Between 30 April and 30 June 2026, 12 trained Youth Ambassadors in Diepsloot led a series of community sessions engaging peers, parents, educators and community leaders on drug use, crime, violence and gender-based violence (GBV), as part of the Going for Goal programme.
Going for Goal is a youth-led initiative that uses games, dialogue and interactive activities to raise awareness of violence, GBV, crime and drug use. Rather than positioning young people as recipients of information, the programme places them in leadership roles, equipping Youth Ambassadors with the confidence and skills to facilitate conversations with their peers and advocate for change in their own communities.
The Youth Ambassadors first completed training to strengthen their understanding of violence, gender norms, crime and drug use, alongside skills in advocacy, facilitation and networking. They then applied this training directly in their communities, leading interzone sessions that created space for young people to discuss issues that are often difficult to raise, including how harmful gender norms shape behaviour and contribute to violence.
The Youth Ambassadors led 48 sessions, reaching 882 young people across Diepsloot. Their work also extended to parents, caregivers, educators and community leaders. Twenty parents took part in structured parental workshops on positive parenting and gender-equitable care, supported by the Diepsloot GBV Forum, a multi-stakeholder body focused on eradicating GBV and femicide in the community.
Speaking on the impact of the training, one Youth Ambassador reflected on facilitating sessions with peers:
“When we were training other ambassadors, they shared a real problem. It made me see that these issues are real, not just something you read about in books.”
A parent who took part in the programme described a shift in how she now engages with her children:
“At first I used to shout. But now I give myself time to sit down and talk to my children, because if I don’t talk to them, they will go and talk to someone else instead of me.”
Going for Goal aligns with the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, particularly Pillar 2, which focuses on prevention and rebuilding social cohesion, including the creation of safe, violence-free public spaces for women and children.
With the final session complete, the Youth Ambassadors continue to be a point of contact for peers navigating difficult situations, while parents who once struggled to communicate with their children report finding it easier to do so. The programme’s aim was not to resolve Diepsloot’s challenges with violence, crime and drug use within two months, but to demonstrate that young people can lead these conversations, and that the adults around them will listen when they do.
