My Bulawayo had the chance to sit down and get to know the brain behind Youths for innovation Trust, we sat down with the director of the organisation Thando Gwinji. My Bulawayo (MB) and Thando Gwinji (TG).
MB.Who is Thando Gwinji and Who is Youths for innovation trust?
TG. Thando Gwinji is a human rights activist focusing on the rights of the youth and women based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. She is the managing director of Youth for Innovation Trust which a network of global citizens whose aim is to bring forth youth development through social innovation.
MB.What is your vision as an organisation for the youths of Bulawayo.
TG.Our vision is “to perceive a culture of self-sustenance in a youth led support system” and we are working to ensure that the youth in Bulawayo are the leaders of development.
MB.What are the challenges you face as an organisation operating in Bulawayo?
TG. There are quite a number of challenges that we are facing that most NGOs also face in this hostile state of the economy. However, specific to YIT; most young people are used to the “handouts culture” that had come in with the initial coming in of most civil society organizations; our approach however encourages pro-activeness, rewards effort, and brings in socially oriented development that comes with a culture of volunteerism and it is going to take a while to change that culture though we have measures in place to counter the challenge.
MB.How successful has been your work in Byo and how has the community received you as an organisation.
TG.Bulawayo has been wonderful, we are at home and we have felt at home working closely, not only with the communities but with most of the authorities as well. We are hoping to reach out to more members of the Bulawayo community, hopefully with the assistance of My Bulawayo because mostly our work is online.
MB.What would we be surprised to know about Youths for innovation trust?
TG.That YIT is going to be one of the civil society organizations representing young people in Africa in the 2nd High Level Meeting on Global Partnership in Nairobi, Kenya in November this year
MB.You are a busy woman, looking at your social media presence twitter, facebook, blogs and other organisations you represent, how do you balance all these and still produce results?
TG.Honestly I do not even balance my all of my commitments but my priorities keep me focused and push me to achieve timely results, I leave no stone unturned and at the end of the day I usually ask myself why else I am on earth except to work hard and play my part for the sake of a humane humanity.
MB.Is the youths for innovation trust part of any social responsibility in the city?
TG.Social responsibility is our mandate, our work promotes social oriented innovation and we are a social enterprise which means that in whatever revenue that we generate we use it for community development.
MB.Take us to the day when you realised that Youth empowerment was needed amongst the youths of Bulawayo?
TG.I personally was never content with inequality in all its ugly forms being black, female, full figured, Ndebele and resident in high density suburbs I felt disadvantaged. This is a mentality that was instilled in young people in Bulawayo, they think their identities are their impediment to growth whereas it’s their most powerful resource. At some point in my life I was a minority and within my minority mentality I stood up to contest for a leadership position and won, I was 16years old and since then I knew that youth empowerment is necessary.
MB.We have been following your work as an organisation, you do work with schools in and around the city centre of Bulawayo, how has been your work received by the students, and what are the problems you face in working with these schools?
TG.Currently we have been working with colleges around the city centre and we are in the process of expanding to City Council schools and government. Students are keen to know more about how technology can lead to empowerment and the have received our work with open hands.
MB.Again on your mantra you highlight working with the youths, have you worked with any Youth centres in Bulawayo, if yes how has the response.
TG.We are currently in the process of developing a partnership with the city council and we are certain that we will be working with youth centres in the year 2017.
MB.How has the local government supported you in your activities? Are you funded?
TG.Currently we are self-funded.
MB.What is youths for innovation trust currently working on?
TG.YIT currently has three major projects namely; 1. The Geek Approach to Sustainable Development, 2. Reviving Ubuntu, Promoting Social Innovation and 3. The Social Innovators Network. We are also working on a Breast Cancer Awareness campaign in collaboration with Youth Ahead. Look out for details on all these projects in our social media accounts.
MB.Who qualifies to be part of Youths for innovation trust?
TG.Any young person under the age of 35 by virtue of being youth. Community members and other stakeholders who also believe in our mandate also qualify to be part of YIT.
MB.My Bulawayo gives spotlight to upcoming organisations, individuals and already grown organisations in the city of Bulawayo, anything you would like My Bulawayo to help you with?
TG.Our work is mostly online and it will be super if we join efforts to amplify youth empowerment online in line with the common mandate of both organizations which is to make Bulawayo a better place.
MB.What can you say to the young girl, young boy out there who wants to be part of this great initiative?
TG.Get in touch with +263773594544, email youthsforinnovationtust@gmail.com and follow us on facebook @youthsforinnovationtrust, twitter @youthsforinnov and Instagram on @youthsforinnovation
MB . thank you so much for you time.TG.
Thank you for the spotlight
