Non-profit organisation Sesi Fellowship and Skill Hub is calling on teenage girls and young women to have their voices heard by participating in an essay-writing competition about issues affecting them in their communities.
The competition is open to girls and women between the ages of 15 and 24 and essays must be at least 1,000 words in length, but cannot exceed 2,000 words.
The closing date for entries is January 31.
Sesi Fellowship and Skill Hub board member Rebonegele Diale said the idea was for the essays to hone in on key issues and challenges facing girls and young women in their community, ranging from gender-based violence and teenage pregnancy to education barriers or access to sanitary towels.
Diale said by using case studies from their communities as examples, the writers would be tasked with providing possible solutions to the issues raised.
She said the essay competition was a means of collecting data for a national report which would be submitted to UN agencies, developmental institutions and civil society organisations.
The report would assist in shaping policy and programmes that are adopted by governments and other institutions in their interventions in issues faced by adolescent girls and young women.
“Since it is a national report, we would like the data to represent all the insights from adolescent girls and young women living in all parts of South Africa.
“The response from the Eastern Cape has been a bit slow.
“It started picking up now, which is unfortunate, because we have a week left before the competition ends on January 31.
“We have not read any of the essays that have been submitted thus far.
“We want the competition to first end in order for us to see which essay stuck out, what are the realities that are faced by women in their communities,” Diale said.
Another Sesi Fellowship board member, Mpho Rachidi, said funding for the competition was provided by the Her Voice Fund — a Global Fund initiative supported by ViiV Healthcare to ensure young women and girls have a meaningful voice in decisions that affect their health.
“They gave us a brief about what they were trying to do as an organisation.
“We were given the opportunity to decide what kind of a project we would implement.
“The requirements for the [essay] competition is a minimum of 1,000 words.
“It must not exceed 2,000 words, it may be written in any official South African language.
“It may be submitted in Word, [by] PDF or an image of a neatly handwritten essay.
“The first prize will be R8,000, [a] R1,000 Mr Price voucher, five gigabytes of data and a certificate,” Rachidi said.
The top five essay writers would also receive prizes varying in value.
More information on the competition can be found on their social media pages or e-mail info@sesi.org.za.
HeraldLIVE
Teenage girls, young women urged to enter essay-writing competition
Image: SUPPLIED
Non-profit organisation Sesi Fellowship and Skill Hub is calling on teenage girls and young women to have their voices heard by participating in an essay-writing competition about issues affecting them in their communities.
The competition is open to girls and women between the ages of 15 and 24 and essays must be at least 1,000 words in length, but cannot exceed 2,000 words.
The closing date for entries is January 31.
Sesi Fellowship and Skill Hub board member Rebonegele Diale said the idea was for the essays to hone in on key issues and challenges facing girls and young women in their community, ranging from gender-based violence and teenage pregnancy to education barriers or access to sanitary towels.
Diale said by using case studies from their communities as examples, the writers would be tasked with providing possible solutions to the issues raised.
She said the essay competition was a means of collecting data for a national report which would be submitted to UN agencies, developmental institutions and civil society organisations.
The report would assist in shaping policy and programmes that are adopted by governments and other institutions in their interventions in issues faced by adolescent girls and young women.
“Since it is a national report, we would like the data to represent all the insights from adolescent girls and young women living in all parts of South Africa.
“The response from the Eastern Cape has been a bit slow.
“It started picking up now, which is unfortunate, because we have a week left before the competition ends on January 31.
“We have not read any of the essays that have been submitted thus far.
“We want the competition to first end in order for us to see which essay stuck out, what are the realities that are faced by women in their communities,” Diale said.
Another Sesi Fellowship board member, Mpho Rachidi, said funding for the competition was provided by the Her Voice Fund — a Global Fund initiative supported by ViiV Healthcare to ensure young women and girls have a meaningful voice in decisions that affect their health.
“They gave us a brief about what they were trying to do as an organisation.
“We were given the opportunity to decide what kind of a project we would implement.
“The requirements for the [essay] competition is a minimum of 1,000 words.
“It must not exceed 2,000 words, it may be written in any official South African language.
“It may be submitted in Word, [by] PDF or an image of a neatly handwritten essay.
“The first prize will be R8,000, [a] R1,000 Mr Price voucher, five gigabytes of data and a certificate,” Rachidi said.
The top five essay writers would also receive prizes varying in value.
More information on the competition can be found on their social media pages or e-mail info@sesi.org.za.
HeraldLIVE
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