Community Project Assignment Introduction and Background The Youth Empowerment and Transformation (YET) Trust contends that

most challenges that our communities first are human made (They are a result of our actions as human beings. However, we note that most if not all of these challenges again can be solved by the community people themselves, often making use of locally available resources. However, in recent resource-limited communities, there is a growing mentality of helplessness whereby most people think that without outside interventions, the problems their respective communities are facing cannot be solved. This has increased our communities donor dependency. My Novel Ideas Can Change My Community! YET is keen on grooming young leaders who are aspiring to solve the challenges their respective communities are facing. More so, these leaders should be innovative to come up with solutions that are sustainable making use of locally available resources. We want leaders willing to stand up and say, My novel ideas can change my community! Over and above they should stand up and pursue their ideas and change their community in a way never seen before. Your Challenge: Six Months to set the tone for Change! Prior to the Winter School, all participants are tasked to undertake research and select one development issue that is posing problems to your community. This problem must be affecting the youth in your community and should be related to the area of the work you are currently doing with your organization. On this issue; Prepare a presentation highlighting the background to this issue/challenge what is your issue, how does it affect the youth, what efforts are currently being done to solve this challenge? Your Novel ideas what are your new ideas to solve this problem, how different are these ideas from what is already being done to solve the problem, what activities will you do, who shall you work with and why? (The activities you do should be within six months after which you should begin to see indications of the beginning of the change you wish to see!) What are the expected outcomes after implementing you ideas what change to the problem do you wish to see, how do you notice if the change has happened?

A work plan showing the distribution of your tasks over six months beginning August 2011 to the end of January 2012.

Every participant is supposed to have this prepared presentation in time for the Winter School. Presentations shall be made during the course of the training with peers giving their input on each others projects in preparation for implementation. For the best project, YET is offering a prize in form of a grant meant to scale up the individuals project in the community. Assessment of Projects The projects shall be assessed at two levels; 1. During the Winter School All project ideas shall be presented during the winter school. This presentation must elaborate on the components required in the description of the project above. The project initiator shall be questioned and given ideas on improving the project during their presentation. The panel of judges shall award points based on innovation, project authenticity, confidence in presenting etc. The marks awarded shall be added incrementally with those of the second level of assessment; 2. During the Winter School Review Meeting After six months, in February 2012, YET shall hold a Review meeting to evaluate the impact of the training on the trained young leaders (Alumni). During this meeting, the alumni shall share their success stories attributable to the training they would have received. Similarly, alumni shall present on the outcomes of their projects, the challenges faced and lessons learnt. Promising projects that win the competition will be supported through grants by YET. The purpose is to support low cost projects led by innovative individuals who are willing to initiate projects even when there are no resources. For any questions for clarification or on anything about the winter school program, contact Alice or Tayson on 0772 702 792/ 0773 102 39/ 04 747 986. Alternatively, email yetprogramme@gmail.com /alicec@yet.org.zw/ taysonm@yet.org.zw . Drop in weekdays at Number 12 Cass Avenue, Hillside, Harare and talk to Alice or Tayson. Remember, initiative, innovation and devotion will win you this challenge. Start now! Meet you at the Winter School!