Our Story – Our Network – Our Legacy
CELEBRATING 10 YEARS
As we observe the 10 years of ACTIVATE! Change Drivers, it is a significant opportunity to galvanise our community as we celebrate and reflect on the decade-long journey with stories of inspiration, and influence and to highlight the reach of the network and its legacy story.
Timeline of the last 10 years
The ACTIVATE! story is a time-honoured legacy that has seen the early beginning of young people rise in the network to occupy critical seats shaping its reality through all seasons.
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2012
- Official Launch of the ACTIVATE! Network. “ACTIVATE! Leadership For Public Innovation”
- The first cohort and inception of the network and introduction to the South African youth.
- 183 Activators Graduated from the ACD programme in all national provinces
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2013
- First edition of the ACTIVATE! Change Drivers year book, a showcase of 365 days of the network a year into its first cohort.
- 400 Activators graduated from the network
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2014
- The first innovation showcase of 500 activators and competition for business financial support
- 458 Activators graduated from the network
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2015
- As a follow-up to the Showcase of 2014, the organisation hosted the National Imbawula Festival at Hekpoort with approximately 200 Activators
- Launch of Going Beyond: Network support beyond the ACD one-year program
- The Launch of Activate! Stations across the country, which would later become A! Youth Hubs
- First newspaper distributed to the network
- Invited to participate in the World Economic Forum on Africa 2015 Young Global Leaders Debate on Harnessing Africa's Next Generation in Cape Town.
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2016
- Our first observer mission in the local government elections with 86 observers across the nine provinces.
- Participated in the Inaugural Presidential Working Group
- In 2016 we became one of only two youth organisations invited to the presidential youth working group, which is a session chaired by the president and attended by all deputy ministers as well as heads of key state agencies to strategise on and review the implementation plan of the National Youth Policy.
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2017
- Activate forms part of the National Youth Development Coordinating Forum, a technical oversight committee under the Department of Monitoring, Planning and Evaluation in the Office of the Presidency
- Tasked with overseeing the implementation of the National Youth Policy as well as setting up youth development priorities in the country and taking decisions thereof.
- 27 activators attend the innovation summit awards in Capetown hosted by the director of innovation summit from the department of trade and industry
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2018
- Berlin History Festival – Facilitating a workshop on threading a fabric of peace, taking lessons from WW1 and our history as a country and how it can promote peace for the rest of the world.
- Big 5 Launch – The launch of the Big Five sectors of the network which included Health, Youth Economic Participation, Literacy, Active Citizenry and Interconnectedness and Inclusivity.
- Launch of the ACD roving team which was tasked with expanding the reach of the ACD program to marginalised communities across the country.
- 10 Activators participated in the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
- The Social Innovation Summit - This brought together 50 young innovators from across the ACTIVATE! network who developed unique innovations to respond to pressing socio-economic challenges facing their respective communities.
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2019
- Prava Activate Exchange programme – Young people in the network received an opportunity to travel to Kampala in Uganda as part of an exchange learning programme to share experiences and knowledge with other youth leaders from across the world.
- Our second Observer Mission in the Local Government Municipal Elections with 182 Activator observers
- Partnered with Youth Against AIDS and KfW to Host a satellite session themed “HIV Prevention for Youth - A time for Urgent Innovation” at the 9th SA AIDS Conference.
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2020
- Academy Launch – The launch of our sister organisation focused on offering the network online courses through blended learning
- Launch of the COVID-19 relief fund
- Activate gets a new CEO
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2021
- Generation G Launch - ACTIVATE! Change Drivers is part of a global coalition called Generation G which was launched in 2021 and sets out to promote gender justice and prevent gender-based violence.
- National Youth Resilience Initiative - ACTIVATE! Change Drivers is a core implementing partner of the National Youth Resilience Initiative which is a multi-stakeholder intervention launched in 2021 to promote the resilience and psycho-social wellness of young people.
- In the third Municipal election, 213 observers from our network contributed to the election as the largest organisation with 14 Activators standing for the Municipal elections
- 10 activators are voted in as ward councillors/PR councillors in their respective communities in the local government elections.
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2022
- Monitoring and Evaluation Steering Committee - Activate selected to sit in the M&E committee for unemployment programs by the government.
- Civic Education for Youth Booklet Launch
- The launch of the ACD-In community programme targeted at empowering current Activators with tools and key competencies to recruit, and equip other young people to join the A! network and contribute towards driving positive change.
- The launch of the A! Network Fund (R250k fund), which seeks to support social solidarity and resilience within the network by creating opportunities for Activators to connect, share ideas and collaborate.
Our Impact
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ACTIVATORS WHO OWN BUSINESSES
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ACTIVE MEMBERS IN OUR NETWORK
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ACTIVATORS INVOLVED IN HIV & AIDS INITIATIVES
News & Media
We pride ourselves in occupying all facets of society and have welcomed the positive news pieces reported on the network in the country and beyond its borders, many of our activators had their Opinion pieces and articles published across media houses.
