Cornerstones of Youth Livelihoods and Enterprise Development Case Example from Africa (Authors: Zini Mchunu & Arie

Bouwer)

The Education With Enterprise Trust (EWE): A networked approach to youth livelihoods. 1. Summary Formidable challenges are faced by development initiatives that pursue the objective for the attainment of youth livelihood status amongst young people who live with poverty as well as a lack of access to opportunity. First amongst these are the rules of engagement between service provider and the targeted beneficiary young people. The aim is to reinforce the self-reliance of beneficiaries rather than to create dependency. There exist examples of beneficiaries who simply move from one development initiative to the next initiative without the attainment of self-reliance. A second rule of engagement is to manage the normal tri-partite relationship between the beneficiary, the social investor and the service provider. A core question is whether the beneficiary received sufficient value to the extent that she or he would have paid the invoice of the service provider. It happens to often that the social investor is on a high due to perceptions created by the service provider while the beneficiaries do not share the same excitement. 2. The story of Mojane Mofokeng. Mojane was born on 29 June 1979. He lives in Bohlokong, South Africa. He shares this house with his six sisters and his mother. The house is of a permanent structure provided through Governments Reconstruction and Development Program. Mojane shares the role of breadwinner with his mother because he is the only man in the house. Employed as a Trainee Accountant since January 2002 followed from Mojanes mission to be a self-employed Chartered Accountant. His first step in this direction was to register for the B. COMPT Accounting Degree with the University of South Africa through distance education in 2000. Limited finances forced him to at first only take three modules. However, he realized that a bursaryloan would be accessible if his examination results were good. Distinctions were attained by Mojane at the end of the first year which provided access for him to a bursary-loan to pursue full year courses since 2001. This young man appreciates his status as a full participant within the South African economy. Mojane is proud of his contribution through the taxes that he pays. He involves himself in voluntary work with the purpose of helping young people to help themselves. His appreciation of his current situation gives an indication of what Mojane went through before. Mojanes father - who had been the only breadwinner, left home. This left Mojane, his mother and sisters without any income. They lived in an informal settlement where they constructed a shack from any building materials that they could lay their hands on. Mojane vividly remembers how he often went to bed with an empty stomach and severe hunger. Economic necessity forced Mojanes

sisters to enter into relationships with workingmen in order to bring money home. The family begged money from relatives to be able to pay school fees. The children had no school uniforms. Mojane could not reconcile himself with the situation. He befriended other young people who made a living from crime. They used drugs and alcoholic beverages in an attempt to block out their painful realities. These attempts did not work because reality struck back as soon as Mojane became sober again. He felt it would have been better if he never existed at all. Mojanes transformation started in 1996 when he got involved within a youth enterprise or youth livelihood program. He feels that the program had been God send. What struck him like lightning was his realization that he has choices even within his desperate situation. Mojane says that the first year of his involvement in the program had been as if he had been in rehabilitation. From this entry point, Mojane started to develop spiritually, mentally, socially and emotionally, while his financial position improved. He furthermore acquired a number of competencies as demanded within the world of business. I was exploding in everything because YES (Youth Enterprise Society) unleashed the potential that was in me that I was never aware of its existence. YES is an ongoing, outcomes based, learner centred, extramural, youth-led, secondary school-based youth entrepreneurship society (club) movement. YES focuses on the development of 17 identified business competencies through experiential (or action) learning. YES societies in a city or town are initiated, supported and led locally by a Local Partnership assisted by EWET. Local Partnerships involve local business people, youth leaders, community leaders, educationalists and in many cases - Local Government. EWET provides services such as Local Partnership training, YES Advisor training (teachers and volunteering adults), YES youth executive training, the Annual National YES SIMAMA RANTA as well as ongoing support, promotion, evaluation and coordination. Supplies by EWET include all the printed materials required for Local Partnership and YES operations, YES Newsletter and YES attire. In 2002 YES entered into its tenth year in operation with broad based national support. 3. Mojane Mofokengs principle support program. Mojane got involved in YES in 1996. Grace Mosia presented an information session on YES to learners at Thabo Thokoza School. Grace served as an adult volunteer called YES Advisor, within the YES program. She made a living through network marketing, executing fieldwork for research projects and shared a home with her elderly mother. Grace is now employed as Provincial Manager of the Free State Network On Violence Against Women in Bloemfontein. Grace heard about YES in the nearby town of Intabazwe, saw YES members in action and decided that she must test the interest amongst people from her community for YES. Grace facilitated the implementation of YES within Bohlokong in 1994 where YES is still thriving today. Mojane joined the YES Champion team. Each YES Society (club) consist of 45 members who are divided into three teams: 15 learners in Grade 9 called YES

Pioneers; 15 learners in Grade 10 called YES Champions and 15 learners in Grade 11 called YES Entrepreneurs. Graduates of YES are called YES Alumni. Mojanes initial involvement in YES as a YES Champion was on an ad hoc basis. The program absorbs an in and outflow of people because YES is an extra-mural activity that involves young people on a voluntary basis. YES must therefore be responsive to the needs of the beneficiaries for the YES program to exist within a particular community. The YES movement grew from seven societies in 1996 to seventy-two in 2002, with a national presence. Mojane befriended Richard Mbele who was a YES Entrepreneur in 1996. Richard got involved in YES in 1994 and was elected to the national YES Executive Committee by fellow YES members. What made Mojane to think was his realization that Richard had similar or worse challenges to face than himself and yet, Richard did not resolve to crime, alcohol or drugs. Richard was busy to pursue great opportunities and still continue to do so in 2002 through tertiary education. This introspection resulted in a wish for change in Mojanes life. Fellow YES members never got tired from motivating Mojane to pursue his YES membership. YES became Mojanes inclusive circle of friends. Grace as YES Advisor became like a second mother to Mojane who supported him and believed in him. This relationship was reinforced through tasks and duties that Grace allocated to YES members after which she left the initiative with the youth and served as part of their support system. YES is youth lead and learning within YES takes place through the execution of activities and projects by the youth themselves. Mojane realized that risks are being taken through the allocation of responsibilities to him. Initial tasks were for example to chair team meetings and to lead the facilitation of the execution of YES business competency related activities by fellow team members. The fact that Grace was prepared to take these risks with Mojane communicated to him that she trusted him. Mojane thrived on the trust that Grace and his fellow YES members put in him. Mojane as YES Entrepreneur was fully committed to YES and became a driving force behind the vibrancy that the youth sustain in YES operations. Two major events occurred where the people involved in Thabo Thokoza School tested the YES society for in as much as YES is part of the broader community of Bohlokong. The first challenge came from the Student Representative Council or SRC that is affiliated to the Congress Of South African Students or COSAS. All students of South African history recognize the critical contribution that youth movements such as COSAS made to bring democracy to South Africa since the 1976 political youth uprisings. The SRC rejected YES as an extra-mural youth movement and actively undermined YES. Mojane assisted fellow YES members who organized a delegation that met with the SRC and explained what YES is all about. SRC support was secured and YES flourished again. This is an important event in that it demonstrated the shift in youth development from a political agenda to an economic empowerment agenda. The second challenge came when a confrontation developed between the SRC and School management that resulted in the suspension of classes. Mojane was part of

a group of YES members who mediated between the SRC and School Management. The conflict was resolved with school operations returning to normality. Recognition fell in place amongst the Schools Management of YES that further enhanced their support for YES. Local business people are crucial as part of the support system for YES members. Their mentoring of YES members, assessment of business competencies gained by YES members as well as to allow YES members to gain practical experience within businesses that are operating is vital. Mr. Nhlapo or Bra Khulu as the youth knew him, shared the concerns of fellow business people about the involvement of young people within their businesses because the youth are perceived as troublemakers. However, his business was not doing well and Mojane together with fellow YES Entrepreneurs volunteered to do market research for Bra Khulu. This activity is part of a practical to be executed by YES members for them to secure the related competency. The matching of the profile of the customers of Bra Khulu with his stock as well as pricing was found to be wrong. Bra Khulu implemented the recommendations that he received from Mojane and YES friends that resulted in higher profits generated by Mr. Nhlapos business. Bra Khulu shared his experience with other business owners that led to broadening the support system of business people supporting YES members. This support system is called a Local Partnership or LP within the YES program. The LP also involves parents, the youth, often the School Governing Board or SGB and relevant expertise from within the local community. Mojane generated an income through the selling of food at pension payout points and through other income generating ventures that he initiated from home. These ventures had been where Mojane applied his skills and knowledge gained from YES. He feels that these competencies contributed to his current situation through his added ability to negotiate and through his understanding of the importance of selling and presenting yourself. I knew how a business works before I started to work with my current employer. Mojane realized that he can compete with the best. He excelled within the business competency competitive events of the three day annual national YES Simama Ranta, where he won a Bronze Medal for the Free State Province. 4. Relationship between the local community and the program. The implementation of YES in Bohlokong resulted from Grace Mosia who was trained as a YES Advisor. The two and a half-day workshop is named Running YES in lateral thinking mode. Workshop contents covers six main components i.e. attention: getting everybody in lateral thinking mode; What is YES: the YES story, YES Society operations and YES Society structure; Starting YES: the presentation at my school, using selection criteria and the Local Partnership; Advisors equals Facilitators: the art of facilitation and facilitating the activities; Running YES: the program, activities done by the whole society, activities done by teams and YES Simama Ranta. The workshop finishes with Evaluation.

EWETs Project Managers delivers the YES Advisor workshop in pairs. The Project Managers consist of Zini Mchunu (Principal), Franzette Bouwer (Principal), Mamahase Mosheshe (Senior), Rachelle Delport and Erna Pelser. Project Managers in EWET are graded within one of four levels in terms of their EWET competence i.e. Project Manager, Senior _, Principal _ and Chief Project Manager. A number of people who are employed within other fulltime positions had been graded on one of these four levels as EWET Associates and they are contracted when demand exceeds EWETs internal capacity to deliver. The contracting of EWET Associates is often necessitated through EWETs staff involvement within one of the other twelve projects that EWET works on. EWETs delivery of YES Advisor training where Grace got trained, led to long term and sustainable youth livelihood development impact. This long term impact has a tremendous effect on the cost-benefit relationship in that Thabo Thokozas costs for each YES member now runs in the region of South African Rand or ZAR100.00 per annum which translates to United States Dollar or USD10.50. This is actual money involved within a transaction. However, the achievements as within Thabo Thokoza School do not always materialize. A serious attempt was made in the late 1990s to service all communities who requested YES Advisor training. The numbers of people trained looked impressive on paper. An analysis of training delivered that led to YES implementation and sustainable society operations indicated the delivery of training do not always translate into YES implementation. Awareness fell in place that YES Advisor training are delivered upon request with the costs covered by EWETs investors due to the high levels of poverty within these communities. It is for free! This required little, if any counter contribution from the beneficiaries themselves. A strategy was developed in terms of which a community has to demonstrate a strong commitment and conviction that YES will be appropriate to address their needs before the delivery of YES is initiated. Part of this strategy requires that the community must make a counter contribution that may well take on the form of sweat equity. Various partnership models fell in place as a result of the application of the strategy above. A few examples that illustrate the application of these principles within the context of partnership models look as follow. (a.) Tshediso Mothapo from the town of Polokwane in the Limpopo Province of South Africa was a youth development worker in the Seshego area. He contacted EWET late in 1997 to ask for information pamphlets, brochures and with questions on how to start YES in Polokwane. Tshediso heard about YES from the Northern Province Youth Organization. Tshenolo Thuntsi (EWETs Office Manager) forwarded information materials while Thandi Monoang and Zanele Sithole (then EWET Project Managers) were given the lead to follow-up on. EWETs Project Managers explained that a broad community interest with the prospect of a Local Partnership (LP) must be secured before EWET will come to make a physical presentation. Tshediso secured the interest and support from the following stakeholders in Polokwane: the Premier of the Province (Provincial Government); the Provincial

Youth Commission, Departments of Labor, Education; the Mayor (Local Government); the Polokwane Business Chamber and local branch of the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (NAFCOC); Universities of Pretoria and of the North; the youth, educationalists and parents. These stakeholders were all present when Thandi and Zanele made the YES presentation. A resolution was taken to implement YES in Bokamoso Secondary School to be lead by a Teacher Boitumelo Ledwaba and Tshediso. Nine YES Advisors were trained in March 1998. The Bokameso YES Society secured local financial support from NAFCOC for YES Simama Ranta participation where they continue to do well. Yvonne Mokgotloa from Bokamoso was elected to the National YES Executive in 1999. (b.)The W.K. Kellogg Foundation pursues an integrated and holistic approach in Southern Africa called the Integrated Rural Development Program or IRDP. The vision of the IRDP is: The IRDP will establish a working model for the reduction of rural poverty that undermines family and community life, especially as it impacts on women and young people. Through catalytic yet transitory external facilitation and financial support, it will empower impoverished rural communities to create among themselves a new vision for their future, allowing them to embark on a development and learning spiral that advances them continuously towards that vision. Delivery in Nyandeni, one of the IRDP sites selected by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation takes place through the Nyandeni Board. Nyandeni is within the Eastern Cape province of South Africa and stretches from Umtata to the Wild Coast. EWET had been contracted as one of the service providers for this site to implement YES over a three-year period that started in 2000. Thokozile Chitepo Mawere is the W.K. Kellogg Foundations Director through which EWET works. Reporting is to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation as well as to the Nyandeni Board. Finances are availed directly to EWET based upon a contractual agreement and satisfactory achievements of impact. EWET contracted three young people as Associates that consists of Luxolo Mpongo, Mlandeni Citumzi and Xolani Siyongwana. EWET Associates provides on site support to schools that implement YES while reporting to both the Nyandeni Board and EWET. The Nyandeni Board serves as the Local Partnership who recruits, selects and appoints YES Advisors from applicant volunteers. This contract allows for the creation and expansion of a knowledge base within a number of YES societies. Zini Mchunu leads EWETs execution of this contract. The YES youth movement shows rapid growth within a province that produced leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko and O.R. Thambo to name but a few. (c.)The South African Government launched its Integrated and Sustainable Rural Development Strategy or ISRDS with the vision to attain socially cohesive and stable rural communities with viable institutions, sustainable economies and universal access to social amenities, able to attract and retain skilled and knowledgeable people, equipped to contribute to growth and development. Internal to the ISRDS is the Integrated Development Plans or IDPs that all local government structures are required to develop in order to ensure better service to the people, and to deal squarely with the poverty facing the most disadvantaged areas.

This policy framework is the setting through which Pumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka the national Minister for Minerals and Energy Affairs approached EWET to work in Siyancuma with an emphasis on the Municipality of Douglas. EWET works with the Ministry through Nolothando Poswa. The Douglas initiative involves all three tiers of Government i.e. national, provincial and local government. A broad range of local stakeholders that exceeds EWETs requirements for a Local Partnership (LP) are involved within this IDP development process. EWET had to first secure support from all of these stakeholders for EWET to be appreciated as being appropriate to be able to address local needs. EWETs involvement in Douglas coincided (not related to) with a successful request for financial support from De Beers. De Beers is the well-known company that mines and sells Diamonds. Marianne McRobert a Special Advisor of Tshikululu Social Investments served as the portal to access the support from De Beers. A requirement from De Beers is that the funds must be applied within the Northern Cape because of the mining activities of De Beers within the area. This support made it possible to kick-start the implementation of three YES societies in Douglas. The combination of all of the dynamics as described above at the same point in time is pure magic through the ability to deliver on youth livelihood development at a pace. Governments ISRDS and IDP policy as well as regulatory framework is most impressive although the delivery there-off represents substantial challenges that results in delays. These delays cause frustration amongst the intended beneficiaries. EWETs Mamahase Mosheshe leads the execution of this project. (d.)Ringeta Daniel Mashimbye was born on 3 July 1971. He became the Project Champion for YES implementation in Giyane. A Local Partnership was formed which initially worked in association with the Local Business Service Centre (LBSC). The Department of Trade and Industry oversee a para-statal by the name of the Small Enterprise Development Agency (NEPA). SEDA exists within the framework of the Small Business Development Act and accredited 109 LBSCs to stimulate small business growth and job creation at local level. EWET herself is an accredited LBSC. Initial support for YES implementation in Giyane came through EWETs fund development activities. However, Daniel requested EWET to assist the Giyane LP with the development of a YES Business plan for them after which the LP initiated its own fund development activities. Funding was secured from the Nelson Mandela Childrens Fund, the Nedcor Foundation (a banking group) and the National Development Agency. The Giyane LP sub-contracted EWET for the delivery of YES services and products from these funds. The association between the Giyane Local Partnership and the LBSC did not last because the LP felt that the LBSC allocated expenses to funds secured by the LP in conflict with the funding contracts. The LP requested EWETs assistance in 2001 to help with the transformation of the LP into a fully- fledged NGO (Non Government Organisation). EWET provided the assistance from within EWETs

Partnerships for Development Models (PDM) services. PDM facilitates partnership formation between local government, private sector and civil society for improved delivery of services and development. Ndlandlamuka Local Project a section 21 Company (nonprofit) was registered in 2001. Ndlandlamuka is currently negotiating a funding contract with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with the proven track record in youth livelihood development of the NGO based on YES. EWETs Du Toit de Wet assisted Ndlandlamuka with its institutional development. (e.)The South Cape Business Centre (SCBC) is an NGO based in George on the Garden Route within the Western Cape. Debbie Bruce is the Director of SCBC that is accredited as a Local Business Service Centre. SCBC with its partners fulfills EWETs criteria to serve as a Local Partnership for YES implementation. YES had simply been added to the range of services and products that SCBC delivers to her beneficiaries. An interesting development is that SCBC went into partnership with the local branch of the Port Elizabeth Technikon in terms of which undergraduate marketing students operate as YES Advisors to gain credits that relate to their practical work. EWETs Rachelle Delport leads this project within EWET. (f.)A platform exist for cause related branding that consist of the annual national three day business competency competitive YES Simama Ranta event where continuous achievements of YES societies are rewarded. ABSA is one of the four big banking groups in South Africa. In 2001 the event was known as ABSAs YES Simama Ranta. This showcase event where nine provincial teams consisting of 22 members each at most, is then promoted from within the marketing department of the commercial company. Extensive national media coverage of the event had been secured over the past 9 years for the sponsors. Fifty-five business people are involved in the adjudication in 19 panels that consist of 3 people each. Cause related branding is very difficult to secure because of a tension between the Corporate Social Investment (CSI) arm versus the companys Marketing division. CSI wants to support purely for the good of the cause while marketing seeks market penetration. EWETs sentiment is that cause related branding adds to the promotion of YES as such which will enhance social impact for as long as YES is associated with a healthy and acceptable product. Aggressive movement on this front will give impetus to the growth of the YES movement. 5. A. EWETs innovation in support of community programs.

EWET got to grips with an understanding of the conceptual framework of youth livelihood through interaction with Jamie Schnurr over the years. This understanding expanded EWETs focus from a context of youth entrepreneurship development to a fundamental challenge to facilitate access to youth livelihood prospects for young people. The richness in the understanding of the challenges facing young people from both angles i.e. livelihood and entrepreneurship brought forward the complexities to be dealt with in any attempt to make a difference. The desperate situation of a loss of hope that faces our out-of-school youth is indeed a strong reason to be concerned about in terms of the socio-political

destabilizing effect that the youth will have on society. A reactive approach to address this challenge is certain to be motivated by fear. South African history gives substance to this fear. In 1976 young people shook the foundations of the status quo of South African society. The result is positive in that democracy was attained but at an enormous cost to the young people themselves. A proactive approach will therefore develop a youth livelihood window that will focus on: addressing the current crises caused by a lack of opportunity for young people to be full participants and co-owners of the economy on a mass scale; while being as aggressive in unlocking youth livelihood potential and prospects within young people from a very early tender age onwards. EWETs response to the challenges above as well as to the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) Act and Skills Development Act (SDA) is: to undertake a redesign of all YES materials; to design, develop, pilot test and implement a SDA based qualification for YES Advisors. YES is extended to both Further Education and Training or FET consisting of Grades 10, 11 and 12; and General Education and Training or GET consisting of Grades 7, 8 and 9. This work is in progress and funded by the Private Sector that consists of the following companies: Momentum Life Insurance, De Beers, Anglo American Corporation, AngloGold, D.G. Murray Trust and W.K. Kellogg Foundation. EWET designed a new program called Youth At Work that targets the out-ofschool and unemployed youth. A proposal to seek the required financial support had been submitted to the Umsobomvu Youth Fund in collaboration with Local Government and with the Department of Minerals and Energy. Another front where EWET plans action is to zoom in on the development of young people when they enter school and during the first few formative years at school. Durham University (UK) found that the majority of children who enters school are entrepreneurial. However, fewer that 15% of school leavers at Grade 12 still exhibit these enterprising qualities. The children develop a learnedhelplessness syndrome. EWETs planning for action on this front is for the future. YES is described above from a perspective of the future and present situation of YES and by implication that of EWET. Such integration is not expected to last forever. It is EWETs intention to wean YES into an autonomous and independent youth movement with back-up support provided for by EWET and other agencies. For EWET and YES to have arrived in who and what we are today represent a journey of more than ten years. Many individuals, organizations, agencies and we belief a lot of grace from God made it happen. The authors will now briefly share the story of the journey of the evolution of the YES program. A platform for YES evolved from a program called the QwaQwa Centre for Curriculum Extension or QCCE. QCCE involved 200 Grade 12 learners from 59 schools who got together on Friday afternoons at Boitjhorisong In-Service Training Centre for Teachers. A number of parallel events were presented as a menu from which QCCE members could select the activity of their preference.

The aim of QCCE was to expose talented young people to various opportunities, skills development with a special focus on life skills and to afford them the opportunity to visit one of South Africas economic hubs where private sector companies received them as their guests. QCCE members were expected to contribute to development in QwaQwa with a possible future role for them as leaders. QCCE operated between 1989 and 1993. Many young leaders currently in QwaQwa were involved in QCCE. The now called Free State Development Corporation or FDC carried the costs of QCCE while QCCE had its own autonomous decision making structure that consisted of community members. FDC is a para-statal company that is regulated by government. Parent and educationalists from one of the schools involved in QCCE informed the project leader of QCCE that they are very concerned about the ability of school leavers to secure jobs (read livelihood). An attempt was made to bring the Junior Achievement or JA program as run in South Africa to QwaQwa. JA through Stephen Black instructed the FDC that such a program should not be called JA if participants will not be multi-racial. All targeted beneficiaries were black so FDC adapted JA materials and called it Junior Business Awareness or JBA. JBA did not work because of the very limited presence of big corporates in QwaQwa. Middle and senior level managers is core to the functioning of JA in terms of the companies formed by young people. A realization struck that it will not be easy to find an off the shelve program to address the need for youth livelihood development. However the search continued. Contact was made in 1992 with Peter Gay of International Training Services (ITS), Frank Dologhan of Mentor and John Carmichael all from Ireland. The Irish Government sponsored for them to come to South Africa to investigate options for collaboration. The three worked with the LEDU or Local Enterprise Development Unit program of the UK governments Department of Economic Development. A lot of resource materials that were produced by Durham Universitys Allan Gibb, amongst others were left with the project in South Africa. Peter, Frank, John and Arie went on a road show around South Africa to gauge current initiatives and assess interest for a youth enterprise program in South Africa. This trip included a thirty-minute live interview on national television during prime time. A basic conceptual framework for the program design fell in place while the message received was that such an initiative is desperately needed. The need for youth livelihood or enterprise development in South Africa was researched with the findings captured in a discussion document. Also presented in the discussion document was the basic conceptual framework for an approach to address the challenge. One hundred and eighty discussion documents were send out to government departments, private sector companies, development agencies, universities, local stakeholders and prospect social investment partners. A direct consultation was held (amongst others) with John Samuel then heading the African National Congress (ANC) education desk. Crucial feedback and suggestions were received although the response rate was low. Cathy Ashmore

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and Piotr Korynski from the Ohio State Universitys Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE) in Columbus, Ohio, USA read the document and developed an interest. South Africa entered the direct transitional phases to democracy with severe violence that erupted in the bordering province of KwaZulu-Natal. All political parties and other interest groups within the North-Eastern Free State Province created the North-Eastern Free State Coordinating Committee to attempt to stop the violence from spilling into this region. This Committee extended its scope of work to include development initiatives and adopted the youth livelihood project as its own. FDC as a semi-government agency carries political luggage. FDC agreed to continue to provide institutional support with an agreement that the project will finally find its home within a NGO to be formed. This NGO turned out to be the Education With Enterprise Trust or EWET. One of the people consulted was Mary Cole from the Development Bank of Southern Africa or DBSA. Mary indicated that DBSA might be interested to support the initiative dependent on a solid business plan to be submitted. Cathy Ashmore and Piotr Korynski came to South Africa to explore options for collaboration with the project. Cathy led the development PACE or Program for Acquiring Competence in Entrepreneurship while she is extremely well networked into related initiatives with the Distributive Education Clubs of America or DECA that deserves special mention. Cathy, Piotr and Mary brought more to this project than what they could ever be remunerated for. They committed themselves and worked with a passion to make a difference to the lives of young people without livelihood prospects after school. Representatives from business, education, religion and the youth formed EWETs Board of Trustees. EWET was registered in June 1992 as a Trust, with tax exemption, a fundraising number and accreditation as a Local Business Service Centre (LBSC) of the Department of Trade and Industry to follow later. DBSA availed two loans and two grants to EWET. This agreement followed a careful assessment of the legitimacy of the initiative executed by DBSAs Dr Marius Schoon who lost his wife to the struggle for democracy and had been in exile for many years. Bheki Mazibuku, a local youth leader also had to satisfy the political concerns of himself and of fellow young people before they got involved with EWET. CETE in collaboration with the University of the Free State secured the tender from EWET through DBSA to develop what later became the Youth Enterprise Society or YES. The tendering process was open with four tenders submitted on a competitive basis. EWET took over the role of the Free State University as a partner to Ohio State University Research Foundation (OSURF) due to the necessity to develop a program that will work effectively on the ground. The first group of 21 teachers who represented 7 schools were trained as YES Advisors in January 1993 by Cathy and Pat Schneider. This first action initiated the piloting and development of YES that continued until October 1996 when YES was launched as a national program.

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The crucial element of the Local Partnership (LP) required for the dissemination of YES resulted from a grant secured later from the United States Agency for International Development or USAID through Lou-Ann McNeil. USAIDs contract made it possible to develop the Partnerships for Development Models or PDM that allows for partnership functioning between government, private sector and civil society organizations. LPs can therefore exceed the delivery of YES. PDMs development had a profound impact on EWETs strategies and structure as will be seen under point 5. EWETs sustainability was initially extremely fragile. The EWET Board offered the position of executive director to Arie. FDC agreed to subsidize his salary costs for a six month period starting from April 1993 with a clear statement that a further extension will not be considered. Zini Mchunu led QCCE within FDC and FDC decided to transfer herself with QCCEs assets to EWET. QCCE was closed down by FDC. Zinis recruited and selected the first 21 YES Advisors and took responsibility for the implementation and testing of YES while still at FDC. The sixth month of FDC support arrived rather quickly with ESCOM South Africas electricity company granting ZAR53,000 just in time to save EWET. Other funders not mentioned yet who were critical to assist EWET to move from concept to YES as a delivered program were: the European Union through Kagiso Trust, the Joint Education Trust, ABSA Bank, NEDCOR Bank, Southern Life Foundation, AECI, Old Mutual, DFID, DTI, ITHUBA, ENGEN, Ubuntu Trust and Equal Opportunities Foundation. B. How EWET innovates. Mary Cole made it clear to EWET that EWET itself has to be enterprising as an organization if EWETs objective is to attain enterprise development. EWET attempts to live what it preaches. EWET contacted The Learning Circle or TLC based in Sudbury, MA in 1998 as part of the execution of the PDM assignment from USAID. An attempt was made to build Peter Senges work called The Fifth Discipline into PDM. Marie Kenerson worked at TLC mostly with the marketing activities. EWET communicated that a daily consultancy fee affordable to EWET cannot exceed USD200 for each day. Maries supervisor told her to shelve the enquiry because it is not commercially viable for TLC. The supervisors concern was definitely valid. Marie did as she was told to do but she did not forget the enquiry. In 1997 EWET started a consultative process amongst all staff and board members to arrive at a human resources strategy that will maximize the organizations efficiency. The drafting of the strategy was influenced by authors such as Peter Schwartz, Peter Drucker, Arie de Geus, Max de Pree, Masaaki Imai, Yves Doz, Gary Hamel, John Kotter, Ronald Purser and Steven Cabana. Appreciative Management and Leadership published by Williams Custom Publishing of Ohio with Suresh Srivastva and David Cooperrider as authors; the work of Marvin Weisbord and Sandra Janoff with Future Search Conferencing and Harrison Owens Open Space Technology had a significant influence. Inputs were secured from ITS (UK) and the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) that is a South African semi government agency.

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The drafted strategy was initially called EWETs Human Resource Development Strategy. The consultative process changed this name to EWETs Quantum Learning Strategy or EQUALS. Core questions asked within EWET to which EQUALS had to respond were: i. How can EWET ensure that it establish core capacities that will ensure that current programmes and service areas function effectively while new opportunities could be pursued? ii. Which strategies and structures will foster an empowering environment to enable hard working and committed employees to progress (in terms of seniority) in the organisation and compensation? iii. How can we minimise the potential negative impact due to the loss of a key employee? iv. How can we maximize our productivity? v. How can we strengthen the transfer of skills and expertise within the organization from one staff member to another while enhancing team work? vi. How can we gear EWET to be able to constantly adapt to changes within its rapidly changing environment resulting in the sustainability of the organisation? vii. How can we make EWET an exciting organisation for its employees - that provides for career fulfilment while reinforcing a balanced life style?
EWETs OPERATIONAL ORGANIGRAM CONTRACT PEOPLE / SERVICE PROVIDERS Recruited for substantial projects Might involve foreign expertise EWET ASSOCIATES Available for limited project work Some ongoing contact and commitment PRINCIPLE GROUP External Recruitm ent Ve tibule Group: s Y oung High Potential Support & Developm ent em phasis Admin support staff Project Manager Normal progression with satisfactory development (over 2-3 years. DEVELOPMENT GROUP EXPERIENCED STAFF Entrance by Decision Extending Experience Developing specialist expertise Building up client network Managing Specific projects Developing other staff Developing internal networks Contributing to EWET organisational development Senior Project Manager Heads of Admin. Functions Other jobs (appraisal & career counselling) Other jobs (appraisal & career counselling) Includes: i. ii. Executive Management Principal and Chief Project Managers with extensive client networks & recognised specialists expertise CAREER STAFF Entrance by Decision Retirement Early Retirement

Occasional only to other jobs Sabbatical

This group of people would ideally constitute the largest single group of EWET staff and it would be expected: low turnover of people high performance in quality and contribution to the health, development and financial viability of the Organisation.

Secondment to other organisations for experience development

Core Values of the EQUALS strategy i. The process of decision making in EWET is, in most cases, as important as the decision itself. ii. Professionally (career): EWETs body of knowledge and skills (combined skills and knowledge of all of EWETs staff members together - as if within one person) must manifest itself in the knowledge and skills of as many of EWETs individual employees as is possible. This is of fundamental

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iii.

iv.

v.

importance for the well being of the organisation as well as for the career development of the individual employees. EWETs Organizational Chart does not indicate the seniority of the incumbent staff members, such as what is normally indicated by an organizational chart that follows a traditional management structure. Seniority of line function managers is in accordance with Peromnes while the seniority of project staff is in accordance with their grading as project managers. EWETs organisational chart indicates the flow of responsibility. Seniority and respect within EWET is earned on the basis of a staff members professionalism, integrity, exhibited skills, exhibited knowledge, exhibited productivity, exhibited ability to function effectively as part of an EWET team, contributions to the development of fellow EWET staff members and contributions to the successes of EWET. Respect and seniority is not due to the allocated position of a staff member in EWETs organizational chart. Fellow staff members, beneficiaries and EWETs leadership - together play a determining assessment role regarding the progression in seniority of a staff member. EWETs staff members are responsible for initiating actions for their own assessment in terms of grading - once they are satisfied that they achieved sufficient progress since their last grading. EWETs efficiency, sustain ability and ability to achieve impact is in the hands of all of EWETs employees - not only in the hands of its leadership. It is therefore within the hands of each and every EWET employee to address an issue than is of concern for him or her, or to contribute in improving on the quality of EWETs service, supplies and/or operations - wherever such a need had been identified by the staff member.

The transition from the military type hierarchical structure to the structure presented above was nothing short of a paradigm shift as Thomas Kuhn describes it. Enormous insecurities came to the forefront from amongst appointed managers. The change did hurt because one person remained stucked with the same level of compensation for a number of years. It is only recently that she secured a higher grading based upon which a substantial correction was made. Another staff member did not achieve project manager status and had to leave EWETs employment! Chaos erupted within EWET once the implications of the drafted EQUALS strategy were realized. Such chaos deserves a positive appreciation as proclaimed by book titles such as Thriving on chaos as well as the application of new developments in physics into organizational theory. However, there can be no doubt that such a shift traumatizes an organization. Marie Kenerson informed EWET that shell resign from TLC, do the contractual work at the approved daily compensation rate for EWET after which shell move on into consultancy work herself. The subsequent three weeks during which Marie worked with EWETs staff through EQUALS that resulted in changes and coownership helped tremendously for EWET to be able to make the paradigm shift. Marie furthermore took EWET through The Team Learning Lab of Frederick Simon and Nick Zeniuk who applies systems thinking, mental models and shared vision as originally presented by Peter Senge and his collaborators. EWET internalized these lessons learned and developed a 3 day local partnership workshop

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that also incorporates some of Stephen Coveys work. This workshop proves to have tremendous impact amongst beneficiaries. NGOs, as is the case with private sector companies has to constantly adapt to the changing environment and adapt to the changing needs of beneficiaries / clients. The transferal of leading edge expertise from the corporate sector to the social development sector is crucial in this day and age of the knowledge worker. The impact of the thrust that EWET developed to further add value to beneficiaries as resulted from the access to expertise gained from Marie Kenersons involvement is profound. There exist a need for the corporate sector to facilitate access to knowledge worker related expertise for the third or development sector as demonstrated by the work of The Drucker Foundation. The EWET board shifted to new working: a.) Board and management discover issues that matter, mutually determine the agenda, and solve problems together. b.) Board and management both set policy and implement it. Lines are blurred, borders open. Domains are decided by nature of issue at hand. c.) Structure of board mirrors institutions strategic priorities. Premium is on flexibility, ad hoc arrangements. Members occupy functional intersections. Board creates centers of action. d.) Board meetings are goal driven. Protocol varies with circumstances. Form follows function. Emphasis is on participation and action. e.) Board is a constellation. It recruit team members with an eye to personality and overall chemistry. Board cultivates group norms and collective capabilities of trustees. 6. EWET within the South African context, policy participation. Enhancing the Fire within: When EWET starts working with a beneficiary we know that the fire of the solution to the challenges faced by the beneficiary, is already burning within. Our job is to help the beneficiary to grow the fire in such a way that he or she will say I did it myself as with Mojane Mofokeng.

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