Introducing Rudder4Life’s Mission!

Rudder4Life, an NGO/PBO, is committed to urgently addressing the critical societal crisis in South Africa. This crisis, characterized by severe social inequalities, prevalent social ills, and a high youth unemployment rate, necessitates immediate and decisive action. The program, aimed at young adults embarking on their high school journey, is strategically designed to serve as a catalyst for change. It promotes a re-evaluation of self-identity and intrinsic motivation, encouraging the adoption of quality values and the development of emotional intelligence. The ultimate goal is to empower a generation of youth to pursue collaborative and collective purposes, thereby uniting communities and striving for poverty reduction and increased employment.

Rudder4life, an NGO/PBO, was established in January 2022 by Ian Bartes, Tim Scholtz, Trevor Meizenheimer, and Carl Rosslind. These individuals were deeply moved by South Africa’s societal crisis, which included social inequalities, social ills, and a high unemployment rate, particularly among the youth. Their personal connection to the cause fuels their unwavering belief that addressing the root cause is the key to overcoming societal ills and making a lasting impact. Therefore, they have chosen to focus on young adults at the start of their high school careers to drive this change.

Approximately 90,000 young adults enter high school every year in the Western Cape. The teenage years are life’s most impressionable and vulnerable stage, and teenagers experience several social and emotional changes they have never encountered before. Most teens do not have the skills to cope with these social and emotional changes, which is the underlying root cause of rebellious delinquent behaviours such as bullying, smoking, alcohol/drug abuse, gangsterism, and unprotected sex, causing school dropouts.

Rudder4Life systematically tackles the root cause of the societal crisis. We adhere to the principle that we must redefine ourselves before we can reform our actions. Our Purpose4Life Personal Development Programme, a transformative tool at the heart of this approach, encourages a re-evaluation of self-identity and intrinsic motivation, leading to a redefinition of who we are. By adopting quality values, we aim to reform our behaviour and enhance our emotional intelligence in our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Our Rudder4Success™ Personal Development Framework (here) is an integral part of the Purpose4Life Programme. It is designed to help young adults embrace responsible decision-making and strive to become their best versions by aspiring to a purpose greater than themselves. The programme is based on the principles of the Rudder4Success™ Personal Development Framework, which focuses on inspiring young adults to adopt universal values and develop a ‘we’ mindset. The desired outcome is the right ‘mindset’ to drive collectivism in communities and society.

The premise of the framework is that values(morals) inspire the self-motivation required to satisfy our need for competency, belonging, and autonomy to become self-determined. Re-evaluating and enhancing the quality of values improves the quality of thinking (self-concept), feelings (self-esteem), and actions (behaviour), thereby building a healthy identity and quality relationships for a sustainable and prosperous life. The program also focuses on developing emotional intelligence (EQ) skills, such as self and social awareness, to improve the quality of feelings, self-esteem, and belonging, and self and social regulation skills to enhance the quality of behaviour and autonomy, meaning taking responsibility for our actions and freedom of choice.

The program aims to instil integrated motivation and inclusive behaviour that encourages the adoption of universal values such as respect, empathy, and responsibility and enhances their self- and social awareness to manage themselves better and build sustainable relationships. The Purpose4Life Programme is the first of three interventions to build a new generation and breed of inclusive-thinking, value-based, purpose-driven, self-esteemed, and kind leaders, developing entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs, all working towards a shared vision of building a society with a ‘we’ mindset rather than an ‘I’ mindset. The delivery of these interventions throughout the learners’ high school career aims to remove the shackles of disempowering mindsets and reduce the learner dropout rate, drug and alcohol abuse, and gangsterism. The second intervention is called Biz4life, which focuses on entrepreneurial skills, and the third is called SysThink4Life, which emphasises critical thinking skills, aimed at those wanting to attend tertiary institutions . So, our Purpose4life Programme is about “Learning to Be” and having the right “mindset”, Biz4life is about “Learning to Do” and a entrepreneurial “skillset/toolset” and SysThink4Life is about “Learning to Learn” and a critical thinking “skillset and toolset”. We are convinced this will give meaning to the youth and their families to create autonomous and sustainable communities ‘one school at a time.’

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