The crisis that our youth is facing is not a new challenge and although the symptoms may vary the problem has remained the same for many generations. Many parents and guardians are absent because of work; many are absent out of choice and sadly, so many are absent because of tragic events, illness or incarceration.

Western Cape is notorious for its high prevalence of gangs and resulting gang violence. This area of South Africa further has elevated substance abuse statistics. Gangs and drugs are inextricably linked and often affecting innocent bystanders. This places significant strain on the health, social welfare and defense sectors but most of all places the future of our youth in jeopardy by making learning and education near impossible in some areas.

Because of the high numbers of gangs and people involved in gangs many of our youths grow up with a negative role model in their lives leading to a large need in terms of raising children to understand a healthy and positive set of ethics and morals. This occurrence affects the quality of our youth’s core beliefs and character negatively.

Although statistics are hard to come by, the following statistics, supplied by the Human Sciences Research Council (Umthente Uhlaba Usamila: the 3rd South African National Youth Risk Behaviour Schools Survey 2011), demonstrates the current reality at schools:

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-36% of learners reported having had sex, while 12% reported the age of their initial sexual activity as being under the age of 14.
-18% of learners who have had sex reported that they had either been pregnant or made someone pregnant.
-The national prevalence of learners who have had sex and who reported having an abortion was 8.4%.
-13.3% of learners had carried a dangerous weapon such as a gun or knife to school.
-34% had been bullied in the month prior to the study.
-27% of learners had been involved in a physical fight (e.g. punching or hitting) on one or more occasions in the six months preceding the survey.
-15.5% of learners had been members of gangs.
-21.2% had felt unsafe at school during the previous month.
-25% (i.e. 1 out of 4) of learners had felt so sad or hopeless during the previous six months that they stopped doing some usual activities for two or more weeks in a row.
-17.6% considered attempting suicide during the six months preceding the survey.
-27.6% of learners had smoked cigarettes in their lifetime.
-32.3% of learners had drunk alcohol on one or more days in the month preceding the survey.
-25.1% of learners had been binge drinking in the previous month.
-12.8% of learners reported having used dagga (cannabis).
-9.7% of learners had taken at least one drug, such as heroin, mandrax, sugars (cocaine) or tik, in their lifetime.
-11.5% of learners had used inhalants such as glue, aerosols, paint thinners, petrol or benzene.

PYM61 in partnership with Unashamedly Ethical has a desire to see bridges built and communities unite. Today’s teens and young adults hold many keys to forgiveness, reconciliation and freedom from our past mistakes. We know how to tap into this ability and help them become prominent spearheads in leading to change in our country. PYM61 is built on a biblical foundation with a firm belief in the triune God. We believe in God the Father, His son Jesus who died for our sins and rose again and the Holy Spirit as our helper. We believe we should be wise as doves in this present time and carry the truth about His good news wherever we go, in whatsoever manner possible.

Unashamedly Ethical is an association of individuals and organizations guided by a founding vision to transform society by taking a stand for ethics, values and clean living. UE confront corruption and injustice through coordinated, targeted and impactful advocacy and campaigns to advance ethical behavior. Their objective is to reach a tipping point where ethical behavior becomes the norm. they do this through lobbying commitment to support ethics, providing support to achieve sustainability through an independent ombudsperson.

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UE have decided to also reach out to the youth and have partnered with PYM61 to develop a UE youth strategy.

In this pilot project for the roll out of the UE youth strategy we will pioneer an effective and fine-tuned model to apply country wide through other projects like PYM61.

Accountability and quality control

Unashamedly Ethical has developed a method wherein they will be able to measure and manage to Unashamedly Ethic AL’s offices and the programme will be under their professional scrutiny and support. The PYM61 programme will be the pilot for Unashamedly Ethical’s Youth programme and will be duplicated Nationally and eventually Internationally.

We operate in the community in the way that community operates. Our management has an open-door policy. We work, play, laugh and cry together.

We envision a sustainable 15-year strategic plan of which the main regional focus would fall on the Drakenstein Valley. For the sake of transparency and accountability a non-profit NPC was established with a duo of advisors.

The PYM61 identity is inspired by Promethium, which is used in luminous paint, batteries and for measuring the thickness of materials.

This vision has been in the making over the last 13 years. The Dreyer’s, as founders, invested nearly half of their lives to Youth Ministry with many success stories to share.

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They have witnessed thousands of kids turn their lives around with long lasting relationships that matured and multiplied into further ministries. PYM61 is a holistic ministry that utilizes full-time salaried Life Guides as the community catalyst from within a school.

The Life Guides will be rolling out a curriculum developed for Unashamedly Ethical to develop a keen understanding of morals and ethics by discussing the 10 commitments of the youth pledge in depth over a period of 10 months.The Life Guides will also be providing a platform for ministries from the area to speak to specific needs while strengthening the school’s position in providing support. This also assists school management to be more effective with support toward learners without increasing their workload.

We need to understand the demographics for our strategy to be effective.

The Drakenstein Municipality statistics conclude that the clear majority grouping within our area can be classified as Colored, followed by Black and then White. The minorities are Indian/Asian and other racial groups. We have a large contingency of Afrikaans speaking people, followed by isiXhosa and then English. isiZulu and Sepedi also appear in very small percentage representation.

In 2014 a study by Stat SA showed that 68% of youth aged 16-34 years were more likely to be victims and perpetrators of assault, robbery and property theft than adults.

Because each community and school are a unique living organism it is important for us to have our finger on the pulse without missing a beat, therefore the effectiveness of the PYM61 project will continually be measured in a formal as well as an informal structure.

Formal Monitoring and evaluation of the project. (M&E)

A plan has been developed to define the planned monitoring and evaluation system including activities, targets, indicators, data collection tools, analysis, reporting and other processes, which will be used, by Unashamedly Ethical and PYM61 to meet proper M&E requirements.

This M&E plan will therefore guide Unashamedly Ethical on the goals and objectives of the program and how these will be achieved and measured. All program staff and work streams of the program, including partners, will ensure that M&E and reporting forms an integral part of the achievement of the objectives of the program.

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Indicators that are used in the survey
The following 48 indicators are used:

1. Rules, regulations and codes of conduct in a school – 4 indicators
2. Values and culture – 17 indicators
3. Personal indicators – 27 indicators

Means of measuring
This M&E tool is applied in the format of a survey in the following way:

1. Determine the baseline in a school before starting the Unashamedly Ethical Youth Project
2. Repeat the survey after the project and compare data to measure the outcomes

The M&E will include learners, teachers and parents to ensure a balanced and all-inclusive approach. The M&E is the intellectual property of Unashamedly Ethical and will be made available upon request.

KPI’s:
Our program will be very flexible to accommodate the unique needs of every school and community. As can be seen on the illustration below we plan to roll out the project over a three-year period, with specific goals set out for each year to cultivate an effective in-depth solution that can become deep enough to initiate lasting change.

A Life Guide must have the ability to:

– Clearly communicate with principals, teachers and parents of any school in their area of operation.
– Relate well with people of different backgrounds and beliefs.
– Solve problems and resolve conflict.
– Strong, contagious follower of Christ.
– Be willing to make sacrifices for the Kingdom.
– To get involved in community activities.
– Easily adapt to social requirements within respective communities.

Responsibilities:

– Support teachers in identifying and referring of learners that need special attention with regards to any aspect of life.
– Establish a relationship of trust with the teachers, parents and learners and network with specialists from the community.
– Launch a support and enrichment program within the school to cater to the school community.
– Establish, mentor and assist a committee of learners that will help organize all events and become peer mentors to a forum.
– Gain support and input from the community ministries, churches and individuals.

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– Analyze the current need in the school and area to establish criteria for organizations with which partnerships
must be established.
– Assemble support teams.
– Equip and motivate community and school leaders.
– Communicate regularly with the support teams.
– Build strong relationship with the community members, learners, teachers and support teams.
– Organize, facilitate and implement training, discipleship and prayer sessions.
– Monitor & evaluate the implementation of the Pym61 operational flow chart.
– Establish a value-based culture in the community/school with the main Unashamedly Ethical Values as foundation.
– Constantly keep a finger on the pulse for needs from the teachers as well as the learners.
– Implement prayer culture.
– See to it that monthly newsletters or feedback is given to the Operations support manager whom will in return
give feedback to:
o School
o Parents
o Sponsors
o Community
o Unashamedly ethical partners.
– Liaise with community and support team representatives for ongoing input strategies and support.