Participant Experience: 2019 South Africa Youth Leadership Development Program

Melissa Othabetswe Sithole participated in the AMI South Africa Youth Leadership Development Program (YLDP) which took place in September 2019.

My name is Melissa Othabetswe Sithole and I am currently a student at the University of Witwatersrand. I’m studying towards a degree in Psychology.

Africa Matters is a youth organisation that focuses on empowering youth by providing them with skills that they can take going into the work force. Inspired and upskilled by the workshop, this year I started interning at Africa Matters in March this year to help further develop my skills.

Africa Matters has provided me with the confidence and the skills I need going into the workplace. I have always been someone who was never confident with public speaking or interacting with people in general.

That workshop got me out of my comfort zone with the social entrepreneurship presentations and exposed me to so many wonderful people from all over Gauteng. Not only were the facilitators encouraging and helpful, my peers were also welcoming and willing to help.

One of the key skills I need in my chosen career path in Psychology is interacting with people and team work. Both these skills were some of the things I learnt from the workshop. Interning with Africa Matters is helping me further these skills and use them in a practical setting.

This was emphasised in the YLDP workshop to get an internship in your own community and use the skills gained from the workshop in a practical work setting. These include for me: communication skills, leadership skills, teamwork as well as creativity. These were all skills that I acquired during the Youth Leadership Development Program that I attended.