South Africa

Spot Lite Development is a Youth run Empowerment organisation. Our goal is for the youth of South Africa – primarily those from disadvantaged backgrounds – to have equal access to quality education and empowerment opportunities. We want to integrate the youth in the diverse country we live in, and give them the chance to experience South Africa in a way they never had before.
This goal will be done through, but not limited to the following four interventions:
1) Create initiatives that will have the primary aim of giving awareness to relevant opportunities to the youth. This objective is done primarily through the establishment of the online youth portal www.jibesa.co.za, currently operating as www.jibesa.co.za/stage
2) Educational programmes for South African schools. This objective will be done through the Red Tick education programme that introduces learners to time management skills and goal setting techniques
3) Literacy and Numeracy PDF cards
4) Youth Empowerment Camps hosted in partnership with the Soweto Kliptown Youth Centre

Please list links to your Website and Social Media Platforms here:

Spot Lite Development
Facebook: @Spot.Lite712
Twitter: @Spotlite_Dev

Our active initiative is an Online Youth Opportunities platform: J.I.B.E Online
website: www.jibesa.co.za/stage
Facebook: @JIBE.SA1
Twitter: @Jibe_SA

Describe in detail what your Organisation does:

Spot Lite Development is a youth run development organisation. Our goal is for the youth of South Africa – primarily those from disadvantaged backgrounds – to have equal access and opportunities to quality education and employment. We want to integrate the youth in the diverse country we live in, and give them the chance to experience South Africa in a way they never had before.

This goal will be done through, but not limited to the following two Interventions:
1) Create initiatives that will have the primary aim of giving awareness to relevant opportunities to the youth. This objective will be done primarily through the establishment of the online youth portal www.jibesa.co.za, currently operating as www.jibesa.co.za/stage. J.I.B.E SA , which is an acronym for JOBS INNOVATIONS BUSINESS and EDUCATION, is more than just a web based service. This initiative will seek to achieve its primary goal through accessibility assistance of information primarily but not limited to the Youth of South Africa who are looking, willing and hoping to make a change in their lives.

One of the biggest socio-economic problems facing South Africa today is unemployment. People need jobs to support themselves and their families or opportunities to create business thus creating more employment especially the youth who are the backbone of society. Thus it is very important to create a platform whereby people from all backgrounds can get relevant information regarding jobs, internships, bursaries, business training; funding, and our service seeks to help them in this regard.

As Spot Lite Development, we aim to offer opportunities of quality information to the youth from disadvantaged backgrounds through the establishment of this youth portal. We aim to work with citizens from various communities closely to give the youth experiences which they wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to. (We also intend to take things one step further, by creating job opportunities in the organisation and through various programmes within the organization). Ultimately, our goal is for the youth of South Africa – primarily those from disadvantaged backgrounds – to have equal access and opportunities to quality information and employment. We want to integrate the youth in the diverse country we live in, and give them the chance to experience South Africa in a way they never had before.

J.I.B.E has started off as a website. We intend to grow to other means of communication and information accessibility platforms such as newspapers, mobile apps, podcasts and newsletters. The aim is to ensure every communication available to the youth is used as an information dissemination platform

Educational programmes for South African schools. This objective will be done through the Red Tick education programme that introduces learners to time management skills and goal setting techniques

How long has your Organisation been operational?

The idea came about in 2012 but we were formally registered as an NPO in February 2017

In your opinion, what has been the most challenging aspect of running your Organisation?

Funding or lack thereof. We started our initial intervention: J.I.B.E Online Youth opportunities without carefully creating a value proposition that would make people pay for our service.

Describe your Nonprofit Journey in three words:

Difficult
Educational
Strengthening

Do you collaborate with other Causes? If yes, would you like to mention them?

Not as yet

If you had one Organisation wish, what would it be?

To create a sustainable financial model for our organisation, to ensure that nothing we want to do is hindered by grant funding

In your opinion, which skills do Nonprofits in your Country lack?

Turning the social activism into social entrepreneurship. This does not mean abandoning your social cause but rather using blended value (taking both from traditional business and traditional cause activism) to create a sustainable financial model for your non profit and not rely on grant funding

Looking back at your Cause Journey, what advice would you give a newbie Organisation?

Take the time to do some appreciative enquiry and find out if is your initiative the best for what the people you are servicing need

If you could change one thing about the Nonprofit Landscape, what would it be?

The difficulty in receiving funding especially for start-up non profits

Which Cause achievement are you most proud of? Feel free to elaborate on why and include any links:

In 2016, after rigorous research we created the J.I.B.E Online Youth Platform. The J.I.B.E Online Platform was created and continues to be operated using a simple logic theory of change framework
Logic Framework: We believe that, Access to quality information and opportunities is a factor in decreasing Youth unemployment, increasing Youth economic participation and ultimately increase the social utility of the Youth.

Last question, if your friends had to describe your Organisation in three words, which would they use?

Resilient; Youth; True

33 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *