Siphakeme .Mnindwa
Tsenulo Moyo
A Bulawayo-based organisation, Youth Ahead, is on a drive to empower and educate young leaders through its various initiatives to drive positive change in their communities, focusing on health and socio-economic development.
Running under the theme “A Better You. A Better Me. A Better Tomorrow,” these initiatives believe in developing the next generation.
Founded in 2012 with a mission to empower and educate young leaders to drive positive change in their communities, Youth Ahead has conducted focus group discussions, road shows, established Aids clubs at schools, and implemented radio programmes to inform young people about a healthy lifestyle.
Director of the organisation, Everson Phiri (33), said they also produce short films and conduct annual programmes to teach young people how to properly care for their bodies and maintain good oral health.
“We also expose young people to different life skills and teach them where to go when they face certain health issues such as teenage pregnancies, and we also conduct cancer awareness programs,” he said.
Phiri said they have worked with various schools, including Ihlathi High School, Townsend High School, and Sizane High School, in their initiatives to promote a healthy lifestyle among young people.
He said they also run an HIV and Aids Education and Development Groups programme for out-of-school youth to address issues such as teenage pregnancies and drug abuse.
“We started as a focus group going around talking to people, and we decided to develop it further into an organisation. As Youth Ahead, we design programmes depending on the challenges we see in the community; for example, there is an issue of mental health,” he said.
Phiri said they designed a programme called “Parallel Space” that targets young people aged 18 to 21, with a focus on removing them from environments that can negatively influence them, such as allowing them access to drugs, as this age group is easily influenced.
He said they partner with certain companies or schools to teach life skills to youths as a way of ensuring that youths stay away from habits that have a negative impact on their health.
“No matter what young people do, it all comes back to health. A young person starts doing drugs when they are still in school, and in the years to come, it might have implications on their health.
“We want to engage young people in the best way they want to be engaged. Gone are the days when you would sit down in a classroom and teach young people with a board and chalk.
“These days, we teach via edutainment, so we try to tailor-make these programs to teach young people to live better lives so that they can be the best versions of themselves, whoever and wherever they might be,” Phiri said.
The organisation primarily targets people aged 13 to 35 years old and is mainly funded by partnerships with organisations such as the National Aids Council (NAC), Life Priority Health, the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council, and others.
“The organisation partners with companies like TM Pick n Pay and Edgars, who usually fund the specific activities that align with their missions,” he said.
Phiri said the main challenges they face are a lack of funding and keeping up with the current trends among young people.
“Personally, I was inspired to do this work because I had no inspiration until I joined the Community Working Group on Health organisation as a peer educator and was trained to do many things.
“At some point, I tried to commit suicide because I thought I had no future, but after engaging with this organisation, that is when I started having hope. I told myself that I would make sure the next young person would not get to that point,” Phiri said.
Phiri said that this year, as an organisation, they are planning to design a programme called the Bulawayo Talent Factory, which is basically an “America’s Got Talent” programme tailored for Bulawayo residents.
“We want to make sure young people from Bulawayo benefit from this programme at the end of the show by ensuring that all participants get sustainable income from their talents,” he said.
“The Bulawayo Talent Factory is designed to stop young people from being idle and get them sponsorships for their talents,” he said.
