Vulnerable children and youth at risk in South Africa face a wide variety of problems, the biggest of which is access to education, employment and basic social skills. Our programmes are designed to address these problems head-on so that vulnerable youth can find meaningful work, take care of themselves and reintegrate as productive members of the community.
Our programmes range from basic training for youths with little or no education to more advanced job-specific skills programmes. All our programmes seek to restore dignity and self-esteem and provide the life skills needed to succeed.
Learn To Live School of Skills: Filling the gaps
Many of the children and youth we serve have dropped out of school or never attended in the first place. Our curriculum is approved by the Western Cape Department of Education for Schools of Skills.
The school caters for learners aged 14 to 18.
Learn to Live embarked on a vibrant and exciting teaching methodology that of Project-Based Learning. This teaching method allows the school to cater more effectively to the needs of our learners.
Project-based learning is an instructional approach designed to give students the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills through engaging projects set around challenges and problems they may face in the real world.
Project-based learning (PBL) motivates students to connect with content areas whilst increasing their knowledge of a topic. It is a way to engage and give them ownership over their own learning.
Our PBL Programme is very much vocationally driven – our vision is to prepare and equip learners to function in the workplace and when they can’t be immediately placed in a job, our learners should have the confidence and skills to create their own jobs and future.
Life Skills forms an integral part of our learning programme.
The learners work, individual presentations and group work will be assessed continuously throughout the year and the learners will, during the course of the year, collect and put all evidence of their learning into a Portfolio of Evidence which will also be assessed.
The number of learners per class is 26 to 36 learners and our workshops cater for 14 to 20 students per workshop lesson.
Our Learn-to-Live graduates either go on to other schools, find jobs or start their own small businesses or join one of our other Programmes.
The current vocational workshops on offer are:
- Hospitality
- Hairdressing
- Electrical
- Woodwork & Timber
Porsche Training and Recruitment Centre – South Africa (PTRC-ZA)
Porsche Training and Recruitment Centre – South Africa (PTRC-ZA)
The PTRC-ZA is the newest addition to the Salesian Institute Youth Projects. The automotive industry is facing the biggest upheaval in 100 years as it undergoes a major shift towards new technologies. The ongoing move towards digitalization, connectivity, e-mobility, environmental protection amongst others requires a new set of special skills for employees in the industry. The PTRC-ZA tackles this by creating a regional hub of excellence where Porsche’s intelligent performance and the Salesian social footprint combine to deliver intelligent qualification for the digital automotive pioneers of tomorrow.
This exciting programme was launched in 2017 with the first pilot class of 28 male and female students. Every year, approximately 25 young men and women from socially disadvantaged backgrounds will be trained as automotive service mechatronics technicians. This training seeks to unlock career opportunities in the After Sales dealership organisations of Porsche and the other brands of the Volkswagen Group. The programme is being jointly implemented by the Salesian Institute Youth Projects and the local Porsche importer, LSM Distributors (Pty.) Ltd. This unique combination of competencies allows for a multiple win situation where the Salesian mission and the mission of Porsche are jointly fulfilled.
Porsche has equipped SIYP with two seminar rooms and a training workshop which includes vehicles for the trainees to work on. The vocational education is adapted to the modern and future needs of the automotive industry and the curriculum teach not only technical and methodological skills but social, personal and digital competencies too.
Are you a young and motivated individual? Are you interested in advanced technologies in the automotive industry? The PTRC-ZA project invites young people with an interest in pursuing a career as automotive service mechatronics technicians to apply for entry into the programme. For more info please contact info@salesians.org.za.
Waves of Change Programme
Sea fishing is a large industry in South Africa, especially along the Western Cape coastline. The Salesian Institute Youth Projects realised the need for youth with very low levels of education to be gainfully employed in order to contribute towards the financial needs of their families and communities. The Cape Town harbour is on our doorstep with a result we partnered with large sea fishing companies in the sector as well as various training providers in the sector to train some 200 young men and women each year.
The Waves of Change (WOC) programme impacts directly on at least 200 youth annually. The indirect impact could affect approximately 1000 people (direct families). All 200 participants complete a 5-day life skills program and then go on to complete Safety and Familiarisation Courses, obtain their Medical Certificates, and other requirements to become seafarers. In the past, these youth received monetary assistance to apply for the various training requirement and steps to be completed. Due to financial constraints, these costs are now covered by the clients personally, whilst SIYP covers the cost for the facilitator on a month-to-month basis as funds become available.
Only once all the training and document requirements have been completed – can the youth be legally employed by a reputable fishing company. This programme aims to address this challenge by offering Life Skills, access to training programmes for work at sea, assistance to obtain a Seamans Record Book and a Doctor’s certificate as well as a Letter of Intent to Employ. The youth who come to us for assistance could not achieve all these steps on their own.
The maritime industry affords these youngsters a career path, something they cannot easily access in other sectors due to their low level of education & socio-economic circumstances. The objective of the Waves of Change (WOC) project is to empower disadvantaged and unemployed youth between the ages of 18–35 years from Cape Town and surrounding areas by preparing them to find work in the maritime industry.
NEETs Employability Programme
The NEETS programme is relatively new and offers education in an innovative and engaging pedagogy. In line with Learn to Live’s Project-based learning (PBL) approach, it adopts the same platform to develop work readiness for youth at risk that have not completed their basic education.
This programme will lead, in time, to a Further Education and Training Certificate in Generic Management. The emphasis is on the design and facilitation of high quality learning experiences that are relevant to learners in today’s rapidly changing technology-driven world.
The NEETS beneficiaries (who are aged 18 to 26) are recruited from specific disadvantaged communities within the greater Cape Town area in order to create a critical mass tipping point of social change within the beneficiaries’ communities.
The Programme is a 12-month programme consisting of 3 modules:
Module 1 – Foundation Module (16 weeks)
Learning takes place on-site at the Salesian premises in Greenpoint, Cape Town. The first week concentrates on Orientation. The weeks following roll out 15 PBL Projects where the learning experience design focuses on: on:
- Five themes; personnel; social; economic; material; natural world
- Learning to learn: Executive functions, Social Emotional Learning, Multiliteracy
- SAQA unit standards: Team leadership, communication, quantitative and qualitative
Module 2 – 16-week Internship in Social Enterprises (16 weeks)
Learning takes place within the community with weekly visits to the SIYP premises. Once again the initial week is one of Orientation. Thereafter 3 x 5 PBL projects are rolled out where the learning design focuses on:
- Asset based youth development
- Asset based community development
- SAQA unit standards: Management practice , communication, quantitative and qualitative literacy
In Module 3 – Organisation Module (16 weeks)
Learning takes place within a partner organisation of choice, developing organisational and work literacy skills, with biweekly visits to the SIYP premises. SIYP partners of preference are largely located in three industries: Hospitality; Food & Beverage and Wholesale/Retail. Within reason learners will have the option to do their learnerships/internship in one of these industries.
Once again, Orientation is the foundation, this time for two weeks. Thereafter 2 x seven week PBL projects take place within the organisation of choice, where the learning experience design focuses on:
- Seven SAQA elective unit standards that are industry focused
- SAQA unit standards: Team leadership, Management Practice
Supporting the skills training and employment of these unskilled, young individuals will empower them to lead active, productive, and successful lives, thereby counteracting inequality, and elevating destitute communities out of poverty.
