SAYes Mentoring was founded in 2008 to improve personal, social, educational and employment outcomes for under-served children and young people in South Africa, through mentoring. Our beneficiaries are high school learners and youth living in Children's Homes (known locally as Child and Youth Care Centres).
Current figures reveal that 31% of South African youth are not in employment, education or training. South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world and this inequality is due not just to wealth but to the differences in the networks of introduction available to different sections of South African society.
At SAYes we train mentors to support and motivate young people to develop their skills and education to find a pathway to sustainable employment. Mentors and mentees meet one-to-one for one hour a week over a 7-9 month period. During this time goals and deadlines are set in the areas of education and learning, housing and citizenship, family and community, sport and recreation and career development.
Our primary objectives are improvements in independence and well-being. We measure our impact through a selection of psychometric indicators as well as community level indicators. In 2018 92% of our mentees from Children's Homes successfully completed an education grade/level. 50% of our high school graduates are now studying at a university or a vocational college and 38% are employed.
