“If you wish to be successful in this life know where you want to be, have a dream and chase it, have discipline and have a good network”

by Author of The Great Agony and Pure Laughter of the Gods, Jamala Safali in interview with ENCA’s Gareth Edwards

Transparency International Youth Writing Competition

International participants around the world are invited to participate in Youth Writing Competition which aims to tackle the problems of corruption. For this competition the theme is What can young people do to stop corruption?

§  First - A paid trip to Berlin to participate in a Transparency International event in November; work published on Thomson Reuters Foundation; a tablet computer

§  Second – Work published on Thomson Reuters Foundation; a tablet computer

§  Third – Work published on Thomson Reuters Foundation; up to €250 worth of books

Eligibility & Criteria-

§  student who loves to write or a paid contributor– ever one is encouraged to apply.

§  Be between 18 and 30 years of age on 1 September, 2013

§  Submit a written document in PDF or Word format. No hard copy submissions will be accepted.

§  Be sure that applicants work is unpublished and free from plagiarism

For more information, visit this link

Transparency International Youth Photo Competition

In 1993, a few individuals decided to take a stance against corruption and created Transparency International. Twenty years later – we are continuing the global fight against corruption. Among the activities to ring in Transparency International’s 20th anniversary are a youth writing competition, youth photo competition and live events around the world – all to raise awareness about the corrosive problem of corruption and how it can be tackled. The deadline for this year’s competitions is 1 July 2013.

Transparency International is inviting participants around the world for Youth Photo Competition. The objective of this competition is to  raise awareness about the corrosive problem of corruption and how it can be tackled.

Prize-

• First – A paid trip to Berlin to participate in a Transparency International event in November; up to €1,000 worth of camera equipment; work published on Thomson Reuters Foundation
• Second – work published on Thomson Reuters Foundation; up to €400 worth of camera equipment
• Third – work published on Thomson Reuters Foundation; up to €250 worth of camera equipment

Eligibility & Criteria-

• Every one is encouraged to apply
• Be between 18 and 30 years of age on 1 September, 2013
• Submit a photo in digital format. No print or video submissions will be accepted

For more information, visit this link

11 June 2010-11 June 2013, three years after the tragic death of Mandela's great-grand-daughter

On this day 11 June 2010 as the world and especially Africa were joyfully watching the opening ceremony of the first ever world cup on the soil of Africa, we learned that the former South African President Nelson Mandela who was thought to be going to attend the opening ceremony has pulled out after the death of his great-grand-daughter who was killed in a car crash earlier in the day.

As we remember Zenani Mandela who celebrated her 13^th birthday four days before her tragic death let’s remember her grandfather in our prayers, President Mandela, 94-year-old who spent his fourth night receiving intensive care for a lung infection.

      Mandela withgreat-grand-daughter   Zenani, 13,

who was killed in a car crash. Photograph: Ho/Reuters

Our Madiba Deserves Better

If you scrutinize the reasons behind the hiding of health information regarding African leaders, in most  cases there are dirty reasons. In Malawi, when President Bingu wa Mutharika died of a heart attack in his office, his body was flown to South Africa while his brother was manoeuvring to take reign of the country by force. If it wasn’t for the South African government that pressured the family to say the truth, President Mutharika might be still purported alive, being treated in South Africa. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), when Kabila was mysteriously assassinated by one of his bodyguards in his presidential palace in Kinshasa, it was said that he died at the scene but was flown to Zimbabwe to allow sometime for the planning of unconstitutional succession by his son, Joseph Kabila, the current DRC President.

Few months ago I read an article of Dr Adekeye Adebajo of the Centre for Conflict Resolution in the Mail Guardian in which he broke the news of the passing of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi. To verify the news, a colleague of mine phoned the Ethiopian embassy in Pretoria; they couldn’t confirm nor deny the news. It took them four hours to say that they don’t know. I kept on asking myself how the well-respected Dr Adebajo made a big mistake and announce that Prime Minister Zenawi had passed on without proof, but it seems he knew what he was talking about.  It was after months that Zenawi was declared officially dead.  It is then that I understood that African leaders die twice. There is the first death which they die but their deaths are kept a secret while their family members or allies are exploring ways to disrespect constitutional institutions; the second death is the real one when the machine is already set and the news is broken out and they lie that the President died last night while their families have been mourning for days or weeks. Commenting on the murmuring  of the Ethiopian Government on  Meles Zenawi ‘s whereabouts,  Afua HirschIt of the Guardian said that it is not the first time that an African government has failed to confirm the illness or death of a leader in office, prompting periods of mysterious absence.http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/08/ethiopia-meles-zenawai-not-seen             

Recently, when I was watching news, I was shocked to see the images of our beloved Mandela. What shocked me is not actually his image; it is what President Zuma said. “As you can see Madiba is up and about”, Zuma added that Madiba was in good spirit. After the news, my 14 years old nephew asked me what does  “to be up and about” mean? I told him that it means to be strong. He doubted.  We went to check the dictionary (English is neither our first nor our second language) and find out that “An example of up and about is someone who was ill for a while and confined to her bed, but who is now able to go places and do things again.” My previous definition was almost right, but the boy disputed that the image was not corresponding to what we have just seen and heard from our President. No one expects Mandela at his age to be dancing like Zuma does, but also lying about his health is not helping ANC or anyone. Madiba left politics long-time ago, why do we need SABC camera when visiting him. He deserves better.  If we lie about his health now, what will happen when the inevitable arrives? I guess the government will do as our African countries do. Hiding for months!!!

Looking at the footage of ANC top leaders at Madiba’s home, it looked like a Photoshop image. My nephew still argues that images seen were not consistent, and he kept asking why we never see Madiba’s wife. It is being rumoured that she is also being side-lined when it comes to her husband’s health issue. South Africa should be a good example in EVERYTHING to the rest of Africa.

 

Win a grant of R1 000 000.00 for your innovative project!!!Deadline is TODAY

The SAB Foundation Innovation Awards has been established with the objective of rewarding and upscaling innovative sustainable solutions to the pressing daily challenges facing low-income people, specifically women, the youth, people with disabilities, and people living in rural areas in order to improve economic growth and prosperity and the quality of life of all South Africans.

 

The main award is a grant of R1 000 000.00 (one million Rand) to the winner, and there are 2 runners-up awards of a R500 000.00 (five hundred thousand Rand) grant each.

 

In addition, several seed grants will be awarded. Additional categories of awards exist for entries from women, youth, people in rural areas and people with disabilities. The grant includes funding for the upscaling and commercialisation of the innovation solution, a process which will be supported

by the SAB Foundation over a period of two years or longer, as needed.

 

During the final application stage, shortlisted applicants need to present an indicative budget of how they would spend this grant money along these lines. The size of the grants is designed to allow for substantive progress to be made by the winners.

 

Entries for the Innovation Awards 2013 are welcomed from (but not limited to) individual innovators, entrepreneurs, NGOs, corporate foundations, Corporate Social Investment professionals, consulting firms and university departments.  

 

The closing date for entries is midnight on Tuesday 7th May 2013. Entries can be directed to Nicola.Jowell@za.sabmiller.com or delivered to SAB Central Office, 65 Park Lane, Sandton c/o Zanele Ngoqo or couriered to SAB Foundation, 65 Park Lane, Sandton, 2146 c/o Zanele Ngoqo. To download the forms click on the following link:

http://www.sab.co.za/sablimited/content/en/sabfoundation-projects?oid=2917&sn=Detail&pid=2208 

Kindly note that the closing date is today midnight

Trains in China

GSMA mWomen Innovation Fund

The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. Spanning more than 220 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world’s mobile operators with more than 230 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organisations in industry sectors such as financial services, healthcare, media, transport and utilities. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as the Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo.

GSMA is calling for concept notes for its mWomen Innovation Fund grants for non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The goal of the GSMA mWomen Programme is to promote greater mobile access and usage by resource-poor women in low- and middle-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East, and Asia Pacific.

The objectives of the Innovation Fund for NGOs are to provide seed funding in order to:

• Accelerate the use of mobile technology to achieve development-related goals, specifically the empowerment of resource-poor women;
• Provide solutions to the barriers to women’s adoption and use of mobile phones and VAS;
• Generate lessons and models of success which can be shared with the wider development community, as well as mobile operators; and
• Stimulate productive partnerships between NGOs and mobile operators in order to achieve these objectives at scale.

This round of grants is dedicated to NGOs (including social enterprises), working in partnership with mobile network operators.  Its objectives are to:

• Provide seed funding to support the design and launch of innovative products, services, marketing approaches and distribution mechanisms aimed at increasing women’s access to mobile and use of life-enhancing mobile services;
• Generate lessons and models of success which can be shared with the wider development community and the mobile industry; and
• Stimulate productive partnerships between NGOs and mobile network operators.

This round of grants is open only to NGOs.

The next round of grants for mobile network operators will be launched in the second half of 2013.

This round is comprised of three matching grants, valued up to US$140 000 for projects up to ten months long. The grants are intended to provide seed funding for NGOs, working in partnership with mobile network operators, to design and launch products, value added services, marketing campaigns and/or distribution mechanisms (‘offerings’) that will increase women’s access to and use of mobile and life-enhancing services.
For more about the mWomen Innovation Fund, refer to: http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/gsma-mwomen-innovation-fund-grant-documentation-ngos-april-2013

Young people feel forgotten. Case Study of Khayelitsha Youth in Cape Town

This article explores challenges and needs that hinder youth development in Khayelitsha, reviewed programmes available and suggest some strategies that can contribute to the uplifting of the youth*.



Photo taken by Joseph

Trying to define youth, Somers^[i]  states that “youth” definition often vary according to culture. He gives an example of a presentation about African youth whereby members of the audience mostly mid-career humanitarian agency professionals, were asked to define youth. Those from North America and Europe spoke first, debating the appropriate age range. The ages mentioned were generally between 12-13 and 21-25. Those from Africa spoke next. They did not mention age in their definitions. Instead, they spoke of youth as a stage of social development between childhood and adulthood, a time of life stretching from puberty to the acceptance of the responsibilities of marriage and family.

Aluede cited by Abudu^[ii] argues that unpleasant youthful activities are widespread in Nigeria and all over Africa, to the extent that they have been giving a lot of concern to the government and general public. In primary schools, peers engage in organized crimes and disrupt normal academic programmes. In secondary schools and most Nigerian universities, the activities of secret cults are known to have been source of threat to lives and property. Outside the campuses, a lot of ritual killings are taking place.

Furthermore, Abudu enumerates some of the consequences of drug abuse which are as follows: Mental disorder, social violence, gang formation, cultism, armed robbery  syndrome, internet frauds, social miscreants (area boys and girls) lawlessness among youths, lack of respect for elders, rape, loss of senses, instant death and wasting of precious and innocent lives and many more.^[iii]

All over Africa Governments have started to realize that there is no tangible development if young people are left aside and not involved in the process.  At present we are witnessing many initiatives that tempt to involve youth in decision making and uplift them from the poverty. However youth all over Africa remains in dire poverty. Many countries have created a ministry to cater for youth, youth council or other structures whose main objectives are to help youth.

The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR)^[iv] states that youth felt that they are not properly consulted before programmes regarding them. Youth occupy critical space in South Africa’s relatively young democracy. This, perhaps, should come as no surprised, as youth involvement in the struggle against injustice is a part of South Africa’s heritage. While youth activism in the quest for social justice is an integral part of South Africa’s history, youth today face a different set of challenges. Instead of the injustices of the apartheid state, issues such as HIV/AIDS, the growing gap between rich and poor, lack of quality and equal education, more subtle forms of racism and growing of discontent in South Africa’s political institutions are among the obstacles to a sustainable, just and inclusive democracy.

Furthermore, IJR goes on saying that this new changing context presents new challenges for youth and complicates the critical space that young occupy. Moreover IJR states that the opportunities afforded to youth to become involved remain inadequate and greater social-economic and moral support for youth leaders is still needed

The difficulties facing youth are considerable and are mainly related to the poverty. The following are the most difficulties facing youth as highlighted by the Youth of Khayelitsha:

• Non education: this is supported by Development Support Monitor (DSM) report^[v] that argues that education remains the one goal that most African countries are likely to attain. however, citizen access to secondary school remains inaccessible to the majority; and that who managed to study there is no jobs for them

• Unemployment: all participants mentioned unemployment as the first problem that affect youth and it was rated as the core centre of all other miserable life that youth go through. They said that being unemployed make them helpless, cannot study and cannot thus far be sure of tomorrow. As one mentioned when you don’t have a job you cannot support yourself nor your family. A youth leader explaining the relationship between unemployment and crime stated that when youth are not working, they tend to do anti-social activities such as prostitution, drugs, drinking and robbery; he applauded the work VPUU is doing in Khayelitsha which has reduced crime in the area. VPUU use urban upgrading work as a tool to fight crime.

Oftentimes these anti-social activities lead to endanger and put the life of youth at risk. As one respondent who works at youth centre in Khayelitsha site B mentioned; most of the youth clients they receive are victimized because of unemployment; young female are obliged to do sex at early age because they are promised jobs or just because they are not working and expect everything from their male partners which makes them being constantly dependent. This is collaborate by what a female respondent from the Northern Cape to the 10^th anniversary national poverty hearings conducted by African Monitor in 2008 said that “without employment young people end up doing wrong things like selling themselves for food and money, robbing people and afterwards getting illness like HIV and AIDS.”^[vi]

•   Drugs, crime and gangsters  were cited as the main challenges
• Exclusion:  youth expressed their dissatisfaction on how the community is not caring as before; they feel that they are left on their own from the family till to the whole community
• Mommy Sugar: A youth leader also mentioned about young male dating older women of age of their parents just because they get financial support from them; an example is of a desperate young male who applied for a job on Gum tree, (a South African website) after few days he was called for an interview that actually become a dangerous trap. He was offered a job to find himself having unsafe sex with his employer to know later on that the woman was a HIV positive.

The purpose of this paper was to assess what are challenges facing youth and to gain insights on youth’s impression of programme available to them so as to formulate recommendations on what can be done to assist youth development. As the Department of Social Development argues, “in order for South Africa to develop relevant policies for its young people, there is a need to determine the magnitude of the youth sector in terms of numbers, to establish where the youth live and to investigate the types of activities in which these young people engage.”[vii] This paper has provided valuable information if taken into account by different partners can help uplift youth from the dire poverty. As this paper has mentioned, youth feel that they are overlooked and their problems are not taken seriously; we recommend that jobs for youth needs to be addressed properly, carefully and quickly as a matter of emergency through a variety of interventions.

As some young people are unable to search for jobs due to a lack of funds, CDE suggests some of the ways to deal with this; from promoting ‘unemployed discounts’ for photocopying, faxing and Internet usage to providing these facilities by municipalities, local libraries, or local schools after hours. Life skills instruction in secondary schools should thoroughly cover job search issues, including building up a network of contacts, writing a CV, preparing for interviews, developing the personal attributes (discipline, time-keeping, etc) essential for formal employment, and also developing the generally flexible approach needed to get into the workforce.[viii]

When youth are empowered, given opportunity they can help themselves and help the community. Youth need to be consulted in the designing variety of programmes that cater for them but also on the programme regarding the community they live in.

Youth insisted that they would like to see consistent programmes instead of once off programmes that don’t last. The author supports the recommendation by SAYWA to be taken into account when a programme or a project to uplift young people is being created.  SAYWA cited by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)[ix] argues for the expansion of youth work settings to include:

•         Outreach programmes

•         Social work authorities

•         Educational authorities

•         Youth employing bodies

•         Information centres

•         Community centres

 *The full paper of this article was presented by Joseph Eliabson  at AISA Young Graduates and Scholars programme on March 21-23,2012 at the University of Venda, Limpopo.http://www.ai.org.za/events/20/aygs-conference

---

[i] Sommers, M., 2001: Youth, care& protection of children in emergencies; a field guide. Save the Children. Page 3

[ii] Abudu 2008:page 1

[iii] Abudu 2008:page 6

[iv] Institute for Justice and Reconciliation,2010.  Ashley Youth Development programme. http://www.ijr.org.za/publications/pdfs/AshleyKriel.pdf

[v]  African Monitor, 2010; Development Support Monitor, making MDGs attainable and their outcomes sustainable, Cape Town

[vi] African Monitor 2008, the people have spoken, where do we go from here? Extract of key issues emerging from the 10th anniversary national healings August-September 2008.  Page 15

[vii] Human Science Research Council (HSRC), 2011. Youth work; fresh insights that cut through inequalities. Presented on the 1 September 2011

[viii] Centre for Development and enterprise, 2007. The struggle for jobs. Evidence from the South African young persons survey. CDE Focus No 13: 3.  July 2007

[ix] Idem

Enough is Enough: A call to end violence against women and children

 On 13 February 2013 the Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, Founder and President of African Monitor and former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, joined faith leaders, young people, women’s groups and other concerned citizens for a protest against the alarming rate of violence against women and children in South Africa.  The protest, themed Stand Up & Be Still Silent, was organised by Ms Nomfundo Walaza of Women Demand Dignity who is also the CEO of the Desmond Tutu Peace Trust. The silent protest took place at St Georges Cathedral in Cape Town, just a few miles from the Parliament where President Jacob Zuma was due to address the nation the next day.

Protestors painted a gleam picture for the state of our Nation, noting in their placards that:-

·         South Africa has one of the highest rates of crime in the world, and is labelled the rape capital of the world.

·         Women born in South Africa have more chance of being raped than learning how to read.

·         Rape in SA affects all age groups, from 6 month old babies to 80 year old grandmothers; all race groups; and all income brackets.

·         Someone in SA is raped every four minutes; and 40% of South African women will be raped in their life time.

Translated plainly, these rape statistics imply that during the recent 90 minute AFCON final match between Nigeria and Burkina Faso, about 22 girls and women were raped in South Africa.

At the protest, Archbishop Ndungane expressed deep concern about what he sees as rapid moral decay in South Africa, where collectively leaders are not doing enough to change the tide of violence against women and children.  He noted, “it is unacceptable to slap a woman. It is unacceptable to speak or act in ways that suggest women are inferior to men. It is unacceptable to raise boys and girls in ways that teach either gender to believe that men and boys are superior.”

 

The Archbishop has long fought for human rights, and especially the rights of vulnerable groups.  While he was still in office he drew attention to how beliefs and attitudes that lead to women and girls being treated as less important than men and boys can be overcome. In his auto-biography Faith in Action he stated, “the Bible must not be wrongly interpreted, as if it justifies physical, verbal or emotional belittling of women. Rather, it teaches that women and men together reflect God’s image, and are equally important in his eyes.” He further highlighted three areas that faith leaders need to address, “theology and the way we understand our faith in relation to gender issues; our practices within our churches; and the wider role we can play in our communities in overcoming this scourge.”  He went further to recognise the oppression so many suffered under apartheid, or through personal circumstances; “God knows the difficulties many now face, especially through unemployment and financial pressures; but we shouldn’t express our pain and frustration against our nearest and dearest.”

Those who joined the protest noted that before the horrifying recent murder and brutal rape of Anene Booysen and others that followed, many people have not been paying attention to violence and rape against women; nor taken seriously the impact of this scourge on society. Valerie March, a 17 year-old who is in grade 12 at St. George’s Grammar School, explained that she has come to take a stand because it is very sad not to feel safe in your own community. Valerie tearfully explained that even though she didn’t know Anene Booysen who was raped and murdered, they are the same age and that “this can obviously happen to me and my friends anytime and anywhere.”

 

Trent Marescia,  a 17 year-old boy also from St Georges Grammar School, stressed that the rape and violence are regrettably becoming more and more acceptable in the society. Trent dismissed those who blame the way girls and women dress, asking these boys and men if “every time you see a nice car, do you always grab it and drive it even though it doesn’t belong to you?  No ways!! And if you cannot do this to an object why force a human being in something they don’t want?”

Archbishop Ndungane urges particularly men and boys to say enough is enough, and to give dignity back to South Africa’s women and girls, “this should not be only the problem of women or the government, but also that of men, because it affects everybody in our society including the faith leaders as the guardian of moral in our society.”

 

This article was published by African Monitor.  African Monitor promotes human rights, the protection of vulnerable groups, equality, and non-discrimination.  African Monitor joins the global call to end all forms of violence against women and children.  To read more about African Monitor visit the website at www.africanmonitor.org