Youth & Community Engagement
Africa is a youthful continent with the majority of the population being youth, 70% of sub-Saharan Africa under the age of 30. As such, young people play a key role in Africa’s development and prosperity. This is why creating space and opportunities for young people to dream, innovate and create is central to our work.
Our Innovation Hub, is a specially curated space for thought leadership, artivism, invention, critical conversation, problem solving and much more. We harness the youth demographic dividend by investing in young people across Africa to unleash their potential to drive transformative change in their communities, countries and the world at large.
Students with Dreams (SWD) Programme
SWD is a youth leadership programme that enables college students to develop innovative projects that address pressing social issues, and provides them with training, mentorship, and seed funding. The first creative leadership programme of its kind for college students in Malawi, SWD inspires young leaders to become agents of change in society by: encouraging critical thinking and creative problem solving; cultivating skills in project design, implementation and management; and fostering inter-disciplinary collaboration and mutual support. To date, we have over 300 Dreamers who have successfully launched over 100 social impact projects.
Policy hackathons
We put together all the relevant players in a sector — young people, policymakers, government technocrats, civil society, community actors etc — into one room to develop policy solutions that address the intersection between climate, economic and gender justice and social inclusion and diversity. Our hackathons allow young people to go beyond dialogue and become involved in the solution creation process.
Creatives/Artist in Residence Program (CARP)
The CARP is for artists and creatives and art organizations/networks. Each year, we recruit a group of artists and creatives into the CARP. The first few months are dedicated to training and skills development and the greater part of the year, fellows are supported to create and run innovative campaigns and projects and supported with ongoing mentorship. The CARP goes beyond what art school teaches by teaching artists and creatives how to bring their creative skills to activism in ways that work.
School of Artivism
The School is for activists, advocacy and broader civil society organizations who are keen to use creative tools and arts to strengthen their advocacy. This 3 – 5 day workshop increases the impact of advocacy and awareness campaigns by teaching participants and organisations how to effectively use culture and creativity to engage and activate new audiences.
Tailored Workshops
We also offer workshops on Human centred design; participatory arts – including theatre for development -; participatory research methodologies and any other areas of interest based on the client’s needs.
Certification
We provide academic courses, in partnership with accredited institutions, which provide much certification to creatives and artists, which they would not normally get in Malawi due to lack of Art Schools. Courses offered are:
- Photography
- Visual Arts
- Graphic Designing
- Theatre for Development
- Human Centered Design
