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The EWET Story (1998)

EWET (THE EDUCATION WITH ENTERPRISE TRUST)

grew out of a community need.

The story begins in the Harrismith district of the north-eastern Free State. The year, 1991.

This is high country. Sheep and farming country where you drop down through the

Drakensberg mountain on your way to Kwa-Zulu Natal.

No heavy commerce or industry here. Just swirling morning mists and clear mountain air.

The need? A community fast becoming unable to support the employment needs of their

growing number or local school leavers.

Determined to find a way of helping the youth make more of their lives, a group of like-

minded people formed a steering committee and dedicated the following 3 years toinvestigating what could be done.

Consultation and research was carried out amongst numerous interested individuals and

organisations. Both here and overseas.

This led to the formation of The Education With Enterprise Trust (EWET) and the birth of

the Youth Enterprise Society (YES), a uniquely South African concept, with its mission

being:

TO EMPOWER YOUNG PEOPLE, THROUGH ENTERPRISE, TO BECOME

MASTERS OF THEIR OWN DESTINIES.

Or in other words, guiding young people to become business creators rather than simply job

seekers.

The YES concept.

In their search for a workable concept, two key criteria kept merging.

Firstly, on the assumption that funding would always be in short supply, it was determinedthat the programme had to be community based and community driven in order for it to

survive.

Secondly, the whole package had to be so simple that it could be easily and confidently

replicated anywhere. Hence its tightly structured systems approach.

It is thus similar to a franchise operation with a local community applying for and becoming

the franchisee, but other than a small start up cost, with no fees attached.

Typically involved are local business people, academics, trade union representatives and

other interested parties. And always a local Project Champion who motivates, pushes andwhen necessary gently bullies everyone to get the job done.

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The programme takes the form of a weekly extramural school activity for pupils during

grades 9, 10 and 11 (standards 7, 8 and 9). Certain of the schools teaching staff are EWET

trained as programme facilitators and the students progress is evaluated and graded on an

ongoing basis by adjudication teams from the local business community.

For a more detailed summary of the YES programme, see our leaflet: Youth Enterprise

Society Programme - THE YES STORY.

1994/6: Pilot Programme

The initial pilot project involved EWETs motivation, guidance and eventual accreditation of

two community franchisees: now termed Local Partnerships, or LPs. This involved

gaining a commitment amongst 167 business people, labour union representatives,

community leaders and educationists in the two regions.

By the start of the 1994 school year these two LPs had between them initiated 8 YES

Societies, comprising of 290 school pupils, 15 unemployed out of school youths and 31

teachers trained as YES Advisors.

Throughout that first year the YES Members (students) organised and participated in 415

extramural working sessions, during which they executed activities designed to help them

achieve pass levels in various prescribed business competencies.

Since then another two community LPs have been accredited, a further 40 teachers trained

and five more YES Societies initiated. Bringing the total at the end of 1995 to thirteen.

There are now nearly 900 school children participating in the YES programme, with a further

10 new LP applications currently being processed.

With the national launch of this programme in September, 1996, EWETs projection for the

year 2020 is:

LPs ........................................ 128

YES Societies ............................ 505

YES Members ........................... 297 945

YES Advisors ............................ 39 944YES Graduates .......................... 70 710

Whats good for Harrismith is now good for South Africa.

With an estimated 60% of the total South African population being under 16 years of age and

fewer than 10% of the current 1.7 million annual school leavers able to find employment, the

national roll-out of the YES Programme will play an important role in helping more and more

of our youth lead productive and meaningful lives.

Ewets structure and role.A non-government organisation (NGO), EWET is a registered section 18a Educational Trust,

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with an official national fund-raising number.

Its mission is to empower people, through enterprise, to become the masters of their own

destinies and in addition to the national expansion of the YES Programme they are also busy

exploring the development of the following two new products:

. Partnerships for Development Models (PDM): a process that serves as a catalyst ina municipal area or rural district for the formation of a partnership between Local

Government, the Private Sector and Civil Society Organisations in order to ensure full

participation of the community in democracy, leading to successes in development at

local level.

. Business Assistance Service: designed to provide newly started business people withmanagement and technical training, counselling, experience exchange opportunities

and general mentorship advice and support.

EWET has a permanent staff of ten who, under the supervision of the Chief Executive

Officer, report to a Board of Trustees.

Financed mostly through fund-raising, EWET is audited annually by outside auditors.

Trustees: Mohlomi Moloi, Bernito Khotseng, Anton Kloppers, Peggy Twala, Richard Ben,

Liz Kubushi, Alison Duncan, Mama Khumalo, Johannes van Schalkwyk and CEO is Ms Zini

Mchunu.

In terms of day to day operations, the EWET staff perform the following functions:

. EWET office operations management.

. Fund-raising initiation and follow-up.

. Financial administration and reporting, including two additional interim audits eachyear.

. Marketing, including networking, workshops and conferences.

. Partnership building.

. Achieving a high level of self-sustainability.

. Participation in National/International youth enterprise development initiatives.

. Staff development.

. YES Programme teacher training.

. Programme/s design and development.

. Programme materials development.

. Monitoring and evaluation

. Tracking of programme participants, both current and past.

. Developing co-operation and leadership.

. Provide accessible resources to stakeholders.