Prince to visit
2006-10-05
HIS Royal Highness, Prince Edward (Earl of Wessex), will attend the President’s Award function in Franschhoek next week.
The Prince Edward is International Trustee and Chairman of the International Council of the Awards.
He will honour local youths who have completed their Gold level on The President’s Award Programme at the Groendal community centre on Sunday 12 October.
The Prince will be accompanied by HRH the Countess of Wessex. They will be in South Africa to take part in three Gold Award ceremonies, and will attend a number of other engagements on behalf of The President’s Award.
Also expected to attend is Paul Boateng, British High Commissioner to South Africa.
The organisation has been supporting the development of young South Africans for 23 years, and the International Award Association, of which The President’s Award is a member and this year celebrates 50 years of youth development in over 100 countries around the world.
The theme of the visit is “Challenging Young People Everywhere” as the Award Programme has over 5000 active participants nationally between the ages of 14 and 25, from a diversity of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.
The Award in South Africa is available to young people in schools, correctional facilities, community youth groups and children’s homes as a form of intervention and focuses on people between 14 and 25.
It is a balanced, non-competitive programme of voluntary, leisure time activities which encourages personal discovery and growth, self-reliance, perseverance, responsibility and service to the community.
The four mandatory areas of participation are engaging in community service, doing an adventurous journey, participating in physical recreation and developing a new skill.
The requirements for Gold are spending at least 72 hours doing community service, completing an adventurous journey such as a hike of at least 80 km, participating in a sport and acquiring a new skill that requires regular effort and improvement over 12 months.
Within prisons, the Award Programme is a valuable framework for warders to use when dealing with young people in their care. The rehabilitative potential of the Programme lies in its ability to develop an element of trust between warders and inmates in their care.
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