Children are kept out of the streets during summer holidays,Photo: Development Works
During the holidays, incidents are more likely to occur as children are away from safe environments and spend more time on the street. Often, children are left without a guardian, and get involved in substance abuse that leads to a loss of control and self-worth.
To solve this issue, the Sports, Recreation, and Amenities department is hosting youth development programmes and leadership holiday programmes that began in early December an will continue until the end of January.
A Gugulethu youth discusses some key issues. Photo: Gugulective via Flickr
The youth of Gugulethu are very involved in political and civil society organisations. In fact, the majority of youth participate in development issues in this township situated 15km from Cape Town. This is exceptional in an era where youth are often thought to be apathetic.
The involvement of youth in the community of Gugulethu is largely due to the work of the Gugulethu Youth Development Council (GYDC) which has been operating in the area since 2008.
The Municipal Wards of Gugulethu came together to form a relevant vehicle that will help youth to take active part in development. They looked at the challenges that are faced by today’s youth and established the Council.
The Council members want to see young people of Gugulethu working and going to tertiary institutions. Their goal is to inspire youth to be energetic, passionate, focused and hungry for success.
GYDC is an umbrella organisation that represents youth from different sectors for example Sports, Politics, Arts and Culture, Safety and Security, Social Services, Health, Education and Agriculture, to name a few.
The goal of this organisation is to promote and protect different cultures in Gugulethu. The Council is very committed to this goal; in 2008 they mobilised young people from high schools and primary schools to march against xenophobia.
With their boot on a soccer ball, Gugulethu youth feel on top of the world. Photo: 1happysnapper via Flickr
Every child has a dream of becoming something in life, but an impoverished background or lack of resources in their community could make it impossible to fulfill those dreams. Faced with these challenges, they sometimes lose hope to an extent that they believe drugs and alcohol abuse, crime and violence are the only things left for them.
How do they face these challenges?
Youth staying in Gugulethu experience these challenges, but they can see light at the end of the tunnel, because of sports development programmes in the area.
What were they doing during the Soccer World Cup?
The youth were very active during this 2010 FIFA World Cup. They played against youth from other areas that face similar problems, such as Mitchell’s Plain and Manenberg. The medal a player receives after a match is one of the reasons that they keep on going to soccer fields every day.
How do they benefit from sport development?
These youths believe there are many opportunities to improve their lot through football, and make their dreams a reality. Anam Mxokozeli, one of the Gugulethu soccer stars went to Ajax Cape Town for trials. He was delighted to have that opportunity and he believes that one day he will play for big soccer teams.
Role of their coaches
The coaches are not only training these young boys, they are also guiding and supporting with them with social problems. They teach them how to react to difficult circumstances and also help them with their school work.
Even thought the FIFA World Cup has come to an end, Creative Consulting & Development Works hopes that the youth now has an even greater interest in soccer and that it will continue to have a positive effect on their lives.
Now that South Africa has proven that it can present a world class Cup and Closing Ceremony, what will it tackle next? Photo: AFP - Monirul Bhuiyan
The final match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup was played last night and Spain walked away with the cup. Now that the World Cup has come to an end, newspapers are already starting to ask “What next for South Africa?” How can we harness the positive energy generated during the past month to achieve much needed development objectives for the country?
IOL.co.za reports that “rarely can a global event have generated so much advance pessimism as the World Cup”, but South Africa has silenced all its critics by hosting a successful tournament. The closing ceremony held at Soccer City in Johannesburg last night was especially spectacular and of a world class standard. Images were projected onto the field, Shakira sang Waka Waka and hundreds of dancers demonstrated various South African dances.
Keep on Feeling it
Will the closing ceremony mean the end of the positive vibe in South Africa? Photo: www.shine2010.co.za via Flickr
“Feel it!” was the catch phrase of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Ray Hartley writes “We felt ‘it’. Now let’s define and bottle ‘it’” in the Sunday Times. According to him everyone felt a certain emotion when Bafana Bafana sang the national anthem before the kick-off of this cup. And we kept feeling that emotion as South Africa showed that they could host a mega sports event.
Hartley says this “it” can probably be defined as patriotism. “True patriotism is very different to nationalism. It is closer to the notion of civic duty, the desire to do something to make your country a better place and to celebrate others who make the same effort.”
He says we should now find new outlets for this patriotism. “In this scenario, we would treat our major civic challenges – such as the delivery of houses, health, safety and education – in the same way we treated the World Cup.”
But our patriotism should not turn us into a “nation of spin doctors” that do not want to give criticism where it is due. After all, criticism can help you to recognise your weaknesses and improve on them.
Patriotism should also not turn into an ugly nationalism involving xenophobia, David Smith writes in the Mail & Guardian.
Olympic Games?
Should South Africa bid to host the Olympics? Image: Patrick Hoesley via Flickr
Some have suggested that South Africa bidding to host the Olympic Games next would be a way to keep the “high” produced by the World Cup going. But Danny Jordaan, chief organiser of the Soccer World Cup is quoted in the Mail & Guardian as saying: “There is a sense of pride and achievement. We’ll have to see how we will ensure that pride is not the pride of 90 minutes in a World Cup but a permanent feature. Some people say find it in the hosting of the Olympics, find it another big event. I think we must find it in addressing some of the issues — housing, health, education, economic growth. We have to come together to deal with some of these issues.”
A renewed focus on development issues within the country, with renewed vigour and passion would be wonderful. It is something that Creative Consulting & Development Works, as a research, evaluation and communications consultancy working in the development sector definitely supports.
Children have enjoyed the 2010 FIFA World Cup and if 1GOAL succeeds they will enjoy the benefits of education even more. Photo: UK Department for International Development
We have almost reached the end of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Tomorrow Germany and Uruguay will battle it out for third place and on Sunday we will finally know who is going home with the cup when the Netherlands and Spain go head-to-head.
So much has happened in this past month! Just read through the blog entries we wrote every day to remember it all. In one of our first blog pieces we wrote about the 1Goal campaign, the charity supported by FIFA. Since we first blogged about it, the campaign has gone from strength to strength with many celebrities adding their voices to the cause of ensuring education for all.
On Sunday, before the final 2010 FIFA World Cup match kicks off, President Zuma will hold a summit on education which is to be attended by African Heads of State and Government, senior officials of the United Nations and African Union, celebrities and football stars.
What is 1GOAL?
According to www.join1goal.org1GOAL:Education for All, “is a campaign that tends break the violation of children’s rights to education by using the power of football to ensure that education for all is a lasting impact of the 210 Fifa World Cup”. The aim of this campaign is to use the World Cup to focus attention on education so that 72 million children can have access to education by 2015.
The idea for the campaign started with the drafting of the Millennium Development Goals. Two out of eight goals involve eradication of poverty through education by 2015. The campaign was officially launched at Wembley stadium-UK by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan on 6 October 2009. 9-year-old Gugu Ngubane, from South Africa was the first person to sign up for the campaign.
Who supports this campaign?
1GOAL gives a bright future to little soccer fans. Photo: Media Club South Africa
Many well-known faces can be seen supporting the campaign. Among the people who linked up via satellite for the launch was President Jacob Zuma, President John Atta Mills of Ghana, former UK prime minister Gordon Brown, President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapetero of Spain, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
Other people who are making a big difference towards the success of this campaign includes some of the biggest names in football, such as Pele, Rio Ferdinand, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, and Alessandro del Piero. Shakira doesn’t just have a beautiful voice, she also supports1GOAL and she believes through this campaign every children can have a chance to fullfill their dreams and live up to their full potential through education. Other celebrity supporters include Matt Damon, Jessica Alba, Bono, Kelly Roland and Mick Jagger, to name but a few.
You can also become a supporter by signing up on their website or by SMSing 31970 (if you are in South Africa). The video below shows why this campaign is important. This is the difference that an education can make in the lives of two women born on the same day.
Creative Consulting & Development Works is a research, evaluation and communications consultancy, servicing nonprofits, government and funders with innovative solutions in a development context.
On our blog, Development Talks, we discuss politics and social development. We are interested in the impact of politics on the ordinary citizen and the political activities of those on the ground.
