Youth empowerment brings change
IN A time when corruption seems rampant across all spheres of society, when young people are riddled with a mountain of problems, and where hope cannot be seen on the horizon, we are called to find strength as a collective.
Over the last two years, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation redeveloped its approach to youth work. This new vision prompted us to think outside the box.
What had been a year-long leadership programme that brought a select group of young people to a central programme for teaching and training, morphed into a project that allows us to go into communities and empower young people with skills, knowledge and tools with which they can create change from a grass-roots level.
This new approach to youth development required us to understand where change must happen, how it must happen, and with whom it must it happen.
Taking a page out of the history books, we looked at models in which young people can organise themselves in an effective way to create change, and thus the Kathrada Youth Clubs and Activism Programme was born.
It is a programme that aims to organise young people in their communities in a structured way through activism. These community youth clubs then serve as a space in which young people can discuss and debate various topics. Where they can work together towards common problems that they face, and engage stakeholders in their respective areas so that more young people form part of the change and developmental process.
Across the globe, there are approximately 1.8 billion people between the ages of 10 and 24. A generation of young people who are far more connected to each other than ever before.
In South Africa, we have an unfortunate situation in which young people are unfairly represented in almost all spaces in society. In fact, the governing party, through its youth formation, is plagued by people who are in their thirties gate-keeping spaces where younger people could lead and create the change that’s necessary.
Our body politic is so caught up in sowing division and cheap politicking, that we have yet to prioritise our collective development and progress.
Our youth club model focuses on youth between the ages of 15 and 25. The idea is to ensure that through effective training and support, we can enable a generation of young activists to work on building sustainable and resilient communities, where a culture of serving the people who live in them can thrive.
The first step in this process is drawing on lessons from the life-long activist, Ahmed Kathrada, who has given us a blueprint on how to be an active citizen committed to changing our society, based on the values and principles enshrined in our Constitution. Uncle Kathy’s life was one of servitude, commitment and vigour.
Over the last year, we have had numerous requests to run more workshops and launch more clubs. The eagerness to learn and engage in this material has shown that the legacy of Uncle Kathy still holds immense relevance years after he died.
The multiplicity of youth that have shown interest in this programme, that have engaged in debates and advocated for change through a number of campaigns and social programmes, have shown just how impactful investing in the youth can be.