Eastern Cape Field Visits

During my last week with Restless Development South Africa, I did two field visits in the Eastern Cape which really brought to life the programmes I'm currently reviewing and looking for opportunities to scale up.


The first visit was to one of out Youth Resource Centres in Jonilanga in Kwelera where I met with some of the youth centre volunteers who deliver financial literacy training amongst other activities, some International Citizen Services (ICS) volunteers (who pair up with British volunteers on three month programmes) and some Youth Working Group members who participate in local government decision-making. It was really interesting to chat to the young people who are directly involved in leading our work and find out what some of the highlights and challenges are of the programmes. It was also really useful to get an insight into their vision for the future of the programmes. Pictures below.

Focus group discussion with youth centre volunteers

Trying to find the bus

Waiting for the bus

Squashed IN the bus (with Restless Development's Programme Coordinator, Monalisa)

Kwelera

My second field visit was to the small village of Ethembeni in the Amahlathi Municipality where I attended a Youth Working Group meeting with the local Ward Councillor (local government representative). It was fantastic to see young, RESTLESS people feeding into local decision-making and policy-making processes. Some of the Youth Working Group members have even been elected as Ward Committee members themselves. It's an absolute credit to all the hard work Monalisa (the Restless Development Programme Coordinator) has been putting in. See below for pictures.

With Monalisa, waiting (three hours!) for the meeting to start

Still waiting...

Youth Working Group meeting with Ward Councillor