A dream delayed, not a dream denied.

Skills Development has proven to be South Africa’s solution to youth development and empowering the youth of South Africa in many more ways than one. Bridging the gap, youth network ACTIVATE! Change Drivers established a partnership between MI Learning and Development Consultancy which is an accredited training provider, to equip and capitate them in an accredited facilitation qualification, for a period of four weeks online. Believing in positive change, these young leaders took it upon themselves to serve and commit to seeing and developing better communities and doing their utmost in their spaces by running trainings aimed at addressing issues.

This training has enabled young people to reinvent themselves throughout all stages of facilitation, adapt to changing and diverse circumstances, and identify opportunities for growth within their respective spaces. Tumi Martins who was the facilitator of the training said learning and development and upskilling young people is what she is passionate about, being part of this program imparting knowledge to young driven people, is amazing to see and witness the hunger these young have and the level of engagement and commitment that has been the best part.

These young leaders of youth hubs initiated by the network to support the existing work have been selected after a rigorous application system, yet they were selected to be a part of a fully paid training a by the network to ensure they get the necessary qualifications, skills, and knowledge to run their session effectively. These young leaders are champions of different sectors, there are Generation G sector champions, Writers’ Hub, youth hubs and their common goal is to ensure they can transfer skills to their communities and beneficiaries.

Dreams delayed have proven to have not been dreams denied, as most of these young trailblazers have, we have been facilitating running sessions for over a good period. This NQF (National Qualification Framework) Level 5 qualification means a lot to them, and it will validate them and give them a boost into working and approaching different stakeholders as in many instances that is a minimum requirement, yet they have been working because of the passion they have for community development and youth development. The course was eye-opening and very insightful, I learned more than I thought I could, and I am a better facilitator and leader, and given a fact that I am now going to be an accredited facilitator it will open doors for me and probably start earning an income out of my facilitation skills, and now I will be registered under a database of qualified facilitators in my municipality, that is an opportunity I have been longing for “, and those are the words of an Activator Thabani Kalala from KwaZulu Natal.

“Recognizing the power of our generation’s voice using resources that are at our disposal is very important for youth development, the training has helped me know how to facilitate professionally I have always facilitated programs not professionally I did do a lot of hard work with my 12-year experience facilitating program this course has shaped me to do things the right way, it has always been for the love of the community and development”, said Phoshollo Phasha a Limpopo Activator.

The four-week training has intensively been running online, they have been grasping a mouthful of information, yet progressed amazingly as towards the end they were all looking forward to being able to gain knowledge and acquire skills which they can be able to transfer back to their communities and most importantly implement them in their sessions as facilitators.

These young leaders were anxious towards the end of the course however they were excited to see their hard work come to life and the last week of the training was intense as they had to present a full facilitation class for thirty minutes which included all intense training they had acquired from, making lesson plans, lesson agenda, objectives and outcomes of the their chose session or topic which they have been building up. Words of encouragement from the MI Learning Facilitator Tumi Martins, “Young people must always seek to upskill themselves and always look for opportunities to enhance their personal and career development, it is important to acquire a skill, especially if it is recognized and accredited that helps to get your foot in the door, and it puts you on the forefront.”

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About the author:

Jennifer ‘JennyLove’ Mdluli – A Radio Broadcaster, a Facilitator, an Activator, and a member of the Writers’ Hub.

Passionate about radio, youth, and community development her goal is to tell African stories the African way.

“If it doesn’t work change the plan not the goal.”