Stepping Stones turns 10 years

Correspondent | Tuesday February 2, 2016 15:43

 

Our journey started in 2008 with the first meeting held at Stepping Stones' first office located behind the police station in Mochudi. This became the first of many meetings which developed into a long term relationship that would bring financial literacy and entrepreneurship to the youth at SSI.

The first investment in the programme was made in 2008 for the establishment of the income generating programme and a vegetable garden. Through the income generating programme, which is on-going today, four companies were formed by the youth including: Movie Night, Rockin’ Rhythms, Art and Jewellery, and Hungry Hippo.

The programme introduces young people to the world of business and provides them with an opportunity to manage and understand some of the realities that come with running a business. The programme, which continues today, has inspired the caretakers of the young orphaned and vulnerable children to come together and start their own businesses.

Over the years, SSI and Barclays have worked together to improve the services being offered to the disadvantaged youth, and there are two programmes in particular that stand out.

The first is Aflatoun, a programme that originates from the Netherlands and was introduced to SSI by Barclays in 2009. It is a social and financial literacy programme that seeks to develop young people in five core areas including: their rights and responsibilities, saving, planning, budgeting and social as well as financial enterprise.  SSI is the country representative for Aflatoun in Botswana and is responsible for the development of the Aflateen curriculum which targets the youth. In partnership with Barclays, SSI has now delivered the programme to 20 schools across Botswana.

Some youth within the schools have established Aflateen clubs and now have a better understanding of money and how it works, as well as the need to give back to those who are disadvantaged in their respective communities. As such, social enterprise is being promoted and key to the future development of the youth and the sustainability of their communities. Amongst the schools that have participated in the Aflateen programme, Tlokweng CJSS youth have demonstrated that they are driven and passionate about developing themselves and caring for their community.

Teach Aids is an innovative educational tool that uses animation to teach children and youth about HIV and AIDS. Barclays and UNICEF invested funds to localise the material which was initially produced for the Indian market, for Botswana. Teach Aids is now available in English and Setswana, and features the voices of prominent artists including media personalities in Botswana. The animation tool comes with an educational manual for teachers and instructors. The 5,000 CD’s produced were distributed to schools across Botswana and the animation is available online for anyone with access to the Internet.

The past eight years that Barclays has been involved with SSI have been exciting for Barclays. Together they have initiated innovative programmes for the youth, including Teach Aids, Aflateen and the first “Child and Youth Finance Symposium”, during the commemoration of Global Money Week in 2014. Over 1,000 young people have benefitted from the income generating and Aflateen programmes and thousands more from the Teach AIDS initiative.'Our colleagues have had the opportunity to interact with the youth, caretakers and staff of SSI, sharing their skills, time and labour where required. We have watched the young people grow up into responsible young adults and pride ourselves in knowing that we have been part of their growth and development. Our ambition is to see many more young people benefit from the programmes that SSI has to offer and will continue to nurture our relationship over the coming years.'

Stepping Stones