The Valleys and Mountains Development Foundation Annual Report 2015 - | Page 14

Two government departments have invested in this division to focus on youth at risk and
the challenges devouring their lives.
Income generation: The Global Fund, through the Department of Health, funded the
Foundation again to use the creative methodology to open pathways into the mind-set of
young people who have become stuck in a self-destructive lifestyle. At the same time
they had to be taught self-discipline and work-ethics through skills development in the
area of Craft Art. A large percentage of these twelve young men have for the first time
ever completed an assignment and could sell their work.

The Government’s youth strategy achieved through creativity: The Department of Social
Development chose this avenue as one of the strategies to try and reach and resurrect a
generation which causes the government to have nightmares due to the massive timebomb of early school drop-out, teenage pregnancies, disinterest in any productivity,
substance abuse and unemployment.
The priority of whatever programme, was first and foremost to establish a mind set of
willingness to learn about the essential life values, and through the process ignite a
consciousness of accountability and responsibility for one’s own decisions and choices in
life. This process was best communicated through the creative methodology whereby the
beneficiaries were guided through the processes of thinking analytically, creatively and
the practical application in sequence.