From the cradle to a career
JOBURG – Afrika Tikkun's Cradle to Career model highlights that development of children begins from a young age.
CEO of Afrika Tikkun, Marc Lubner, explained the organisation’s Cradle to Career model to members of the media during a talk as part of Youth Month in June.
Afrika Tikkun is a non-governmental organisation that works on youth development.
Lubner said, “We want to create jobs and opportunities by considering what children need. Children should be dropped off by their parents at places [childcare centres or schools] where they are not only safe but also educated. It is also so important that we train more and more teachers. These teachers can be used in our programmes as well as at other schools around the country.”
He highlighted that the pre-school phase was where everything started for children. “Children need to learn values from a very young age. We work with families and also involve the parents in the process.
“A huge issue in South Africa is that children are not growing up in sync with their parents. A large percentage of our population cannot care for their own children.”
Lubner stressed that many children were vulnerable to abuse by adults and said Afrika Tikkun worked closely with the Teddy Bear Clinic which assisted in cases of abused children. “We have to work on the positive,” he said.
“We have built youth centres where meals are provided for the children. We involve dietitians to make sure that the children receive sufficiently balanced meals.
“We teach them how to do their own homework, how to work on computers and how to write up their own CV.”
He added that it was more efficient to ‘teach the youth to fish rather than just handing them the fish’.
Afrika Tikkun is a firm believer that the youth should be afforded the opportunity to pursue a career they love, rather than being forced to take just any job. “We are inspired by the youth’s desire to work and do well, and we want to create a platform to make South Africa a better place.
“We want to ensure that the youth to develop and succeed all the way from their early childhood.”
Lubnar concluded by saying that the help of all South Africans was needed, and even those without the necessary skills have valuable time to contribute to the development of the youth.
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