UNODC, Chrysalis Academy to work with at-risk youth

According to Sharon Kouta, UNODC's provincial victim empowerment coordinator for the Western Cape, the decision to support these workshops, which began in August and will run until end-September was in recognition of "the work that the Chrysalis Academy is doing in providing social skills to youth at risk".

Funding for the workshops comes via the European Union's support of UNODC's project "Support to the Government of South Africa's Victim Empowerment Programme" within which the Department of Social Development is a key partner.

"For us this endeavour also strengthens our partnership with the Chrysalis Academy as a Civil Society partner, the Department of Community Safety, Department of Health and the South African Police Services," said Kouta.

Targeting at-risk youth

Established in 2000, the Chrysalis Academy aims to offer "a social crime prevention and upliftment programme targeting 'youth at risk' between the ages of 17 and 25 years old who have attained a minimum education level of Grade 9, are presently unemployed, and have no criminal record," said Anthea Michaels CEO of the academy.

The social skills programme will take place during the three month residential development and training programme that is offered to young people at risk at the Chrysalis Academy.

Sharon Kouta (left) from UNODC (United Nations Office on drugs and crime); John Bartlett from SAPS Steenberg; Sharon Follentine from Department of Social Development; Anthea Michaels from Chrysalis Academy and Rodney Fortuin from Learners Network, together with the young men who are taking part in the youth at risk programme at the Chrysalis Academy.

Kouta said, "In a region where young people are at risk of becoming involved with crime, drugs and gangsterism due to high unemployment levels and often poor educational facilities, we believe that this programme offers a practical way to give young people the tools to make positive life choices, and by extension to pass them on to their communities."

Michaels said that since the project began more than 5 000 youth had been trained in life skills at the academy. "We have seen tangible effects through the training the youth receive at the academy, with many of them going on to become leaders and agents of transformation in their communities."

The objectives of the awareness programmes are to:

• Promote social skills amongst youth and develop positive behaviours in line with the Chrysalis Academy's mission;
  
• Promote victim empowerment policies and programmes;
  
• Present interactive workshops to youth by unlearning negative behaviours;
  
• Emphasize the impact of violence and to increase the youths' knowledge of agencies available to assist them;
  
• Allow for discussions and participation from the youth and to dialogue with youth;
  
• Ensure youth become the change agents for social development and cohesion within society; and
  
• Make greater impact within communities by breaking the cycle of violence.

Kouta said that one of the strengths of the Chrysalis Academy programme "is that it is a preventative programme, rather than a reactive initiative. While both approaches are necessary in fighting the scourges of crime and drugs in our communities it is very important to be proactive and to offer young people, especially those from disadvantaged communities, the chance to make positive and good choices about their lives and futures, and to carry these values back to the communities they come from.

"We want these young men to emerge as mentors in their communities, people who will be looked up to and bring real change and assist in halting the cycle of crime and violence," said Kouta.

Addressing major issues

UNODC's support of the Government of South Africa's Victim Empowerment Programme addresses one of the major priorities of the National Crime Prevention Strategy. Funded by the European Union and launched in 2008, UNODC works in close partnership with the Department of Social Development and other key stakeholders to address the high rates of criminal victimisation in the country, particularly with regards to women and children. The main purpose of the VEP is to facilitate the establishment and integration of interdepartmental/inter-sectoral programmes and policies for the support, protection and empowerment of victims of crime and violence. Building on this, the VEP's overall development objective is to contribute to building safe and peaceful communities, strengthening the human rights culture and providing more effective, multi-sectoral, coordinated responses to victims of crime and trauma.