Youth: Youth-in-Action

→ Develop and mentor leadership skills amongst youth
→ Educate and empower youth to implement and co-facilitate community projects
→ To give youths opportunities to be involved in the upliftment of their community
→ To enrich their lives by being involved in child and youth programmes
→ To divert them from joining gangs and getting caught up in the cycle of violence and substance abuse.
→ To broaden their horizons in terms of job opportunities

The Need

→ Boys, in particular, are at risk of becoming perpetrators themselves, if they experience or witness domestic violence.
→ Girls seem more likely to display behaviour which is harmful to themselves such as self-mutilation or sexual promiscuity.
→ There is a chronic shortage of healthy role models in the community.
→ In an under-resourced community such as Hanover Park there are very few activities outside of school hours which are recreational and constructive.

Project Activities

→ Public recruitment and selection of youth leaders
→ Provide specialist training for youth leaders who commit to CASE projects
→ Mentor youth leaders
→ Youth-in-Action activities take the form of leadership and personal development camps and workshops, co-ordination and planning workshops and these youths will have an important networking function.
→ Youth leaders are given additional training in life skills teaching, crime prevention, trauma management, stress management, sexuality and HIV/AIDS which they can implement in schools or faith-based organisations.

Project Impact

→ Through developing youth leadership and guiding young leaders in implementing projects, the community is exposed to healthy positive role models. Young people today seldom get opportunities to really be involved in shaping their communities. CASE believes that young people have the desire, insights and talents to address their community’s problems. We have to empower the youth to do it themselves.