By DESTINE NDE
Every human being has unique gifts as well as enormous potential. Whether or not that potential is realised depends on the opportunities available to them at any given time.
In every society, some people have more opportunities than others – put differently, opportunities are never equally distributed. Some seeds fall on fertile soil, conducive to their survival and reproduction, while others fall on rocky soil, which hinders their growth and multiplication.
Any act aimed at furnishing a person with opportunities is an act of empowerment. Its impact is at once individual as well as collective, for the empowerment of one is indirectly the empowerment of all.
Given this, it is refreshing to note that empowerment is a major feature of current development programmes, both globally and locally, and features high on the agendas of governments and their agencies, the corporate sector, and civil society. Appropriately, youth development gets much of the attention.
International collaboration
An interesting example of international collaboration in this regard is the Southern Youth Film Festival (SUFF) Academy, a youth development organisation established in 2009 in partnership with Tvibit Youth Culture House and the Nordic Youth Film Festival.
With offices in Cape Town and Graaff-Reinet, its main objective is to empower youths by providing them with skills, particularly in technology, that will help them to gain access to decent jobs. Its vision is to be a leading youth empowerment organisation in South Africa with an international footprint, and its mission is to ‘develop the next generation of Innovators’.
In a recent newsletter, its CEO stated: ‘At SUFF Academy we firmly believe that every young person deserves an opportunity to chart their own course towards success. This year, our Youth Not in Employment, Education or Training (Y-NEET) programme reached an incredible 2489 participants, equipping them with essential digital skills and entrepreneurial mindsets.
‘Through our comprehensive training and mentorship initiatives, we have witnessed remarkable stories of personal growth, self-discovery and economic empowerment. Many of our Y-NEET graduates have secured meaningful employment opportunities or embarked on their entrepreneurial journeys, breaking free from the cycle of poverty.’
The programme coordinator, Elmarie Festus.
The SUFF Academy visited Willowmore in November. Young people converged on the Willowmore Senior Secondary School to receive training in Mobile Literacy, Data Science & Analytics, Cloud Computing, Job Readiness, Coding and Robotics, Digital Entrepreneurship, Film Production, Financial Literacy, Personal Development, Photography, Project Management, Social Media & Marketing, and Creative Leadership; plus a talk on Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
I spoke to the programme coordinator, Elmarie Festus, a friendly young woman who is also the manager of SUFF Academy’s Branch in Uniondale. She told me the programme would last for four days, and that certificates of recognition would be given to participants who attended more than 75 percent of the sessions.
She explained that the jurisdiction of the SUFF Academy was the Western Cape. ‘But the youths of George, Oudtshoorn and Uniondale have already been empowered, and those towns are very close to the Eastern Cape. In fact, my branch, Uniondale, is the closest — just a few minutes’ drive to Willowmore.
‘So I thought, why should the youths of Willowmore not be given the same opportunities, simply because of some intangible provincial barrier? I then said to myself: Go for it!’
On the first day, Elmarie started with Project Management, and did so simply and effectively. Following a lecture, she divided the class into small groups and charged them with planning an event with a budget of R300 000. After an hour she stopped for a tea break, and coffee or tea and cakes were served to everyone.
Mandilake Mbatsha … ‘I’ve learnt some important things’.
When the session resumed, representatives of the different groups were asked to present their plan in front of the class. Elmarie pointed out their mistakes, provided corrections, and gave them another task to tackle. Soon after this lunch was served, after which a second round of presentations were made. Elmarie ended the day by giving the trainees another task, to be presented the next day. Training in the other modules followed over the next three days.
The training was, on the whole, well organised, professional and instructive, and retained the interest of the attendees. On the first day, a participant, Mandilake Mbatsha, who was also a representative of the Department of Social Development, said he was delighted to attend.
‘I’ve learnt a lot of new and important things. I now know how important it is to give a name to your business, to plan, and to work with a good team. In short, I’ve learnt about the Why, How, What, When and Who of project management.’
Elsewhere, I have written that the cumulative effect of acts of empowerment would result in exponential growth and development — politically, economically and socially. And that is as true as it gets.