IkamvaYouth is a by-youth, for-youth non-profit organisation that enables South African youth to get themselves out of poverty and into university or employment.

We provide after-school academic support, mentoring, computer classes, HIV awareness workshops, testing and counselling and extra-curricular activities to learners in grades 9 to 12. We work with the same committed learners throughout their final years in secondary school to ensure that they access post-school opportunities.

IkamvaYouth's innovative model leverages the power of peer-to-peer learning and mentoring, volunteerism and cross-sector partnerships to redress inequality and transform South Africa.   

We are based in three provinces:

In the Western Cape
We are based at the Nazeema Isaacs library in Makhaza, Khayelitsha, and the Nyanga library. We are currently establishing a new branch at the Masiphumelele library.

In Kwa Zulu Natal
We are based at the Mayville Secondary School in Cato Manor.

In Gauteng
We are based at the Siyakhula centre in Ebony Park.

The project is driven completely by the commitment, enthusiasm and creativity of the ikamvanites (volunteers and learners). Our volunteers are a diverse and amazing bunch: students, graduates and lecturers from various tertiary institutions across the country and professionals working in NGOs, government and the private sector. We are also often joined by international interns from around the world. Forty to fifty percent of our current volunteer base in the Western Cape comprises ex-learners from our programme. This, together with our high success rate (see below), is a striking indicator that our work is highly valued by our beneficiaries.

IkamvaYouth has a great vision: we have shown that positive change is possible with very little resources and a lot of passion, and believe that our model is replicable across South Africa. We provide a cost-effective solution to some of South Africa’s biggest problems: the low skills base, unemployment, lack of black professionals, brain drain, poverty and youth turning to crime. So if you want to get involved, please drop an email to info@ikamvayouth.org.

IkamvaYouth believes in publicly declaring its financial position to ensure accountability and transparency. Our financial statements are available here for download. If you have any comments/queries, please contact Luyanda.

For more information about the organisational's legal framework please consult our constitution. For further financial information please consult our financials page. If you have any comments or queries please contact Luyanda (W.Cape), Andrew (Gauteng) or Khona (KZN).

For a better understanding of who we are, and what we do, please read our latest annual report (2008).

To see how the organization has grown over the last few years please consult the older annual reports:

• 2007 Annual report
• 2003 - 2006 Progress Report

Ikamvanites, you can access our intranet here.