Happy International Youth Day 2017!

ICV Davie Chimaliro playing volleyball with SiyaSiya Transitional Centre students

In honour of International Youth Day 2017 we thought we would talk about our project with CYECE (Centre for Youth Empowerment and Civic Education) and how as young people we are involving ourselves in the community and attempting to bring marginalised children back into education.

CYECE has a five year project entitled ‘Support for Action for the Most Marginalised Children Education (SAME) Project’. Over the first five years CYECE hope to identify and enable 3200 children to return to school, in addition to improving learning environments, emphasising the importance of education within communities and providing learning resources.

As the first cohort our main target is to help identify a minimum of 225 marginalised children that are currently out of school in the education zones of Matenje and Kanongola. In order to achieve our target we have been travelling to different villages around schools such as Mlesi, Kanjuwi, Matenje and Liwazi; and visiting households to conduct surveys.

ICV Felix Banda completing a Household Status form in Matenje Village

On our household visits we enquire about why children drop out of school, whether they are working/ supplementing the household income or if they are being abused. Then we record all the information for CYCE to help alleviate the challenges the children and their families face.

On top of this we have been planning Life Skills sessions and a Child Rights club. In these sessions we will be teaching children valuable lessons such as Health and Hygiene, Importance of Education, Discrimination, Effective Communication and many more. Also, as part of the Life Skills sessions we have been playing volley ball and football with the children to encourage interactivity and involvement.

Life Skills sessions with Salima District Commissioner

As young people we feel very lucky to have the opportunity to empower marginalised youth and we will keep you updated on the progress of our project.

Happy International Youth Day from the Siyasiya Dream Team!!