YEP Clan (Youth Empowerment Project) is a young dynamic structure within the community of Khayelitsha, using diversified ways of encouraging active participation for young people through community development programs.
The organization was founded in 2007 by Sizwe Matoti, a resident of Mandela Park in Khayelitsha (South Africa). Sizwe was concerned about the lack of active positive involvement amongst young people around his community, whom mostly resorted in involving themselves in gangs, drug and alcohol abuse and some even dropping out of school as a result. He decided to use the resources and networks of people that he had at his disposal. With the help of the JDI Group/Teach to Fish who helped with the funding and the City of Cape Town, who gave access to the hiking trails, he was then able to form a hiking club in Mandela Park and began taking young boys from the ages of 12 - 18 on hikes every month. The hikes were the initial tool that YEP Clan used to empower young people in the community to show them the immense power, potential and opportunities they can evoke through active participation.
The project is aimed at resolving the social imbalances amongst the youth in our communities through offering them an alternative to gangsterism, drugs and ill social elements by equipping them with social skills to become active members of society.
Another objective of the project is to increase the capacity of involvement and participation amongst young people in the townships of Cape Town to help them build their confidence and break the cycle of poverty through empowerment and education. As an organization, we believe that young people are the core solution to the many problems as they have the answers to why and how effects of today's society affect them.
Vision:
To see young empowered youths that seek to initiate change in their lives and that of the greater communities.
Mission:
Our purpose as an organization is to empower young people in all aspects of leadership development, also to encourage participation in sports and educational activities that seek to empower their minds. Creating a space for opportunities young people can engage in at their full capacity. In essence it’s to replace negativities amongst youths with positive activities that allow them opportunities and growth.
