Uviwe Youth and Child Services

UVIWE CHILD & YOUTH SERVICES

UVIWE is a child protection organization and we continue to focus on strengthening families and communities to prevent child abuse, neglect and malnutrition.

Terminated social work services:
UVIWE’S social work department closed at the end of July 2017 when the Department of Social Development stopped all funding (R4.6 mil) without notice. DSD took over the 1,169 statutory cases (children in foster and alternative care) as part of their paradigm shift strategy to deliver all statutory social work services. We no longer render individual case work services to abused and abandoned children, but our new programmes continues to focus on the prevention of abuse and neglect.

What we do :

Uviwe Child & Youth Services is a community based, child protection and education support organization. We are based in the vibrant community of Schauderville, Port Elizabeth and our motivation is to put children first.

We pride ourselves in our longstanding track record of being champions of children’s rights, agents of hope and enabling a safe and nurturing environment in which children can develop their potential. Our dream is that all children can read and become active participants in shaping their own futures.

We mostly work with vulnerable children from the Northern areas in PE. More than 300 children from the age group 2-5 years attend our ECD centres daily. Our afterschool programme in Schauderville caters for up to 60 grade 4-7 pupils. Our training and community awareness programmes strengthen child protection systems in communities.

UVIWE - directly translated from isiXhosa means - “you are heard”.

We believe in every child, family and community’s ability to speak up and stand against crime, abuse and neglect of its most vulnerable citizens. We set ourselves apart from other organisations as we:

Stand out by virtue of our passion and commitment towards what we do;
Our culture of transparency & accountability towards donors and the general public and
We stay closely connected to children, families and communities.

Uviwe is a progressive community based organisaton. We are often on the forefront of innovative social change programmes.

Our top 3 projects :

ECD

We run 5 centre based early childhood development programmes in the Northern Areas, where more than 300 kids (2-5 years) have access to stimulation & development, as well as nutritional meals and social support services

Afterschool programme (Grade 4-7)

We run an afterschool and homework support programme for grade 4-7 pupils in Schauderville. The aim is to prevent school drop outs and to help youth to reach their full potential to become active citizens in their communities. (maths & language tutoring is included)

Youth life skills & social entrepreneurship

The youth “backpackers” and entrepreneurship (ZILP) programmes are aimed at equipping teens with the right skills for the journey of life. From a young age we want to facilitate the right mindset for young people to move away from dependency towards shaping your own future and being an active participant (not recipient of grants).
A list of your needs

Goods:

Stationery (ECD or afterschool) - Numeracy/Literacy games
Educational toys (age 2-5 years) - Books (any age, for mobile library)
Outdoor play equipment - Stoves and microwave
Matrasses (ECD)

Skills – tutors for afterschool (maths & language)

Building maintenance is a major challenge, due to break-ins, vandalism. Any building contractor who can assist us will be welcome1

Volunteers for fundraising, marketing and networking support

Unrestricted funding is critical to ensure we can attract and retain competent staff, build a strong organization to ensure continuity and to use effective management information systems (data application programmes for M&E). The cost of an integrated communication and marketing strategy is also important, as well as day to day running costs.

A success story!
OUR APPROACH – children are not “beneficiaries” of services, but rather active participants in shaping their own futures.
UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF ALL CHILDREN

Jude Fortuin graduated from Uviwe’s ECD centre, Ruth McCullum, in 2012. The crèche is situated in Schauderville, a community characterized by high incidences of gang related crime, domestic violence, poverty, rape, teenage pregnancy, child abuse and high school drop-out numbers. Jude is now attending school at St Theresa’s where he is the head boy of the school. He came to thank teacher Claire Windvogel for all the hard work she has done and for always encouraging the children in her class to become great achievers in life. Jude also stands in line to get a bursary at Alexandria High School for 2018.Contact person