Why Youth Mentoring?
Successful youth mentoring has many positive outcomes:
- Improved academic achievement and increased opportunity for employment;
- Reduced levels of anger and alienation;
- Reduction in substance abuse;
- Improved social, educational and occupational functioning at later stages of development;
- Improved positive mental health, happiness and life satisfaction; and
- Improved self-esteem and quality of relationships with figures of authority, peers, parents and other adults.
Discover the positive outcomes for our programme graduates
Partner Homes
SAYes works in partnership with local, national and international organisations. We provide the TIL programme to the youth in the following children’s homes:
Benefactors
SAYes is supported by businesses, schools, trusts and foundations in South Africa, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Bufferapp.com
Buffer offers a social media management tool, allowing users and businesses to schedule posts on sites including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Friends of SAYes Germany
Our partner organisation Friends of SAYes Germany was established in 2013 to support SAYes with donations raised through fundraising and various other activities.
Harrodian School
Founded in 1993, the Harrodian School in London provides education for children from four to 18 years of age.
Independent Newspapers
One of South Africa’s top newspaper groups, publisher of titles including The Cape Towner, Tabletalk, Atlantic Sun, Athlone News, False Bay Echo and Southern Mail.
Netto Invest
An independent financial planning practice assisting with retirement, investment and estate planning, and disability and life assurance.
Nimble Group
Based in Cape Town, Nimble Group is a leading credit management company offering advisory, outsourcing and asset management services.
Rolf-Stephan Nussbaum Foundation
A living charitable trust set up to support good causes including arts and culture, education, children, sports and animals.
St. James’s Place Foundation
A grant-making charity which aims to help improve the lives of people in need as a result of disability or disadvantage.
Umckaloabo Foundation
A German association set up in 2010 to support community projects for children and young people in South Africa.
Valentine Charitable Trust
Located in Bournemouth, England, set up to support charitable causes, including those that benefit the public and protect the countryside and wildlife.
SAYes Beneficiaries
Our beneficiaries are young people aged between 14 and 25 who are living in, or have recently exited, residential care in the Western Cape – children’s homes, Child and Youth Care Centres and cluster foster homes. At 18, state funding for their care ends and most are expected to leave with little preparation and no support network.
Since 2008 the programme has grown steadily in the number of young people served and in measured outcomes. Programme graduates have gone on to further education and training, found part-time and full-time employment, secured stable accommodation and built lasting relationships with the adults who mentored them.
The Transition to Independent Living (TIL) Youth Mentoring Programme
The TIL programme is a structured, year-long youth mentoring intervention. SAYes recruits, screens, trains and supports volunteer mentors who are individually matched with a young person living in or recently exited from care. Mentors and mentees meet face to face for at least one hour every week and attend monthly two-hour workshops built around five key transition areas:
- Education and Learning – school, further education, study skills and a habit of lifelong learning.
- Work and Wealth – career exposure, workplace readiness, financial literacy and money management.
- Living Situation and Citizenship – housing options, documentation, rights and civic participation.
- Health and Wellbeing – physical and mental health, healthcare access and healthy routines.
- Relationships and Social Capital – trusted adults, peer networks and community connections.
Each pair works with a person-centred plan, setting goals that are measurable but flexible, reviewed with the support of our social worker. The programme year begins with mentor training in January/February and ends with graduation in November.
Become a SAYes youth mentor
