Problem statement:

 

Cape Town ''has the highest rates of crime'' of all the nine cities analysed in South African Cities Network's State of Urban Safety in South Africa Report 2018/19. The drivers of crime and violence in cities are the ''social and economic risk factors resulting from extreme poverty and inequality. Many youths are incarcerated as a result of these crimes and have a high risk of going back to a life of crime once they are released, due to a lack of opportunities caused by them lacking education, skills, mentorship and connection with trusted parties.

 

Proposed solution:

 

Through our Edu 4 Youth Rehabilitation program, the Cape Town hub aims to provide previously incarcerated youth with digital skills and mentorship for soft skills. Goal for this project it to upskill the youth, increase opportunities for employment and decrease chances of repeat offender crimes in the long term.

This will be implemented in the following ways:

·       Technology focused and mentorship prison rehabilitation programme provided by local NGO’s (Message Trust and Code Ngwana)

•       Program will run in 3 streams over 12 months

•       Programme will focus on basic digital skills and mentorship (MS Office, google, Web and social media)

 

Target group:

25 previously incarcerated youth from the Cape Town area (1^st cohort)

Hub activities involved in this project:

·       Establishing agreements between the hub and the NGO’s

·       Finalizing the curriculum for the mentorship program with the NGOs

·       Finalizing the participants for the 1^st cohort

·       Attending the sessions and overseeing progress of sessions

·        Tracking attendance for participants

·       Monitoring and evaluation of the project

Short- and long-term goals for this project:

Short term goals

 

Train 25 previously incarcerated youth with digital skills. Help these 25 youth build a network of relationships to help build their professional net worth. Help incarcerated youth develop confidence in engaging with other youth (Global Shapers)

 

Long term goals

 

 Help previously incarcerated youth develop future of work digital skills and emotional qualities. Help previously incarcerated youth become more employable and attractive to employers by equipping them with design thinking. Help decrease the probability of rehabilitated youth returning to a life of crime due to a lack of skills and opportunities. Help previously incarcerated people gain the ability to positively contribute to the economy and decrease crime. Develop a curriculum for digital skills, design thinking and mentorship to be shared with NGOs working in correctional institutions for rehabilitation.

 

How we will measure impact for this project:

·       Number of learners that successfully complete the program

·       Post program review on learners:

o   Are they able to secure employment through the lesson learners in the program?

o   Are they progressing in the work?

o   Have they reverted to crime/ incarcerated again?

o   Are learners’ ambassadors for change in their communities?

o   Knowledge share and transfer of lessons learnt through program

·       The crime rate in Cape Town pre and post the project 

Impact achieved through this project:

·       First cohort started in February 2020 with 4 learners

·       Lessons have been halted due to COVID 19

Collaborations:

·       Message Trust

·       Code Ngwana