Empowered Youth to Present their Impactful Projects at National Showcase Event

Finalists in the annual Youth Citizens Actions Programme (Y-CAP) will showcase their impactful projects at the National Championships to be held in Hoedspruit on Saturday, 28 July 2018.
Now in its ninth year, the event forms part of an initiative by Empowervate Trust – in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education – to provide young learners with project management, social entrepreneurship and life skills through the Y-CAP Toolkit and workshops, as well as give them a platform to showcase their impactful and sustainable projects at district, provincial and national level.
Y-CAP Founder and CEO, Amanda Blankfield-Koseff, says more than 700 schools, comprising thousands of primary and secondary school learners from the country’s nine provinces, registered to participate in Y-CAP in 2018. “They have been hard at work trying to solve social, environmental and academic challenges in their schools and communities.”
District and provincial events took place during Youth Month and Mandela Month to identify the most impactful projects in each category in the various provinces. The 18 provincial winning teams in the nine primary and nine secondary school categories will present their projects in Hoedspruit.
Blankfield-Koseff says the event is the highlight on the Y-CAP calendar as it inspires, motivates and acknowledges South Africa’s future leaders. “In addition to awarding the winning projects, finalists will attend a talk by a motivational speaker as well as personal development workshops.”
The programme’s major sponsors through Empowervate Trust include Deutsche Bank South Africa Foundation, DSV Mounties with Swadini Forever Resort, UNISA, Airlink, Europcar and Boston City Campus.
“We are grateful for our sponsors’ support. With their support, we are able to encourage youth to be proactive and – in the words of Nelson Mandela – “be the change they want to see”,” concludes Blankfield-Koseff.

The 2018 Y-CAP National Finalists
Primary Schools:

1. Gauteng – De Deur Primary – The Feeding Scheme and Helping Children in need.
2. KZN – Cornfields Primary – Hygiene
3. Western Cape – Scottsville Primary – Bullying
4. North West – Are Itshokeng Primary – Violence amongst learners leading to bullying
5. Northern Cape – Aggeneys Primary – Littering
6. Mpumalanga – Tenteleni Primary – Poverty
7. Free State – Karabelo Primary – Clean School Environment
8. Limpopo – Nkomo Primary – People living with disability
9. Eastern Cape – Stephen Nkomo Primary – Fundraising for SGB educators in school
Secondary Schools:
1. Gauteng – Pretoria Technical High – Timekeeping solution
2. KZN – Ladysmith Secondary – Eco Buddies – hydroponic gardens to solve learner hunger
3. Western Cape – Vredendal Secondary – Reading
4. North West – Stilfontein Secondary – Sports as a way to solve social and environmental issues
5. Northern Cape – Wrenchville High – Dimpho Project – Suicide Awareness and Prevention
6. Mpumalanga – Mashishing Secondary – Behaviour problems that cause absenteeism, bullying and gambling taking place in the toilets
7. Free State – Taiwe Secondary – Child Headed Families
8. Limpopo – Dendron Secondary – Go Green TPAC – Teen Pregnancy Awareness Campaign
9. Eastern Cape – Solomon Mahlangu High – Transforming our school’s nutrition programme

Notes to the Editor
About Empowervate Trust
Empowervate Trust is a youth development NPO that was registered in 2013. Its flagship programme is The Youth Citizens Action Programme (Y-CAP), which was born out of Afrika Tikkun in 2009, initially as a youth dialogue. The programme is run in collaboration with Department of Basic Education and with the major support of Deutsche Bank South Africa Foundation and DSV Mounties South Africa.
The Youth Citizens Action Programme (Y-CAP) empowers and motivates young people from primary and secondary schools to solve or lessen the social, environmental, educational or economic problems within their schools or communities. This is achieved through Y-CAP’s toolkit and workshops that provide project management skills development, and showcase platforms at district, provincial and national level. Over the past 9 years of Y-CAP, over 36865 learners have been impacted by the programme and encouraged to be active citizens with a social entrepreneurship mindset.

For more information on Empowervate Trust, contact:
Amanda Blankfield-Koseff
amanda@empowervate.org
079 080 8474