About Umzi Wethu
Umzi Wethu, meaning "our homestead" in IsiXhosa, provides vulnerable young people with a nurturing environment in which to develop the work and life skills required to enable them to enter the formal employment market. The Umzi Wethu Training Academy for Vulnerable Youth is a dynamic intervention model that offers skills development and job placement to youths who, despite incredibly adverse circumstances, have shown resilience and ambition. Denied opportunities to access training and jobs due to circumstances generally beyond their control, Umzi Wethu transforms these youths, many of whom have been orphaned as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, into highly employable young adults.
The Umzi Wethu Academies have been run successfully by the Wilderness Foundation in the Eastern Cape of South Africa with nine intakes in the sectors of Hospitality and Conservation since establishing in 2006. Umzi Wethu’s ultimate success is measured by the number of graduates currently employed as it is the emotional and financial gains which come with having a sustainable livelihood that begin to reverse the cycles of social and financial vulnerability. Since the first graduation, 97% of graduates have entered the workplace and Umzi Wethu has always maintained an 85% success rate in terms of graduates remaining in employment or further education. Furthermore, 10% of graduates have progressed into junior management positions.
You can get more information at www.umziwethu.org.
Umzi Wethu Stellenbosch Academy
Building on the success of the existing Umzi Wethu Academies, we are partnering with the Sustainability Institute and Wilderness Foundation in the establishment of an academy in Stellenbosch for 2011. In the first year, the academy aims to provide 12 learners with accredited training in Hospitality and Catering through an intensive year long programme supported by personal development, wilderness trails and outreach programmes.
The Scholarships
The academy will be funded in the form of scholarships, with each scholarship covering the costs of the academy for one student. Each scholarship covers all the costs associated with running the academy, including the following:
- Screening process: identification of 12 most suitable students for the academy through extensive interviews, screening and a wilderness trail for the shortlisted students (to ensure as far as possible that the selected students are right for the programme and will be successful)
- NQF Level 4 Certificate in Professional Cookery: delivery of the classes, full time facilitator, accreditation, learning materials, cooking materials, chefs uniform, kitchen space and equipment
- Full accommodation on site, three meals a day and all transport for one full year as well as medical care, a living stipend (for toiletries and other essentials) and a new set of linen for the year.
- Staff: Academy Manager (responsible for all planning, logistics and implementation including a wellbeing and counselling programme for the students as well as following up on the home situations of the student’s families – linking them with social welfare and networks of local NGOs. Academy Manager also follows up with students after graduation in their new jobs and provides any support required for the first year of employment); House Parent (residential supervisor for evenings and weekends); Part time Programme Assistant (ordering of supplies, student timetables and general student care etc); Facilitator (trained chef for delivery of the teaching programme)
- 4 Wilderness trails per course (3 – 4 day hiking trails in game reserves)
- Mentorship programme: sourcing local community volunteers from civil society and business to mentor the students throughout the year
- Graduation ceremony: a formal ceremony with family members for graduation at the end of the year.