The One Economy Foundation (ONE) is continuously providing structural and psychosocial support to learners as they are the most important fundamentals missing in modern-day education.
This was said by Steven Bernardus Harageib, ONE’s head of programmes, during the organisation’s last gala dinner to raise funds recently.
He said Namibian youth have potential, but they don’t have an enabling environment or resources to thrive. ONE has thus designed a holistic comprehensive programme called the Talented Individual Programme (TIP) to take talented young Namibians into an environment that can propel them to the next level.
Harageib said the unfortunate thing about learners, as they progress through their schooling career, is that they fall through the cracks. The ONE team needed to understand what the main causes of these derailments are, hence established TIP.
He added that they do not just look at education from the classroom lens, but the holistic, comprehensive support that needs to be provided to ensure that young people thrive.
“We support them psychosocially. We go to these students to find out how they are doing. We approach psychologists to deal with their undealt trauma as we still find students who are traumatised. We also address the issue of developing their skills by providing platforms to them to go for extracurricular activities,” Harageib highlighted.
Meanwhile, through a series of three fundraising dinners, ONE managed to raise more than N$5 million to carry out their programmes.
TIP has ensured that more than 25 learners from low-income households across the country are studying at schools like Windhoek High School, Windhoek Gymnasium and St Boniface, and all their expenses are covered and they are properly taken care of.
The programme aims to help bridge Namibians from the second economy to the first economy. TIP was conceptualised in 2016 with the primary objective of creating access to educational opportunities for learners from all 14 regions in the country to benefit from a fellowship with access to quality education and the concurrent development of their characters.
Learners who have benefitted from TIP are now into the matric phase, and can’t wait to go to university and see what the world has in store for them.
Beneficiary Sarafia Ewalistus said ONE has invested in their future, and they will forever be grateful.
“Because actions speak louder than words, we will fight so that your investment does not go to waste. We will fight so that we can do to others what you have done for us,” she observed.
Ewalistus added: “With your “yes”, you have made it possible for us as TIP beneficiaries to build our confidence, resilience and allowed us to overcome our socio-economic challenges”.
She said the investment they have received has given them the confidence to believe that they are loved and have the potential to do great things in future.
The Windhoek Gymnasium sophomore said ONE’s generosity has given the learners a chance to be better, an opportunity to thrive and secure their future.