Virtual Youth Clubs
The Call to Innovate
Poor, underserved, at-risk children and youth in South Africa too often do not have access to opportunities to develop the critical tools they need to live healthy, empowered lives. Although tremendous progress has been made in the global fight against HIV and AIDS, young people - especially young women - are being left behind. South Africa has the largest HIV epidemic in the world. According to UNAIDS, new HIV infections among South African women aged 15-49 in 2019 were more than double those among young men. The already harsh circumstances of poverty are exacerbated by the impact of HIV/AIDS, only increasing the complexity of the challenges young people face in South Africa each day.
Like much of the world, South Africa is in the grip of a crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic that will have long-lasting consequences. This is an enormously challenging time, and the most vulnerable populations will be the hardest hit, including children already living in poverty. The emergence of COVID-19 does not erase or negate the daily challenges that these children were facing before the outbreak...in fact, it magnifies them. Access to high-quality, evidence-based interventions that increase opportunity for young people living in urban poverty is an even greater challenge now, when children need academic support, financial literacy and entrepreneurship training, and life skills education more than ever.
Global camps africa’s response
Global Camps Africa has adapted to help the children in our existing programs navigate these uncharted waters. Almost immediately, our staff pivoted from our residential camp and weekly Youth Club programs to virtual learning groups. We have spent the months since the COVID-19 crisis struck delivering (virtual) Youth Club sessions so that youth have access to HIV prevention education, academic tutoring, life skills training, financial literacy and entrepreneurship programming, and health and safety information. Our team of social workers, tutors, and administrators develop content and respond to feedback from the children.
Nearly 500 households have enrolled in the Virtual Youth Clubs and engage weekly in our program, which includes:
High-quality video lessons and activities that deliver Camp Sizanani’s nationally accredited health and wellness and life skills curricula
Interactive question and answer discussions following each session
Supplemental video content from international volunteers and partners to reinforce the lessons facilitated by our South African staff
Participation incentives that encourage and reward positive engagement on the platform
Grade-level specific academic tutoring and question and answer periods to support school-aged learners
Access to trusted, supportive adults who can provide referrals to social services as needed.
We are working alongside the South African government to find ways to disseminate its health messages into the townships and informal settlements of our camper communities. Our team is communicating with camper parents to connect them with our Facebook content and WhatsApp Youth Club groups. Schools in several of the township communities have asked us to expand our WhatsApp groups to include all of their students.
Our Virtual Youth Club sessions on healthy habits provide a direct response to the current crisis by teaching preventive health practices. Our staff is busy making high-impact videos on the vital subject areas, infusing them with the fun that the kids remember from camp, like singing, dancing, games, and dress-up costumes. The videos are then distributed on the Camp Sizanani Facebook page and shared through each club's WhatsApp group. While many of the kids have intermittent access to a caregiver's mobile device, the majority lack consistent. Our team is designing each video to take as little cellular data as possible, so the content is accessible to many more children. In the first six months of the program, we:
Engaged 185 households in our educational, interactive, community-driven Virtual Youth Clubs
Invested in the development of high-quality video content that delivers our evidence-based curriculum using our proven approach: partnering with the child to drive experiential learning that results in increased knowledge, higher self-confidence, and a deeper sense of agency
Trained our staff to produce engaging, authentic video sessions that retain the quality of the Camp Sizanani and Youth Clubs experience. The beating heart of our programs is still what children see, hear, and feel when they join us on the platform
Secured local educators, social workers, and international volunteers to provide supplemental content that boosts our program's uptake.
Engaged Happy Camper Live in a pro-bono agreement that grants free access to the internationally acclaimed enrichment activities on that platform to all program beneficiaries
Connected with Takalani Sesame, the South African version of the children’s program Sesame Street and gained access to their world-class content to distribute to the youngest members of our Virtual Youth Clubs
Conducted surveys with our program participants to understand what barriers they must overcome to access the material
Collected feedback from children and families in our Virtual Youth Clubs to find out what educational content, skills development, community connections, or other support they need
Approached school administrators in the communities where we work to confirm their partnership in providing access to the program to all learners
SCALING UP FOR MAXIMUM IMPACT DURING THE CURRENT CRISIS AND BEYOND
Now that we have built the platform for delivering transformational programming to children and youth virtually, and we have evidence that our intervention has a positive effect on the children we reach, we are ready to scale up for maximum impact.
With this groundwork complete, we are poised to expand access to our Virtual Youth Clubs to the households of at least 600 additional vulnerable children in the next six months. The impact of that scale-up will be that hundreds more children and their families will receive:
An internet-connected device and sufficient data to access our virtual content each month
Vital health information related to COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, including HIV
Academic tutoring to support children’s continued learning success, even when they are out of school
Life skills training empowers them to make healthy choices, stand up for their rights, develop their leadership abilities, and make positive impacts on their communities
Financial literacy and entrepreneurship education to help them plan for income-generating activities
Wellbeing support to help them cope with the stress and challenges they experience now and in the future
Access to facilitated activities that foster creativity, self-expression, and confidence-building
Messages from caring, supportive adults who encourage and value each child.
Following our successful scale-up over the next six months, our goal is to work with local partners to expand our reach to a further 600 children and families by the end of 2021. The current need for the resources our program provides is clear and urgent, as South Africa’s COVID-19 infection rates increase, and the national lockdown continues. What has become abundantly clear is that our virtual programs are valuable and scalable in any environment. Even as we contemplate a return to "normal," we can continue to increase our reach and impact using this transformative new approach.
We look forward to the time when we cannot only gather with our campers in person at Youth Clubs every other Saturday, but also provide reinforcing lessons, skill-building activities, and ongoing academic support between in-person meetings. And for those children who cannot attend Youth Clubs in person, we now have an intervention that reaches them with the life-changing experience of Camp Sizanani’s programs wherever they are. The capacity-building investments made in the systems, programs, and staff that power this program will produce a scaleable intervention that can reach many thousands more children living in poverty in South Africa.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
The only thing standing between the children who need our help and us is a lack of adequate financial resources. The upfront cost of developing timely, accurate, and engaging content is significant. To scale up and reach more children, we must have the right team to answer their questions about everything from academics to teenage pregnancy. We know that before we make our program available to hundreds more children, we must be prepared to respond quickly and accurately to every child. This means we must add staff to our team with the appropriate training and experience, both in our approach and the academic subject expertise needed. We also must provide an internet-capable device and cellular data to each child engaged in our programs, since even the relatively small cost of data is often a barrier to access for the children in the communities we serve. We have done the work, and we know what we need to expand access and retain the program's integrity.
For less than $200 per child, it is possible for Virtual Youth Clubs to reach 1,585 children by the end of 2021. Each of those children will receive the full benefits of our virtual programming. The education, skills, self-confidence, and agency they gain will make an extraordinary difference in their lives. Each boy and girl will know that you believe that they are important, valuable, and worthy of your support.
WHAT CAMPERS, CLUB LEADERS, AND TEACHERS SAY
Many of our Virtual Youth Club participants have made videos, written letters, and sent WhatsApp messages to us to tell us what a difference the program is making.
HERE IS A VIDEO FROM JOSEPH, A CHILD WHO PARTICIPATES IN THE VIRTUAL YOUTH CLUBS.
HERE IS A LETTER FROM BLESSING MNCUBE, ANOTHER CHILD WHO IS PART OF OUR VIRTUAL YOUTH CLUB PROGRAM.
My name is Blessing Mncube I am 17 years old. I am from Alexandra Tsutsumani. The Sizanani Virtual Youth Club Group has had a very positive impact on my performance in certain [school] subjects. It has helped me improve my analytical thinking skills and focus more on problem solving and finding solutions to complex problems. My favorite content has to be the Mathematics videos, with watching them I gain broader knowledge on solving problems in many different ways rather than sticking to the conventional ways of doing things. I always look forward to watching the mathematics videos even if it's from a lower grade than mine because I always find new succinct methods that are easy to understand and that will definitely help me in my final examinations.The most engaging content are the Life Skills videos. It is amazing how one can easily understand the importance of approaching life at different stages thus enabling them to cope with difficulties that they will experience and obstacles that they will defeat. It is therefore important to learn how to deal with life problems, which is why the Sizanani Life Skills videos help us have a clear understanding on dealing with life challenges. What gives me hope for the future is the ability and the capability of the youth. Their determination to learn and strive for change gives me hope that leaders of tomorrow will be able to change the the situation of our Country.
MAAM HLONGWANE, A TEACHER IN ALEXANDRA TOWNSHIP, AND HER DAUGHTER QUEEN TELL US WHY THE YOUTH CLUBS ARE IMPORTANT.
HERE IS A LETTER FROM A YOUTH CLUB COUNSELOR, TIISETSO.
My name is Tiisetso Lefakane and I’m only 22 years old. I was born and raised in a village called Ratau in the North West, but I continue to grow in Naturena. Which is just south of Johannesburg. I am a Vochelli at the Freedom Park Youth Club.
My journey with CSLS began in 2019 as a volunteer before I became an official vochelli [counselor] at the start of 2020.
With the start of the lockdown, there hasn’t been any physical contact with campers as we had to switch to different means of communicating with campers i.e. the Virtual Youth Club group. This has allowed me to still keep in touch with campers on a daily basis. Making sure to assist wherever I can, with their school work. Whilst still keeping the campers up to date with activities they would normally do at Club on a normal Saturday.
Not only do I feel that this helps the campers keep in touch with vochellis, this has also helped me as a vochelli to still accomplish my own mission of helping those who need my help even during this pandemic. The Virtual Youth Club group also ensures that I’m always in contact with Sizanani should I also require any kind of assistance. Being able to simply check in on the other vochellis and discussing their challenges or just finding out how their days are going also keeps you in contact with the outside world.
The Virtual Youth Club group provides fun activities that help keep you motivated throughout the day. It’s also fun to get into the group and listen to stories from Vochelli Ditlhare and discuss the lesson behind the story with the campers. Not only does this teach you about the different perspectives but it is a fun way of engaging the campers. You can also share and receive some videos that are as fun to watch as the dance videos, as well as educational videos that make learning a breeze.
As such, there is not one component of the Virtual Youth Club group that I like more than the other. I feel like each has its own part to play and contributes a vital part in making my day.
It is also these posts that give me hope that we are not alone even in out separated reality. Seeing videos and hearing stories will keep reminding you that someone out there is fighting with you for a better and COVID-19 free society.