeks
So let me start: its been 1 year and 10 months since I joined Ikamva Youth and it feels like a life time, this was my second Winter School that I coordinated and 2011 was just something else!! Thanx to you guys
I had an oppotunity to work with really motivated young people who share the same values as myself and who are eager to see a change in the township where many of us where born, this was very evident in how many of us gave their time to the Winter School without asking much questions but joined in with the heart to help, for me it was two weeks of being inspired and motivated whilste running around like a headless chicken! lol
Trust me tutors if it was not for you guys, Nyanga Winter School would not have been a success!!!!
And ofcoz WE WON!!!
Lloyd Lungu