Monash South Africa International Studies student, Thembile Ndlovu, received the Laureate Education, Inc’s 2014 Global Here For Good Award in Baltimore, Maryland on the 23rd of June 2014. Thembile was chosen from a global pool of nominees for the award, which honours Laureate students, graduates and faculty who have created or are leading projects that drive social and economic progress in their countries. Thembile has been honoured for Authentic Chicks Talk (ACT), a project designed to empower young girls from impoverished communities through a series of workshops.
“Students like Thembile don’t just see challenges they also see opportunities to change the world. Our key focus at Monash South Africa, is to empower leaders who are passionate about making a positive difference and contributing to society,” said Craig Rowe, head of Monash South Africa Community Engagement.
Thembile receives a Global Here For Good Award for her the project initiated as part of her commitment to action at the Clinton Global Initiative University conference in March. ACT provides a platform for the young girls that are restricted by cultural stigma and norms, to voice out their opinions through a series of talks. The dialogue sessions will be held monthly in local communities and in partnership with the high schools in those communities. The initiative aims to take a group of 50 girls through a programme that will include a curriculum on self-empowerment, health, relationships and career guidance.
“As an organization, Monash South Africa is deeply committed to community engagement and making a difference in the lives of people, particularly youth in surrounding communities. Our students are highly motivated to make a difference and they consistently demonstrate the strong leadership skills that we help to develop in them,” said Esther Benjamin, CEO of Monash South Africa and Laureate Africa Operations.
Since 2012, Laureate’s Here For Good initiative has identified and supported Laureate students and graduates who have created projects that drive social and economic progress in their countries. This year, the initiative was expanded to include Laureate faculty. Fifteen people from every corner of the world were chosen for this year’s awards. Their projects provide potential solutions to some of the biggest challenges of our time: urban farming, empowering Pakistani women, and saving Costa Rica’s forests. The winners are featured in a book and website, and in the coming months will be honoured by their institutions.
Laureate Education is the world’s leading higher education provider. Laureate’s more than 75 universities educate nearly 850,000 students in 29 countries across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Laureate’s universities offer undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degree programs in fields such as architecture, business, engineering, hospitality management, law and medicine. William J. Clinton, former President of the United States, is Honorary Chancellor of the Laureate International Universities network. To learn more, please visit www.laureate.net and www.laureatehereforgood.net. Follow the conversation at www.twitter.com/LaureateCSR, and at the #HereForGood hashtag.
A campus of Monash University Australia, Monash South Africa was established in 2001 and boasts a student body of over 4000 in undergraduate and postgraduate studies in the schools of Business and Economics, Health Sciences, Information Technology and Social Science. The flagship foundation programme, the Higher Certificate in Higher Education Studies, is designed as a pathway to an undergraduate degree. Monash South Africa is also home to eight Mandela Rhodes Scholars.