Manifesto

We seek to groom young pioneers who will spread positive behavioral change by means of awareness campaigns and youth peer to peer advise. Our organization seeks to have youth ambassadors that live a drug free life and equip them with the knowledge they need to emulate proactive members of society who lead responsible lives and are aware of the socioeconomic challenges facing the community, locally and globally and are constantly participating in coming up with strategies and solutions to the ever growing problems of our communities.

Our organization seeks to facilitate the grooming of youth that can be instruments of change that can help improve and develop the fabric of our society.

Tsohang Youth Project exist to help members of our community to not fall into drugs, to assist those who are affected by drugs and those who are addicted to drugs to find ways out of them that place them in better positions in life. The task that has been assumed by our organization is a very immense one due to the high rate of young people who use drugs in and around our community.

From as early as high school young people get caught in the trap of drugs, hence we have deduced that the best way to help them is to have more people who they can look up to, more peers from whom they can get advice. Our organization also helps a lot of substance abusers to help them break the habit by referring them to relevant and appropriate institutions for rehabilitation (soon this will be an in-house service) and we provide support groups and workshops to help bring forth positive behavioral change. Our work is largely dependent on the aid and assistance we get from all our internal and external stakeholders.

Business Goals

We intend on continuously building a thriving organization that will ultimately become a one stop center for youth, service users (addicts) and related stakeholders. Over the next five years, we are committed to positioning ourselves as a reputable, influential organization in the drug and illicit substance awareness space, public treatment and as a key driver for reducing the demand for drugs in youth. We aim to be part of the pro-active contributors within the training and development arena. We aim to drive policy to recognize the critical need for expedient and consistent engagement and action to tackle the drug and substances challenge.

Our objectives

• To engage our clients with integrity and provide them with continued support,
• To employ a full time workforce with the necessary expertise and experience, earning industry related salaries and reasonable benefits.
• Secure ten year funding to help our cause
• To operate from our own building
• To grow our contribution to research and knowledge generation in the field of drugs and substance abuse
• To provide good quality treatment to service users at no cost to them
• To drive the establishment of more rehabilitation centers across different communities

Operational Plan for treatment clinic

Our weekly schedule will evolve as we get bigger space and more resources to introduce more services in our field. The services as outlined in the table below (Annexure B) are not in any particular time order for the day as some of them may take longer (Such as counselling); but this will not hinder progress as we will have different team members dealing with different aspects of the schedule. Please view Annexure B, to see our operational plan for the organization.

In conjunction with these services that we will offer at our office, clinic and halfway house, we will have a large team of facilitators and coaches on the ground working to inform more people to come and utilize these services and raising awareness. Others will be in schools, conducting the modular based program with learners and students. This program is much longer and yields long term behavioral change. We will regularly engage with people on social media and through monthly newsletters and articles sent to different media houses for publishing.

Target

It is our belief that to bring about change in the drug and substance abuse arena, we can’t focus on one section of the community or operate in silos, so our targeted service users include, but are not limited to:

• All people who are at risk of harm caused by alcohol and drugs
• Individuals their Spouse, families and all community members affected by use and abuse of alcohol and drugs.
• Referrals to the in-patient for all clients who cannot cope without drugs in an outpatient treatment programme.
• Youth in conflict with the law, referral from schools and families.
• All youth in the community who have alcohol and drug addiction problem
• All clients admitted suffering from withdrawal symptoms and all who need medical intervention for substance abuse illness.
• The client referred by school, family, workplace and magistrates court
• Family members of substance users and community
• Faith based organizations
• Schools (Primary to Tertiary institutions)
• All clients admitted to the center for alcohol and drug problems

Marketing and promoting our message

We have been using a cost effective marketing and promotions method and are currently employing a revised social media intensive method which is free and helps us increase our reach. We continue to use highly traditional media such as Radio interviews, TV interviews, newspapers and magazines.

On print media, these are the avenues we will use learner booklets, parent leaflets, rollup banners and wall banners, facilitator manuals, learner leaflets and activity sheets. We will also make Posters and business cards. On electronic media we will include an electronic newsletter, emails, social media and our website.

Milestones reached and portfolios of service

Over the past ten years, we have reached many milestones with the help, service and commitment of dedicated individuals and organizations. Alongside these milestones, we assumed greater responsibility in our communities as we began serving in other, relevant areas where a need was apparent for us. Some of the responsibilities and portfolios we are serving in include:

• Central Drug Authority Board
• Provincial Substance Abuse Forum
• Regional Local Drug Action Committee
• Kathorus Local Drug Action Committee
• Ekurhuleni Southern Region Youth Forum
• South African Addiction Medicine Society Member
• Ward Committee - Representing Youth Sector
• Substance Abuse Educational Talks/ Series' on Kasi FM (an Kathorus community radio station)
• Fortnight column on the Tame Times Community Newspaper
• Mentors Ithemba Community Organization
• Mentors Making A Difference Generation
• Mentors Save Youth Of Kathorus (SYK)
• Mentors Katlehong Gospel Choir Association
• Providing training in partnership with Khaya Family Centre's
• We represented South Africa in the 1st Global Youth Forum on Drug Use Prevention in Abu Dhabi (2014)
• We received a Special Gauteng MEC of DSD award for our services
• We launched a successful, regular meeting teenage youth group for girls (called TIC - Tsohang Inspirational Club)
• Part of the first Community Based Substance Abuse Day Clinic (Outpatient Treatment facility) in our region at Palmridge
• KeMoja Awards 2019 Best coordinator of the year, best KeMoja coach, and most improved NPO