Port Elizabeth Youth Conference on safety

Port Elizabeth, South Africa - Since late 2012 Grade 10-12 learners from Masifunde Learner Development have been preparing for and conducting workshops on community safety at schools around Nelson Mandela Bay.

To date, the young facilitators have gone to 24 schools and conducted a total of 40 workshops, reaching over 1000 learners. The aim of the workshops is to give learners an opportunity to think about their role in creating community safety through non-conventional methods.

They are exposed to such examples through the stories of local heroes in the bay who have started soccer clubs in their community, drama clubs and even young people who are hosting radio shows with a positive social impact.

With this as inspiration they came up with their own project ideas and voted for the best ones.

From 29 November to 1 December at the Pine Lodge in Port Elizabeth, all winning project ideas will be presented at a Youth Conference, which is the first of its kind in the Eastern Cape.

Representatives from all 24 schools will come together and share what has been done so far to realise their winning safety projects. As peers the learners will choose one project to work on and come up with something that adds value, is sustainable and integrated in its approach to creating community safety.

This project will be implemented in 2014.