Empowering Disadvantaged Youth through Educational Programs

EMPOWERING DISADVANTAGED YOUTH THROUGH EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

Veronika Lipkova ‘14Nisha Bhat ‘14

BackgroundInternship organization: IkamvaYouth, a township-based non-profit

organization which aims to connect students in the townships to post-graduation employment or higher education opportunities.

Based in Khayelitsha, the largest and fastest growing township in Cape Town

Education in the townships Poor matric results and low awareness of

post-graduation opportunities lead to high percentages of unemployed youth—over 60% in Khayelitsha

Many township youth are infected and/or affected by HIV/ AIDS

How does IkamvaYouth help? Addresses obstacles to education through:

Supplementary tutoring Career guidance Mentoring Computer literacy, computer access Creative workshops AIDS/ HIV awareness workshops and testing

More than 70% of Ikamvanites so far have gained access to higher education upon graduation (compared to the 5% township average)

Winter School IkamvaYouth’s Winter School: career

exploration workshops, tutoring, and HIV/ AIDS education and testing

Organization/ Facilitation Traveling to local universities to talk to

interested departments for career workshops

Contacting Cape Town organizations to run programs

Teaching English classes

Research Does Ikamva help learners achieve financial

stability? Research eventually will be used to improve

funding Collection of data Where are former Ikamvanites now?

Studying engineering at the University of Cape Town

Employed by the South African Department of Education

Employed as social workers in their community

Conclusions What obstacles do educational NGOs in

developing nations face? Lack of resources Social problems Lack of cooperation from schools, parents,

etc. What role does education play in

development? What can we do to help?

Acknowledgements This internship was designed as a sort of

follow-up to a Princeton freshman seminar, “The Hedgehog and the Fox,” taught by Professor George Philander

PEI Development Grand Challenges IkamvaYouth Dr. Carl Palmer, UCT