Global Changemakers

“Deliberately Empowering Vulnerable Entities Looking to Overcome Poverty” as said by Lineekela Nghitila (Namibia), this was consequently the theme of day two of the forum.

With all the excitement and anticipation of the forum and forthcoming WEF Africa, 83 youth activists from Africa and countries all over the world with an interest in Africa, met for the Global Changemakers forum 2009 Africa.

Day one was a day when everyone was introduced to the idea of being global changemakers; the atmosphere was that of great expectation of value and of things to come. The day was highlighted by a live screening of the Presidential South African state of the nation address by the President of South Africa Jacob Zuma. This was followed by an activity looking at the state of the nation address but with a focus of international adjudication from the participants about the address.

The participants were then given a session about the world economic and financial crisis, where the participants shared their views with an in-depth understanding about the crisis, the effects it has on their countries and consequences it has presented.

As the programme continued the participants got a chance to visit local organizations based in Community Hall. Here the participants asked questions about the organization in the Community Hall and got a chance to get an understanding of how to run a project, there were a number of organisations which the participants were introduced to. Although the day was focused on getting the participants to get an idea of a CAP or of how to improve their CAP, the day was highlighted by the visit to Gugulethu a major Cape Town township; the participants were treated to local cuisine and a theatrical interpretive dance by the local actors and dancers.

 The general consensus about the conference was about idea generation and actualisation, many of the participants when attending the market resources workshop got to address their concerns about their CAPs. In the workshop I facilitated the theme was how to mange a CAP and your life, it was interesting to see that the participants had answered their own questions through group interaction and discussion. The only relevant question that the participants sought to be answered was that of what makes a great team and to what factors can we attribute a successful CAP and team?

The participants were once again treated to a wealth of knowledge by experts invited to the conference to give advice and expert knowledge to the participants in their groups of activism. The experts were relatively shocked at the extent of the participants’ knowledge and depth of activism, and so showed their appreciation to be part of such an event.

The conference was brought to a close with five participants being chosen to attend to WEF Africa in Cape Town.