IKAMVAYOUTH

  
IkamvaYouth is a non-profit organisation that enables disadvantaged youth to pull themselves and each other out of poverty through education. What began as a small group of volunteers in Khayelitsha in 2003, has become an organisation currently operating in 11 communities (soon to be 13) in five provinces. IkamvaYouth opened its first branch in the Eastern Cape in 2013 with funding from the Claude Leon Foundation. The branch is in the Joza Township of Grahamstown.
  
Learners from disadvantaged schools in the province need significant support to help them learn. IkamvaYouth builds and nurtures the ability of these learners to improve their academic results and access post-school opportunities through peer-to peer-learning and support. Volunteer tutors from Rhodes University provide after-school supplementary tutoring, career guidance, mentoring and computer literacy training as well as leadership and health skills, free of charge, to learners from four of the Joza Township schools.
  
In the last 5 years (2009-2014), 89% of all IkamvaYouth’s Grade 12s have passed their matric (high school graduation). More impressively, 76% of these learners achieved a pass that enabled them to access college or university (i.e a diploma or bachelor pass). 59% of all IkamvaYouth learners over the last 5 years have been placed in college or university. Research suggests that only 5% of learners from townships access university or college. Ikamvanites are therefore 12 times more likely to study at university or college than the national averages. Overall, 91% of IkamvaYouth learners have accessed a post-school opportunity either further education, a job or a learnership within 4 months of matriculating putting them on the path to earning a dignified living.