“The South African youth must take up space and actively participate in forums for the betterment of their communities, they must also exercise their right to freedom of speech by advocating for change on social media”. This is according to Galetshwane Sibeko, Sonke’s Community Action Team member chairperson. A CAT member is defined as ” an individual working as a volunteer for Sonke Gender Justice, who performs designated social justice activities beneficial to communities on themes such as human rights, gender based violence prevention, women leadership and economic upliftment among others.
In her role, in which she collaborates with partner organisation Masiphephe Network and other stakeholders in Diepkloof and Orlando townships in Soweto, she coordinates forum meetings to ensure the sustainability of the social behavioural change communication towards gender based violence response and prevention.
Sibeko has been actively involved in the Zazi and Brother’s For Life support groups programmes Sonke is running in communities. The Brothers For Life program encourages men towards making safer choices about sex, while the Zazi program is a campaign focusing on sexual reproductive health rights targeting young women and girls.
“Apart from SRHR issues, during these sessions, gender based violence survivors meet to support each other and discuss issues affecting them, there are also opportunities to participate in skills development and economic empowerment trainings with stakeholders like Harambee, SEDA, and UN Women, aiming at assisting them to take their power back and sustain themselves” she said.
Sibeko says in her interactions with the youth, she has identified some of the challenges they are grappling with.
“Some youth do not have basic skills to apply for jobs or start a business, some do not even know how to operate a computer, which is one of the most needed skills towards the 4th industrial revolution”. There is another element of challenges such as substance abuse, teenage pregnancies, leaving the next generation with distorted family values, leading to personal traumas and absent parents” she explains.
As youth month draws to a close, Sibeko calls on the youth to be innovative and intentional about being the change they want to see, by investing in their own development and using opportunities available to them.
