YANDISA

Youth Advancing National Development in School Advancement

YANDISA Contributes to the growth of young leaders that are equipped to positively & effectively engage with societal challenges

Youth Accelerating National Development in School Advancement or YANDiSA seeks to contribute to the growth of young leaders that are equipped to positively and effectively engage with societal challenges. The initiative’s entry point is the internal school governance structures, specifically the Representative Council of Learners (RCL), providing RCLs with the tools, skills, and experiences that empower them to lead meaningfully during their term as RCL’ers and build them up to implement long-term solutions to their schools’ and peers’ most central challenges. By doing so, YANDiSA’s will lead to young leaders that can constructively drive institutional change and improvement with personal and civic leadership mastery with a strong aptitude for evidence-based decision making.

“Yandisa” is an IsiXhosa word that means “to expand or enlarge,” aptly capturing the vision for a leadership development experience that expands South African youths’ capacity to lead sustainable school improvement. Started in 2019, the YANDISA Programme, will be developed in three phases, with the aim of designing a flexible, affordable, replicable high impact programme.

The YANDiSA Programme has been structured as a 9-12 month Programme with the following key components:

  • Training of learner leaders (RCLs) and Educators – RCL representatives (Grade 8-11) and educators from selected schools are equipped with leadership, entrepreneurial skills, social action tools.
  • YANDISA School Workshops – Training & Support Workshops at each selected School (this is for all members of the RCL), 2 Hour Sessions held fortnightly (every 2 weeks) focused on building leadership and other social and emotional skills, and support SAP Implementation success.
  • School Action Project (SAP) Implementation – RCLs are tasked with implementing a School Action Project to address critical gaps that they can have an impact on. The School Action Projects are designed by the RCLs with consultation and input from each school’s Management Team (SMT) and School Governing Body (SGB).
  • Engagement with school performance data – with support from New Leadership Foundation and the Data Driven Dashboard, learners and program facilitators engage with the data to identify what to improve.
  • Celebration Showcase – a celebratory event that recognises the School Action Projects and their impact

The long term benefits of YANDISA are:

  • Education Improvement: YANDiSA serves an important role of bringing learners into the education improvement discourse as one of the key stakeholders. It is instrumental in shifting the paradigm of viewing learners as being the problem, especially when it comes to poor learner performance and to that of viewing them as problem solvers.
  • Potential as a Preventative Solution for High Rates of Youth NEETs: to prevent youth from joining the ranks of those not in education employment or training (NEET) and getting the skills early, while still in school, to identify and pursue their desired EET outcomes. The hypothesis is that if more high school youth are able to access the leadership and personal development that would empower them to identify and access opportunities post-school and, thus, prevent their becoming NEET.
  • Building Civic Engagement & Leadership Mastery: we need young people who able to engage institutions and authority constructively to bring about positive change as we continue with our national development Programme. YANDiSA is, therefore, catalytic in the development of such youth

YANDISA Implementation Partners

Dr. Miriam Altman

Creator & Patron of YANDiSA

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About Dr. Miriam Altman

Dr. Miriam Altman (National Planning Commissioner, Economist, Entrepreneur) conceptualised and created YANDiSA while volunteering in her private capacity, driven by her desire to support the generation of effective young leaders. Dr. Altman is deeply committed to the YANDiSA Programme and its success, actively fundraising and providing strategic support for its implementation.

Program Host & Implementation Lead

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About enke's involvement in YANDiSA

Dr. Altman identified enke to host and implement the YANDiSA Programme. We lead the implementation, project management, Programme design and delivery to meet the objectives of this potentially game-changing initiative. The YANDiSA Programme is implemented by enke as an independent project in strategic alliance with Dr. Altman.

Implementation Partner

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About New Leaders Foundation

The New Leaders Foundation (NLF), implements the Dell Data Driven Districts (DDD), an initiative that seeks to deepen the capturing and use of data in the school system to track key education outcomes. With NLF and using DDD, YANDiSA is anchored in a data-driven approach to improving education outcomes. Learner leaders in YANDiSA are engaged in analysing basic trends, and use that information to shape education improvement projects that contribute to improved performance at their schools. Find out more about New Leaders Foundation's work.

YANDISA Funding Partners

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About enke

enke is a leadership development organisation that generates and incubates youth-led social change. We connect, equip and inspire youth to realise their potential, thrive and mobilise for meaningful change.

  • Non-Profit Company Reg.: 2010/0231851/08
  • Dept. of Social Development Reg.: NPO 132-509
  • SARS Public Benefit Org. Reg.: 9300/37429

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