Say Hello To The Future Leaders Of South Africa!

If you type in the word ‘leadership skills’ in Google you will get an astonishing 531,000,000 results. Add the word ‘South-Africa’ and this is reduced to 47,000,000 and if you add the word ‘youth’ you will find that the results are reduced to half that number.

With a local focus, the UNITE program of the Scalabrini Centre aims to develop and improve skills in leadership and community activism and to encourage young learners to think critically about their contribution to their communities in South African Society. By empowering young potential leaders, the program enables the children to participate in national but also international dialogues, debates and written pieces that can assist them to combat socio-economic changes.

Last Friday, on the 22nd of September, the students of the UNITE program of Scalabrini, put their preparations into practice and follow in the footsteps of the many great speakers and debaters proceeding them. With a rich history of powerful speakers like Nelson Mandela or Yvonne Mokgoro (the first black female judge) the children felt inspired to put their many hours of preparation into action!

Students debated the future possibility of ‘encampment policies’ for refugees in South Africa. They enriched us with their undeniable charismatic and convincing way of speaking and unique perceptions on this current socio-political debate. The judges would like to congratulate all speakers and give a special shout-out to the winner of the Best Speaker of the Day Ivan!

If you would like to know more about the UNITE program or if you would like to contribute to the program please take a look at the UNITE Program page.