South Africa needs leaders at every level of society – leaders with inspirational vision, impeccable character, transformational teamwork, and the ability to be productive and deliver results.
To make this possible United Nations Youth Association of South Africa (Unya) is to establish Unya club programmes at every high school in the country to drive the UN Sustainable Developments Goals, create safer schools and communities, and develop the next generation of sound leaders in the country.
As part of his visit to Noordwyk Secondary School on September 9, the president of Unya Henry Jacobs launched the club programmes. The programmes will reach learners from grades 8 to12.
“Unya clubs provide fertile ground for youth empowerment, education, networking, and generating public opinion to support the work of the United Nations building a better world for all,” said Jacobs.
“We want to see young South African lead the way in improving their schools and communities. We want to help pupils become globally-minded and skilled individuals that can flourish in a post-schooling environment.”
He added through the programmes, learners would be empowered to transform their lives and communities as leaders, enabling them to transition from primary to secondary to tertiary education and to enter professional careers with intentional, transformational, and upward influence.
“Lack of self-belief, self-discipline and self-leadership amongst young people is at the core of these many challenges. Partnering with your school [Noordwyk], we intend to implement this transformational training process.”
He said several other challenges were faced by learners including student passivity, a lack of vision for their future, substance abuse, bullying, violence where both learners and teachers have been attacked and suicide.
One of the most important tools for success in any learner’s school journey is the teacher. There are also programmess for teachers as Unya understands that any good learning environment has a great teacher or facilitator. The aim is to help teachers to stay motivated to not lose their passion and purpose.
Tiisetso Mashao, a teacher and basketball coach at the school said, “These programmes are built to help prepare our learners for the year ahead at school, but the programmes also aim to help them prepare for life after school, have a positive and purposeful self-image, and develop their study and leadership skills.”
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