Wings of Life Event

Proud to be a Woman”: woman empowerment through Education and Entrepreneurship

The Wings of Life Women’s Day Alumni event took place at Indaba Hotel in Fourways and was attended by 60 young women from Afrika Tikkun’s Alumni programme in Diepsloot. For the young women who attended, this event was a platform to connect with other young women to share common struggles and collectively, come up with solutions.

Afrika Tikkun is committed to working towards alleviating youth unemployment as reflected by our four pillars. We do this through the application of our Cradle-to-Career 360˚ programme at our five Centres of Excellence in Orange Farm, Alexandra, Diepsloot, Braampark and Mfuleni. One of our core programmes is the Career Development programme (CDP) that aims to provide skills to our young people, preparing them for the world of work and placing them in employment where possible. The Alumni Programme is a part of this objective, as it furthers our goal to curb youth unemployment, currently a global challenge.

The Alumni Programme is a way of making sure that no one falls through the cracks by connecting and engaging with Alumni at regular events. The organisation is then able to develop a better sense of the needs and value expectations of our young people. Through its platforms of communication and engagement, alumni can network, support, share opportunities and continue to grow together toward economic empowerment.

The objective of the Alumni event was to create a platform for continuous engagement of Alumni post graduating from our skills training programmes and pending placement. This will ensure continued refreshing of skills taught and acquired, as well as empowerment. The Alumni programme will hopefully contribute towards re-enforcing the behavioural values of our young people in the long term.

Ms Marcia Lebambo, was the keynote speaker at the event, and was recently recognised as one of 100 Mandelas, by Media24. Originally, from Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga, Marcia is a 30-yearold woman currently employed as a Lecturer at the University of South Africa. She previously worked as a Residence Manager, Senior Campus officer and a Lecturer at the Tshwane University of Technology. She also worked as Current Affairs Presenter for the Campus Radio TUTFM. Ms Lebambo also founded the first TUT Soshanguve Campus Residence Newsletter called Residence Life.

She is involved in many community development projects through her Foundation, the Marcia Lebambo Foundation. One is a campaign that deals with teaching learners in rural and township schools, reading and writing skills using a popular competition called Spelling BEE. She recently completed her PhD studies in Rural Entrepreneurship Development with Tshwane University of Technology Business School, and has published papers in journals and written book chapters. Marcia has presented papers in countries such as Tanzania and Austria. Her previous qualifications include:

 

 

• Master’s Degree in Entrepreneurship

• National Diploma: Administrative Management

• B-Tech Strategic Management

• B-Tech Public Management

She is a Director of a company called Mashakoane consultancy; that helps students with postgraduate studies and research and is very passionate about developing young women especially in rural areas through Entrepreneurship and Education.

In her talk, Marcia tackled issues of personal branding, goal setting, overcoming challenges as well as entrepreneurship. Not only were the topics relevant to the young women, they were able to gain an understanding of where they need to go to get the assistance they need to take the next step in their careers.

Arekopaneng Event

“Proud to be a Woman”

The Arekopaneng Centre hosted their Women’s month Alumni event on 16 August 2018, targeting young women who were previously part of Afrika Tikkun’s programme. Since the launch of the Alumni programme we still have a mission to bring our young people closer to our Centres, post-graduation.

The theme of the event was “Proud to be a Woman”, with all women present wearing all black and a doek, symbolising that they are proud to be African women even when faced with adversities. All the invited speakers were present (Rhiza Babuyile, Siyanqoba, Ke Moja, as well as a representative from a local Mobile Clinic). The objective of the day was to educate women around issues of health, abuse, women empowerment and women in business.

Young women were given a chance to question and to contribute. The highlight of the day was the candlelit moment, paying respect to all women who lost their lives in abusive relationships, those who have had the courage to walk away and those who still need the strength and support to leave an abusive relationship.

The event was a success, the local mobile clinic that was present enabled young people to undergo voluntary HIV/AIDS counselling and testing, and condoms were distributed to them. Young women in the alumni programme who own their own businesses had an opportunity to showcase their work.

The event was joyful and successful, all thanks to our partners, stakeholders and Arekopaneng Centre Staff members