On Youth Month and Youth Development

Each year we celebrate Youth Day on the 16th of June. Because of this day and the importance of Youth Development, June is set aside as National Youth Month annually. This year, Youth Month takes place in conjunction with the centenary celebration of Nelson Mandela and Albert Sisulu.

The United Nations (UN) also celebrates a youth day. They deem the world’s youngest – and largest – population to be of the utmost importance citing youth as agents of positive change and their inclusion in society more broadly a precondition for sustaining peace.

Onyi Nwaneri, Director of Partnerships of Afrika Tikkun says; “In Youth Month we acknowledge and reflect on the sacrifices of the youth of earlier years and take time to look at the struggles, challenges and achievements of the youth of today. They are our future leaders after all. At Afrika Tikkun, young people are at the center of our being, our development work is essentially geared towards enhancing the wellbeing, rights, empowerment, protection and lives of the youth of today.”

Afrika Tikkun is an established global non-profit organization with a focus on South Africa and the core belief that every young person has the potential to change the world. They are helping to economically empower young people through their Cradle to Career 360° model, which currently supports over 5000 youth from early childhood development to job placement and beyond. Afrika Tikkun’s Cradle to Career 360° model has three core programmes:

The Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres are state-of-the-art facilities with a curriculum that produces school ready children, from age two to six. Throughout the programme children are cared for and supported through activities that assist in developing cognitive, physical and emotional skills, as well as improving the health and wellbeing of children through adequate nutrition, primary health-care, social support, age-appropriate computer skills development, and where a child has developmental delay or disability – appropriate therapeutic intervention.

The Child and Youth Development (CYD) programme works holistically towards changing the environment in which young people aged seven to eighteen live, in order to facilitate their emotional, intellectual, physical, mental and social development. The programme provides career guidance, learning and homework support, life skills, sports, arts and cultural activities, as well as interventions tailored for specific age groups with the outcomes of a higher matric pass rate, positive life choices, taking responsibility for their own lives and further learning opportunities.

The Career Development Programme provides career guidance, job readiness training, job placement and bursaries for further learning; targeted at young adults between nineteen and thirty-five years of age. The key outcome – economically empowering young people and breaking the cycle of poverty – is that young people should be able to navigate the job market and access opportunities for sustainable employment or self-employment.

Afrika Tikkun offers outreach and support services to children of all ages with five Cradle to Career Centres and one Career Development Centre around the country. In addition, with the 4th Industrial Revolution underway IT and coding skills are as important for the future as having a second language. Afrika Tikkun ensures that all young people learn computer literacy and basic coding, and for some advanced programming skills are also available.

Nwaneri continues; “We see so much excitement about what these programmes can do for our graduates, and with the countries current youth unemployment crisis we believe that our Cradle to Career 360° model assists the problem of young people “Not in Education, Employment, or Training” (NEET). Since Afrika Tikkun’s establishment in 1994 we’ve seen so many success stories across all of our development programmes that we can’t begin to tell them all.”

For a few inspirational examples of Afrika Tikkuns success stories see the attachment “Afrika Tikkun success stories”.

For more information on Afrika Tikkun and their initiatives call 011 325 5914, email info@afrikatikkun.org or visit www.afrikatikkun.org.

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