8/3/2019 EWETdevelopmental Approach

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EWETs developmental approach to youth development:Engagement with children requires from EWET to appreciate and respond tooutcomes of importance to the childs particular age within her/his specificcommunity setting, while walking the road with the child over a period of time asthe child develops. The context within which EWET is able to achieve this impactover time is through: the involvement of volunteering adults from specificcommunities whom we capacitate; peer support within clubs; and throughenabling children to impact upon their own life and their environment as anoutcome of their newly acquired entrepreneurial, leadership and other skills. Thissystemic and process orientation enabled EWET to achieve a substantial reach interms of children at school going age and beyond.

Childhood developmental outcomes that EWET pursue could be summarized asfollows: Learning to be productive:To do well in school, develop outside interestsand acquire basic life-skills; Learning to Connectto adults in their families andcommunities, to peers in positive and supportive ways and to something largerthan themselves; Learning to Navigate: Competence in social settings, risk

taking, coping and reaction to challenge. For early adulthood summarizedoutcomes are: Productive: Economic self-sufficiency, work steadily, furthereducation and training; Connectedness: Contributor to community, active inreligious institutions, politically active; Health: positive health habits, healthyfamily/social relationships.

This graphic depicts a crucial lesson that EWET learned over the years. Thislesson had an important impact upon EWETs approach and strategy. SinceEWET piloted YES between 1994 and 1996, impact and momentum had beenattained once the learners engaged within YES club activities. Within Metsi-Matso, a small village outside of Phuthaditjhaba, learners sustained YESoperations without any adult support for an extended period of time. However,

these learners grew up, completed school and grew into adulthood. Whatremained was the community at large, the school with its extended involvementof a broad range of stakeholders and the Department of Education. The YESprogram was scarcely observable in contrast to previous years. EWET realizedhow important it is to capacitate the community at large in order to sustain longterm impact, which is now observable on many sites where EWET deliveredthrough building local community capacity with Huresic as an example. Theapproach of working through a Local Partner and later on, theEntrepreneurship Education (EE) model with its 3 components of in-classroom,clubs and Simama Ranta competition was born.