INTRODUCTION

Every Leadership And Entrepreneurship Programme (LEAP) student must buy an own A5 Notebook and a pen. You will use this for your assignments, both at home, and bring it along to every Study Group meeting. You will probably need to buy one new A4 Notebook every month. You can buy this kind of notebook at any CNA shop or other stationery shop, Checkers or Game, for less than R20.00. Here is an example from the CNA online shop:

Every week you will need to complete 4 Personal Assignments PLUS 1 Groupwork Assignment.

You will complete the 4 Personal Assignments while you are at your home.

Once a week you need to meet with a Study Group of fellow students, either at the Satellite Campus( e.g. Youth Centre), or if you live further away, you can also choose to meet at a suitable place closer to where you and your other Study Group members live, such as a church or by asking your local school principal if you can meet after school in one of the classrooms.

NOTE:

• It is your responsibility as a Study Group to organise your own Study Group venue AND to keep it clean. Please keep on reading to learn about the “Broom Keeper” task.
• This forms part of your leadership training: by arranging your own Study Group venue you are showing that you can take initiative and by making sure that it is always clean and neat, you are showing the owners of the venue that you can be TRUSTED with responsiblity.

If you or someone in your family has a cellphone and you can use it to access your email address, you will receive an email once a week, which will contain your 4 PERSONAL ASSIGNMENTS and your 1 GROUPWORK ASSIGNMENT.

If you do not have a cellphone or an email, you can write the 4 PERSONAL ASSIGNMENTS down, by copying them from one of your fellow students’ who do have a cellphone, and write them down in your notebook.

One of the MOST IMPORTANT things we have to learn in life, and therefore one of the most important things that you all have to learn through the LEAP Course, is TEAMWORK! Teamwork makes the Dream Work!

So PLEASE always help each other as students, so that NO-ONE is left behind!

1. Study Group Arrangements

LEAP Students who live within walking distance of one another must form a Study Group. Each STUDY GROUP must have between 3-15 members.

If there are more than 15 students staying close to one another, please divide yourselves into 2 or more Study Groups.

Each Study Group must decide WHICH DAY and TIME and PLACE you will meet each week for your Study Group meetings.

Once you have formed a Study Group, please provide list of Student ID Numbers to your Course Facilitator and ask them to provide you with your Study Group Number. Also provide your Course Facilitator with the DAY and TIME during which your Study Group is planning to meet each week, as well as the PLACE.

Please DO NOT meet on Sundays.

2. Point System

The LEAP Course uses a Point System to award you for two kinds of points:

a) ACADEMIC POINTS and

b) REWARD POINTS.

ACADEMIC POINTS count towards your academic study assignments. These are used towards obtaining your SAQA Certification.

REWARD POINTS are awarded based on your attitude, meeting deadlines, taking initiative, showing leadership skills and other aspects. You can also lose REWARD Points for having a negative attitude, missing deadlines, never taking the initiative, not fulfilling your leadership roles, being disrespectful, and other aspects. The LEAP Course is part of the greater Young Africa VISION, which is aimed at working THROUGH YOU to transform you, your family, your community, our country and continent in order to OVERCOME poverty, crime, disease and hopelessness, and instead to create WEALTHY, SAFE, HAPPY and HEALTHY communities. In partnership with the Young Africa FOUNDATION and Young Africa INVESTMENTS, we are creating opportunities for LEAP students to get jobs or develop their own businesses. Students with more REWARD Points will be given such opportunities first, while students with less REWARD Points will have to wait before being offered any opportunities.

You will receive a maximum of 10 Academic Points for each Personal Assignment and 10 Academic Points for attending and participating in each Study Group Assignment.

There is no limit on REWARD Points, either positive or negative. REWARD Points are awarded based on specific criteria, which will be communicated to you over time. For instance, if you complete all your Personal Assignments and attend all your Study Group Assignment, you will receive 10 REWARD Points that week. If you complete only your Personal Assignments but miss the Study Group Assignment, you will receive 5 REWARD Points. If you don’t complete your Personal Assignments you will lose 1 REWARD Point per Assignment. There are also REWARD Points for your role in the Study Group Leadership.

During the first two months, your REWARD Points will be awarded manually by the ACADEMY For A Young Africa based on your participation and you will receive an email with a REWARD Point Statement at the end of each month.

During the third month, you will be able to track your REWARD Points online on the LEAP App. We are currently finalising the building of the LEAP App and are expecting to launch it for Course Facilitators in May 2021 and for Students as from June 2021.

2. Group Leadership Team

The Leadership And Entrepreneurship Programme or “LEAP” for short, is a mass skills training programme to help all the millions of unemployed youth in South Africa, and even across Africa, to learn the skills that you need to build BEAUTIFUL, SUCCESSFUL lives in the 21st Century.

LEAP wants to help each student to develop their LEADERSHIP skills, in addition to any entrepreneurship or business skills.

The Study Groups are designed to help all students to develop their LEADERSHIP skills. The way in which this is done is that each Study Group Member will get a change to play a LEADING ROLE.

So during your 1st Study Group Session please elect your first Study Group LEADERSHIP TEAM. The Study Group works like a Soccer Team, but also has Portfolio Leaders.

Please decide among yourselves who must play which of the following roles during the first three (3) months:

• COACH: This person is the overall LEADER of the Study Group. He or she will be chairing the meetings, open and close with a prayer and make sure that each one gets a chance to speak and that no one is left out! He or she will also be ensuring that the Study Group RULES are followed and will always MOTIVATE all Study Group members to come to the Study Group meetings. The COACH must work with the COMMUNICATION Officer to arrange and confirm the Study Group Meeting Venue.
• CAPTAIN: The Captain is the key MOTIVATOR of the Study Group. He or she must always make an effort to communicate with all students in the group so that everyone knows what is happening, and to ENCOURAGE all students during the week to complete their homework assignments and to NOT GIVE UP!
• SECRETARY: The Secretary is the one who must keep the Attendance Register of the Study Group Meeting and also keeps any written Reports from the Study Group Session for the month, until she or he can either send them by WhatsApp immediately after the Study Group Meeting, or hand them over to the Course Facilitator once a month, during the monthly ASSESSMENT Session.
• TREASURER: The Treasurer is the one who makes sure that any monies that are collected or made by the Study Group as part of their Study Group Assignments are kept safe and used for the right purpose.
• LAW & ORDER OFFICER: The Law & Order Officer is responsible to make sure that everything is running smoothly and that no one does anything to disturb the work of the Study Group. supported by the COACH and the CAPTAIN, makes sure that the Study Group members work together to arrange a BROOM. Every week, one Study Group member has to be responsible for “BROOM DUTY”. This means that he or she becomes the “BROOM KEEPER”. The BROOM KEEPER must arrive 30 minutes BEFORE the start of the planned Study Group Meeting, with the broom, in order to sweep the Meeting Hall before the others arrive. The LAW & ORDER OFFICER must then make sure that all students arriving first take off their shoes, before entering the clean Meeting Hall. NOTE: Students are encouraged to wear socks and to keep these socks on, when they enter the Meeting Hall for the Study Group Meeting. The LAW & ORDER OFFICER must also make sure that, before the end of the Study Group Meeting, another student is given the role as “BROOM KEEPER”. This student must then stay late after the Study Group Meeting, in order to sweep the Meeting Hall again, close all windows and doors, make sure everything is left neat and clean and take the key of the Meeting Hall to the responsible person, before leaving with the Broom. The next week the BROOM KEEPER has to be early to sweep the hall before the Study Group Session starts. He or she will then hand back the broom to the LAW & ORDER OFFICER, who will again give it to the next student before the end of the Study Group Session. In this way, each student should be the BROOM KEEPER at least once per Term. The LAW & ORDER OFFICER must also keep a record of any student who is disrupting Study Group Meetings or who arrives late. This information must be provided to the COACH, who must then send it by email to the Course Facilitator. Students who are disrespectful will lose points.
• COMMUNICATION OFFICER: The COMMUNICATION OFFICER will support the COACH through communication with the other students, for instance, if there is a change in day or time of the Study Group Meeting, or other critical message from the Course Facilitator. She or he will also work with the COACH to ask for permission to use a Study Group Meeting venue. Each week the Communication Officer must confirm together with the COACH that the venue is available and communicate the address of this venue and any change of date and time of the meeting to all Study Group Members, as well as to the Course Facilitator. All communication will be via WhatsApp, until the AFAYA App is ready. The Communication Officer also must generally build good relationships with everyone in the Study Group, as well as in the community.
• PORTFOLIO LEADERS:
  • COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE – one student must serve as the Portfolio Leader for Community Infrastructure. This student will be responsible for taking the lead on any Study Group Assignment involving community infrastructure.
  • CULTURAL INDUSTRIES – one student must serve as the Portfolio Leader for Cultural Industries. This student will be responsible for taking the lead on any Study Group Assignment involving cultural activities.
  • ECOLOGY- one student will serve as the Portfolio Leader for Ecology. This student will be responsible for taking the lead on any environment or agricultural activities.
  • EDUCATION – one student will serve as the Portfolio Leader for Education. This student will be responsible for taking the lead on any education or academic-related activities.
  • HEALTH – one student will serve as the Portfolio Leader for Health. This student will be responsible for taking the lead on any health, wellness or fitness-related activities.
  • TECHNOLOGY- one student will serve as the Portfolio Leader for Technology. This student will be responsible for taking the lead on any technology-related activities.

If there are more than 12 Study Group Members, the other members must join one of the “PORTFOLIO LEADERS” as a Deputy, e.g. become a “Deputy HEALTH PORTFOLIO LEADER”.

Every three months, you as a Study Group must elect a new TEAM of LEADERS, so that you can switch roles and that in the end EACH STUDENT will have played a leading role at the end of the LEAP Course Level 1.

As soon as you have finished electing your new LEADERSHIP TEAM during this 1st Study Group Session, the COACH must be the CHAIRPERSON of this Study Group Meeting and make sure that you all take part in the following Study Group WORKSESSION:

3. Study Group WORKSESSION 1

UNIT STANDARD:

STUDY GROUP 1 & 2

10007

Identify, analyse and select business opportunities

Level 1

NQF Level 01

1

All Study Group WORKSESSIONS are aimed at helping you to understand your community better, so that you can start TAKING ACTION to identify the needs in the community, build businesses to serve your community or organise activities and events that can help to make your community stronger.

OBJECTIVE: The first step before anything can be done is to do “MARKET RESEARCH” or a community “NEEDS ASSESSMENT”. During Study Group Session 1 you will start by brainstorming and writing down those businesses and services that are already in your community, and those which you believe are necessary to improve the quality of life in your community or to achieve savings.

Here are the instructions for the Study Group WORKSESSION 1:

1. Please divide into “Breakaway Groups” of 5 students.
2. Make sure that each “Breakaway Group” has a member with a notebook and a pen to serve as the “SCRIBE” – i.e. to take notes.
3. Ask the “Breakaway Groups” members to sit together in their smaller group, in a circle.
4. Each “Breakaway Group” must elect a Session Chairperson, the Scribe and a “Rapporteur” (this is the student who will give verbal feedback to the big Study Group after the end of the “Breakaway Group” discussion.
5. The Session Chairperson must now take the lead and ask the group to discuss the following question:

QUESTION:

Please make a list of:

• A. All the kinds of shops, businesses and community facilities (e.g. soccer fields, movie theatres) that are available in WALKING DISTANCE to you in your community and those where you have to drive for 30 minutes to get there. Write down the list in your Notebook, as you and your fellow students brainstorm this list, then add whether the shop or business or service or facility is within walking distance from your home, or whether you have to drive there for 30 minutes, or longer. Here is an example:

• Clinic – W (“W” for walking distance)
• Supermarket – T 30 min (“T” for taxi or car)
• Créche – T 1 hour (“T” for taxi or car)
• Car fixing place – T 30 min
• Hairdressing Salon – W
• Shebeen – W
• Internet Café – T 30 min
• etc.

• B. All the kinds of shops and businesses that are NOT YET available in your community, whether in walking distance or whether you have to drive 30 minutes to get there.

• C. When you have completed these lists, please each choose the TOP THREE kinds of shops, businesses, services and community facilities that DO NOT EXIST YET, which you believe should FIRST be started in your community. Add up the votes and write down the TOP THREE overall that you all agree should be started in your community as quickly as possible!

TIME LIMIT: You have 20 minutes for the Group Discussion.

After 20 minutes the COACH must stand up from the group he or she was part of and ask everyone to stop and to report back.

The COACH then chairs the Study Group Session and asks the Rapporteur from each Group to give feedback by reading their lists, and then mentioning their TOP THREE shops, businesses or community facilities, that their group would like to see opening in their community.

GROUP FEEDBACK FOR GROUP ASSESSMENT PURPOSES:

The SECRETARY must take notes by writing down the TOP THREE from each Group, as they are giving feedback, and send this information by WhatsApp to the Course Facilitator, who will be forwarding it to the ACADEMY For A Young Africa Head Office. PLEASE REMEMBER to add your Study Group Number to the WhatsApp! Here is an example of how the WhatsApp must look like: (This is just including feedback from one Breakaway Group):

4. Closing

The COACH must now read the following:

We have now come to the end of our 1st STUDY GROUP SESSION. As explained, please keep an eye on your Gmail Emails to see your Assignments for next week, and also make sure that you meet next week for your Study Group Session.

IF YOU HAVE NOT REGISTERED, please check your email address for your REGISTRATION email. If you have not received any registration email by Monday, 12 April 2021, please contact your Course Facilitator at the Satellite Campus to check if your email address on the Student List is correct.

Also, please all remember to tell your friends about this LEAP Course and the Bursary, so that we can register MORE students from our own family and friends, in order to help grow wealth in our own communities and others.

(Please agree on the day, time and venue of your 2nd STUDY GROUP SESSION, before closing with a prayer.)

Let us just close this session with a prayer:

“Our Father in Heaven, in the Name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we THANK YOU for this opportunity and for your blessing, by bringing us all together to start studying together in this 1st Study Group. Please be with each student as they travel home and as they start this exciting new journey towards skills development with the ACADEMY For A Young Africa. We ask this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

THANK YOU!

After the end of the Study Group Session, all students must help to put the chairs in a neat order and the Broom Keeper must make sure that all windows are closed and that they Meeting Hall is neat and clean.

It’s Time To START preparing for SUCCESS!

“God did not give us a Spirit of Fear. His Spirit is a source of POWER and LOVE and SELF-DISCIPLINE.”

– 2 Timothy 1:7