Jul 8, 2021 | News, Program Updates
SSI is once again collaborating with U.S non-profit organisation, CEOs of Tomorrow in an effort to provide teens with entrepreneurship skills. CEOs of Tomorrow’s These Teens Mean Busine$$ Academy is an entrepreneurship business seminar, in which teens learn business principles including management, business finance, marketing and other foundational business concepts transferable to other subjects.
The course concludes with intercultural teen-groups working together to design and pitch presentations that highlight a global issue of importance to them and the entrepreneurial steps that could be taken to address it.
From July 6th to July 29th, 18 teens; nine from Stepping Stones International and nine from the U.S will be taking part in this virtual program. Activities will include interaction with local and international entrepreneurs, business pitch presentations and more!
“Our partnership with SSI gives teen entrepreneurs an opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills to a social entrepreneurial project in another country. Teens are immersed in a rich cultural experience that helps them become active global citizens, and they connect with teens from another country. Bringing diverse global perspectives together to achieve a common goal leads to innovative accomplishments and greater global awareness.” – CEO and founder of CEOs of Tomorrow, Roxie Hertz.
Participants taking part in the program are aged 13 to 18 years old and have great expectations from the program.
“I want to know how to start a business, interact with people from a different culture and make new connections (friends).” – Duncan , (16)
We are grateful to CEOs of Tomorrow for partnering with us again on this amazing initiative and can’t wait to see the results!
Jun 24, 2021 | Events, Program Updates
After an intense six months of daily sessions and six weeks in a job shadowing exercise, 47 participants from our Finding The Leader Within Leadership program graduated! The program, funded by The FACET Foundation, targets 18- to 25-year-old youth who are unemployed and or out of school living in Mochudi. The objective is to get them ready for the workplace, start their own small business or return to school. This is achieved through the following modules; Career Skills, Business & Financial Literacy, Computer Skills, Leadership Skills and Healthy Lifestyles.
CEO of VYB Digital, Mr. Karabo Letsholo delivered the commencement speech, and led the graduates in a spirited affirmation:
‘I know I can, be what I want to be. If I work hard in it, I will be where I want to be.’
He further went on to recount his personal story of struggle and triumph, inspiring the attendees by demonstrating that with the right attitude we can all achieve what we want in life.
One of the participants, Waone offered her own testimony of how the skills she learned in the program have helped her to thrive in her own life. Waone shared that when she started the program, she was reserved and lacked self-confidence. However, she quickly developed her interpersonal and CV writing skills. These landed her a job as a waitress in one of the prestigious restaurants in Gaborone.
“This was possible due to the skills I was equipped with the such as confidence, writing CVs and cover letters and preparation for interviews,” she said.
Waone is thriving in her job! She is able to fully articulate herself, which is helping her build connections and expand her professional networks that could lead to new, progressive opportunities in the future.
In addition to their program completion certificates, graduates also received certificates from the ABSA Ready To Work Program. This certifies successful completion of the four modules program designed to equip young people with the necessary skills to find employment or create self-employment. Other special awards include recognizing individuals who demonstrated excellence in different areas. Including; Most Innovative Participant, Best Role Model, Most Improved, and more. Of the 47 graduating participants, 36 gained valuable work experience through the job shadowing exercise, five are now fully employed and six are pursuing higher education. Our second cohort for the year begins in July 2021
Jun 4, 2021 | Events, News
In Botswana, many children grow up in challenging home environments. They face a risk of neglect, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Although parents play a key role in creating a safe and conducive home environment for their children and protect them from harm, child abuse most often occurs in the home. As a response to these concerning issues, we developed the film Dithunya Tsa Rona “Our Flowers” to help teach and promote positive parenting throughout the country. We’ll be premiering the docudrama on June 16th, day of the African Child.
The film aims to improve parenting in Botswana and create safe homes for children, free from abuse. TV shows and drama series have proven to be effective tools in addressing and challenging social norms and creating positive behaviour change around societal issues. The 1-hour docudrama combines drama with documentary-style discourse, and features famous local actors and experts. The plot is a fictional story about a social worker investigating an increase in teenage pregnancies in a community in Botswana. During her search to discover the reasons behind this increase, she gets to know different families that all face various struggles of their own. However, they have one thing in common: what they do and how they parent affects the safety and well-being of their children.
Key messages and Positive Parenting
The film’s tagline is “Loving families nurture and protect.” The most important messages are:
- Caregivers play a critical role in preventing, stopping and reporting child abuse
- To create nurturing environments, caregivers can give one-on-one time and attention, positive guidance and create open communication.
- Call to action: Small changes have a huge impact! You can make a difference today.
It brings forward actionable steps for creating safer environments for children as well as positive parenting tips to mitigate risk of neglect as well as emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. SSI will also be sharing positive parenting tips on our website soon, so stay tuned!
Reaching every Parent in Botswana
We want to ensure that every parent in Botswana gets the opportunity to receive the key messages from the docudrama. It will be aired on national television and streamed live on our Facebook page. After the premiere, it will also be shown in communities accompanied by dialogue sessions. We will also provide viewers with the opportunity to join our Pinagare parenting training groups for anyone who wants to further enhance their parenting skills.
You can help us reach every parent in Botswana! By contributing your support, you increase our distribution and visibility to ensure this film is available in as many homes as possible. Please go to our GofundMe page to make a contribution and help spread the word about this groundbreaking project. https://gofund.me/060472fa
Contributing Partners
We’re so grateful for the many partners who helped make this project come to life! They include the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Botswana Police Service, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, CSOs, UNICEF and USAID. The project is co-funded by the European Union, Stéphanie Lacroix Humanitarian Fund and FACET.
May 7, 2021 | Events, Program Updates
A healthy and positive relationship between a parent and a child helps parents to protect their adolescents against a variety of negative health and social outcomes. This is the primary focus of the Pinagare program for teens and parents. Its main purpose is to help cultivate open, caring and trusting relationships between caregivers and their teens. Over the course of 14 weeks, parents and teens attend sessions covering the following topics: Setting Goals, Spending Quality Time, Praising Each Other, Talking About Emotions, Anger Management, Problem Solving, Budgeting & Saving, Conflict Resolution, Establishing Rules & Routine and more.
“Pinagare changed my life. I never listened to my children before I joined this program, I only wanted them to listen to me. I have now learnt to consult and understand my children’s feelings before I make any decisions. Budgeting, money skills and saving are some of the other things I have learnt from this program.” – Pinagare graduate (mother of two)
This family is one of 184 families who graduated from the 14 week-long program across Botswana from March to April 2021. With funding and support from USAID, Debswana Diamond Company and the European Union, the Pianagare program runs in six different regions throughout Botswana. Our graduates included participants from the following districts:
- Kgatleng District – 42 families
- Gaborone/South East – 43 families
- Goodhope – 24 families
- Tutume – 14 families
- Gantsi – 16 families
- Letlhakane – 45 families
We look forward to seeing the results from the next cohort of families who embark on this journey to improve their relationships.
Mar 29, 2021 | News, Program Updates
For the last three years, SSI has served as a sub-partner for PCI on a ground-breaking USAID (United States Agency for International Development) initiative to combat the spread of HIV among young people. During this time, SSI implemented community-based programs to meet the needs of Orphaned and Vulnerable Care (OVC) and Adolescent Girls & Young Women (AGYW) in various districts throughout Botswana.
We are proud to share that USAID has since selected SSI to begin receiving direct funding for this program as a result of our ability to not only fulfil but exceed the expectations of our previous role in order to meet the needs of our community. In February 2020 we started implementing the “Breaking Barriers to an HIV Free Generation” program in the Kgatleng and Goodhope Districts. This is in order to continue our vital work to prevent new HIV infections and reduce vulnerability among OVC and AGYW.
About the Project
The project aims to prevent new HIV infections and reduce vulnerability among orphaned vulnerable children and adolescent girls and young women through Healthy, Safe, Schooled and Stable domains. Our community service providers assess each family’s needs and provide the following interventions:
- Health services
- Life skills and sexual reproductive health education
- Youth financial literacy with the Aflateen curriculum
- Caregiver financial literacy through the WE-GROW program
- Parent-child communication interventions to improve positive parenting and reduce child abuse, exploitation or neglect through the Pinagare program
In a short but auspicious two-hour ceremony with the United States Ambassador and other government officials present, we were presented with a cheque. Which will fund the program for the next coming three years, alongside four other local organisations.
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Project Concern International (PCI Botswana) for assisting us in our transition process to receive direct funding, and to the government of United States for funding our program. We look forward to continuing to breaking barriers to an HIV free Botswana!
Watch a short message from our Executive Director about the project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmSagjjd-58
