18Twenty8: Voodoo Park Trust Charity Partner 2024

A Guest Post by Refiloe Seseane CEO 18Twenty8

Registered in January 2011, 18twenty8® is an award-winning, women-led, non-profit organisation that empowers young women by developing strategies for their educational and personal development. We encourage young women, between the ages of 18 and 28, to pursue higher education as an attractive and necessary tool for their empowerment. This is achieved through four programmes:

Life-skills workshops

We facilitate interactive, life-skills workshops for girls in grade 11 and 12 at high schools in marginalised communities.

Financial Assistance Programme

We fundraise to cover the higher education expenses of young women at accredited institutions across South Africa and pay for their tuition fees, living allowances, accommodation, stationery, laptops and textbooks. This enables our beneficiaries to focus on their studies without worrying about financial challenges and helps them to start their careers without the burden of student loan debt.

The Big Sister Network

We match undergraduate young women to professional women for mentorship, psycho-social support and career exposure.

Leadership Development Camp

An offsite, weekend experience that harnesses undergraduate young women’s leadership potential. We are passionate about producing successive generations of educated, female leaders who will be equipped to tackle the economic, social and political challenges facing our country. Our partnership with The Voodoo Park Trust began in October 2022 when we were identified as a potential 5 Corners Of The World partner – in line with the trust’s mandate of creating opportunities for disadvantaged women by increasing access to finance, training and support service.

In July 2023, we received a donation which was allocated towards the purchase of a commuter vehicle. The commuter vehicle will help us achieve three goals:

• Transporting staff and volunteers for outreach work in various communities

• Transporting beneficiaries for life-enrichment excursions, field trips and events

• Augmenting our financial sustainability strategy by generating income and reducing our long-term dependence on donor funding

Our partnership also includes an invitation to share our work with VDP staff, globally, by participating in the January 2024 All hands.

We are honoured to be part of The Voodoo Park Trust family and are grateful to have such a committed, and generous, co-creator for our vision of a South Africa in which young women are educated and empowered to lead.

Refiloe Seseane