Salesian Institute Youth Projects, South Africa

Regions and Examples of Our Projects

Projects
Bolivia
UK
Peru
South Africa
Liechtenstein

Zip Zap Circus School

A social circus school promoting youth development and social transformation

Zip Zap works with children and youth at risk, from diverse backgrounds, each year. The primary objective of Zip Zap is to teach circus and life skills including self-confidence, honesty, trust, and respect; whilst encouraging inter-racial collaboration and acceptance.

Zip Zap also scouts and develops talent, creates outstanding shows and offers intensive vocational training in order to prepare young people for jobs in the performance industry.

TSiBA

World-class business education

TSIBA is a unique social enterprise which shows what is possible when business education invests in people.

The Business School of TSIBA aims to provide its students with a world-class and rewarding business education. This is supported by generous tuition scholarships, so that students pay only what they can afford, removing any financial barriers to tertiary education. TSIBA works to transform their students into effective, purpose driven leaders ready to take South Africa (and Africa) forward.

Salesian Life Choices

Preparing young people from poor communities for employment

Salesian Life Choices offers opportunities to young people from some of the poorest communities in South Africa so that they can develop and become productive citizens.

The Life Choices Vocational Academy provides vocational job training over 12 months to give school leavers the skills they need to secure well paid employment (6 months lecturers in house and 6 months industry internship). The Academy currently runs computer coding courses.

Pinotage Youth Development Academy (PYDA)

Vocational training to prepare young people for employment in wine and tourism

PYDA, based in the wine region near Cape Town, develops talent in young people from disadvantaged communities to enable them to confidently secure employment in local sectors such as wine and tourism.

PYDA offers young people 12 months of intensive theoretical and practical training, combined with a unique focus on personal development. Employment rates upon graduation exceed 90%.

Asociación Pukllasunchis / Educational Inclusion

Educating in diversity

The Pukllasunchis School aims to create an inclusive educational experience for children with special needs. Between two and four students with special needs participate in each mainstream classroom, learning with equal opportunities in a context where their different paces, needs and learning processes are taken into account. In addition, when the students graduate, the school provides monitoring and guidance for the students and their families to help them continue to lead active and productive lives.
Based on this experience, courses for teachers and future teachers are developed and this is particularly aimed at teachers who work in public schools in the rural areas of Cusco. They include training modules and an exchange of experiences and therefore encourage the development of more inclusive educational experiences.

AANAC / Maya Paya Kimsa

Working with young homeless people in the city of El Alto

Maya Paya Kimsa acts as bridge from life on the streets in El Alto, Bolivia, to a welcoming support space for homeless children and young people. Providing a mixture of recreation activities and 1:1 support, young people are supported to change their lives and improve their living standards. Maya Paya Kimsa does not simply work with the young people themselves, but also with their families to support the process of reintegrating with the family, wherever possible.
Separately, Maya Paya Kimsa work with public and private institutions, politicians and wider society to improve the system and conditions for homeless people. Their overall aim is for young people living on the street to be thought of just as anyone else – as young people with dreams, wishes and aspirations.

Por Eso!

Better Opportunities for Families in the High Andes

Por Eso! Peru works in the high Andean communities, where many communities experience high rates of extreme poverty and chronic malnutrition.
The aim of Por Eso! is to ensure that families and school-age children have long-term access to healthy food and a healthy lifestyle. First, the Por Eso! team set up organic gardens in schools to provide food for the children and train the parents in caring for and maintaining these gardens. As a second step, families plant their own gardens, build greenhouses and improve the hygiene standards of their own homes to prevent the spread of infection.

The Mothertongue Project

Promotion of wellbeing through participatory theatre and integrated arts methodologies

The Mothertongue Project is using different ways of creative arts to reach youth and children, their parents and caregivers, and communities on farms in the Cape Winelands region, who receive little or no resources to develop their educational, emotional and creative needs and sustain their potential.

Early Years Theatre aims to support and inspire educators and caregivers by providing them with innovative tools for classroom management and learning. Youth drama groups ensure spaces for youth participation and skills development, while the participatory theatre is used for advocacy and education.

PARK CARE CENTRE

Residential facility for frail and sick older persons

Park Care Centre provides quality 24/7 residential nursing and palliative care to physically and mentally frail, and vulnerable older individuals, who are in need of long-term nursing care and who cannot afford the fees.

This all-encompassing service includes rehabilitative therapies and active aging programmes that focus on the physical needs of residents as well as catering for their emotional, spiritual, psychological, and social needs. They are all provided with a long-term safe, clean and caring, as well as, a non-discriminatory environment where they can have quality of life and live out their last years with dignity.

2nd Chance

Equine therapy and educational workshops to encourage young people at risk to make right choices

2nd Chance exists to decrease substance abuse, gangsterism, crime, child abuse and unnecessary deaths and to support the transformation of the lives of individuals and families affected by these devastating social effects.

The programmes consist of equine assisted therapy, early intervention school programmes, dance programmes and substance abuse support group programmes.

The Homestead / Projects for Street Children

Support for street children to ensure they have an empowered future

The Homestead (Projects for Street Children) provides a comprehensive response of early Intervention, street outreach, and therapeutic residential care to heal, educate and develop street children away from street life and towards an empowered future.

The residential-care projects include a shelter for boys and a transitional programme for youth preparing to leave care.

Cape Town remains a divided city surrounded by violent, gangster-filled communities where endemic drug abuse, crime, domestic violence, extreme poverty, and even child rape and murder continues to push hundreds of traumatised, neglected and abused children towards street life.

Nucleo Project

Intensive and free music tuition for children from an area of socio-economic deprivation

The Nucleo Project provides ensemble-based musical tuition to children and young people aged 2-18, completely free of charge, 4-6 times per week. The project was founded in 2013 in North Kensington, an area of extreme socioeconomic disparity where 41% of children live below the poverty line.

Through playing in a group and striving for musical excellence, the young musicians build confidence, connect with others from different backgrounds, and learn life skills that will help them at school and beyond.

Glass Door

Supporting homeless men and women to secure accommodation and employment

Glass Door exists to support people who are homeless and whom no one else can or will help; they provide night shelters in 3 locations throughout the winter months and day services all year round. They bring practical and emotional support and some stability to help people get back on their feet when they have nowhere else to turn.

The casework service runs all year round and aims to bring a permanent end to homelessness and more positive futures to those who use Glass Door’s services by supporting the pathway to stable accommodation and employment.

Child Bereavement UK

Supporting families to rebuild their lives when a child dies or when a child is facing bereavement

Child Bereavement UK supports families and educates professionals when a baby or child of any age dies or is dying, or when a child is facing bereavement.

In areas of socio-economic deprivation mortality rates are higher, yet bereavement support is very scarce. Child Bereavement UK is being supported to improve bereavement support in four areas of socio-economic deprivation in the north of England: Bradford; East Wirral; Manchester; and Middlesbrough.

PACE Centre

Specialist therapy and support for babies and children with motor disorders

Pace provides innovative and holistic therapy and education for children with motor disorders. Their approach is based on the belief that, with tailored support, every child has the ability to learn and make progress.

Pace Infant and Parent Service, “PIPS”, provides early assessment, intervention and support for babies and young children aged 0-4 and their families at a time when the infant brain is at its most “plastic” and able to adapt. The service combines occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, and specialist and conductive education.

Save the Family

Accommodation and mentoring for troubled and homeless families

Save the Family provides 24/7 accommodation and support for troubled and homeless families at its development in rural Cheshire. Children from these families are at a high risk of being taken into care.

The Family Mentors empower families to unravel the complex issues that have led to their homelessness, worklessness and years of intergenerational social deprivation. The Mentor will gain the trust of the whole family and through their work will increase self-esteem and confidence with the ultimate goal of improving life chances and leading to successful resettlement in the community.