CONCEPT LETTER: PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL

AND PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITY ADAPTATION PLAN FOR

ORPHANS

MISSION:

TO EQUIP ORPHANS WITH SOFT SKILLS NECESSARY TO NAVIGATE

THE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND PERSONAL DEMANDS OF
TRANSITION OUT OF THE ORPHANAGE.

SUMMARRY:
This project is in response to problems and challenges I have observed that plague orphans
when they are in orphanages which become more pronounced and detrimental to individual
growth and progress when these vulnerable children are released from care institutes into the
society. Having grown up in an orphanage myself I have well placed convictions regarding
areas where caretakers and volunteers fall short in obtaining the right responses in motivating
and grooming the young children to make preparations for life beyond the home. As such the
primary aim of the project is to address these shortfalls by initiating and implementing a
tripartite course programme where the participants will initially undergo personality coaching
and capacity building trainings and workshops, followed by informative and engaging
discourses on topical issues around the globe and immediate society and finally getting them
involved in entrepreneurial programmes with a lot of practical options to accustom them to
varying degrees of authority and work ethics. I expect that after these courses the young boys
and girls will develop a strong curiosity and motivation to perform better in school and lay
necessary foundations for a better future. I also believe they will conquer their victim
mentality and develop positive thinking patterns and attitudes aimed at increasing trust and
respect of self and others including management and staff while enhancing and improving
communication horizontally and vertically. Furthermore the participants will gain necessary
entrepreneurial tools to make them work-ready when they leave the home and be self-reliant
and self-sufficient citizens without having trouble blending in to the society and their broad
knowledge on global and societal issues obtained from the courses will contribute to their
quick adaptation to new environments and increase their chances of being influential citizens
that can meaningfully contribute towards societal and national development.

PROBLEM STATEMENT AND JUSTIFICATION

The biggest concern is the lack of basic social training and survival skills that the children
exhibit when they join the society. They are unable to harness their individual potentials and
fail to cope with life outside the institutional structures that they grew up in. They struggle to
survive and end up being involved in issues of drug abuse, prostitution and other criminal
activities for sustenance. The underlying cause of this situation is because the following
deficiencies are not adequately addressed when the children are being brought up.

Low self-esteem and confidence

Lack of motivation to set and pursue goals
Disconnection from the outside world in terms of basic social knowledge
Poor communication skills
Attitude problems: Have become very comfortable and hence develop passive minds
Victim mentality leading to a general disregard of authority
Always thinking and living in the moment, no planning for the future
Find comfort in group psychology among fellow peers, easily influenced and quick to
catch on negative perceptions about any situation.
Poor academic performance

When they leave the home, the children face and fail to tackle all sorts of adversities which if
they had been informed and taught would have produced a more positive result. Exodus day
is possibly the worst day in the life of many orphans. For most it is the beginning of the end
as they soon realize that their teachers and caregivers are releasing them into an uncertain
world where they are vaguely if at all aware of the situations surrounding and affecting their
new environment where they suddenly don't have the support structures that they had while
still in the institute. Most of them have no academic qualifications and have poor
communication skills because they lack confidence. They cannot generate ideas outside the
box because the brain was not nurtured and can't get jobs. In these stages these people fail to
realise a larger percentage of their individual capacities. They cannot fit well into societies
and lack basic social training and survival skills. In the end the bulk of orphans who are
churned out of institutions become either Street kids (again), drug addicts, sex slaves,
prostitutes or become involved in criminal activities, trying to survive.
As such it is necessary to implement capacity building trainings, topical lectures and
entrepreneurial workshops in childrens homes to sow hope and build in them a much needed
desire to want to be achievers and more importantly act on those desires. The programme will
also mould them into well socialised citizens with broad knowledge basis that increase their
involvement in development whether at societal or national level.

GOALS
The course attacks the problem from three different angles:
1. Capacity building and personality coaching workshops and training
- Designed to address attitude and esteem problems and help overcome self-worth
concerns. This is central objective of the programme as other aspects of it depend
on the participants understanding their potential and developing the necessary
habits that would help them become involved to reap maximum benefits.
2. Informative lectures on topical global and societal issues
- This is a part where the participants will be lectured to and encouraged to take
part, discuss and keep up with important contemporary issues across various
aspects in the global village. Examples of topics include Human rights, conflict
resolution, gender equality, citizenship, climate change, etc. and they will be

delivered with the aim of socialising participants to matters that affect them
directly and indirectly. This is to arm them with basic knowledge so that they can
adapt faster in society while being challenged to develop and contribute healthy
views and solutions to address the matters.
3. Work experience and basic entrepreneurial training
- In this section the participants are temporarily enrolled in various industries where
they will learn basic work ethics like how to operate under authority following
specific sets of rules. They will also become socialised to the work-world and
build networks that can help them in the future while also picking up on basic
communication skills and learning to interact on a professional level with other
people.

EXPECTATIONS AND OUTCOMES

From perfect execution of the above mentioned goals the participants are expected to:

Develop self-belief and confidence

Develop a strong curiosity to learn
Cultivate ideas and see them through
Plan for the future and have the discipline to do what must be done
Obtain better conflict management skills
Gain some work experience
Grasp basic fundamentals of working under authority and respect that authority
Become familiar with trending global topics and be able to apply thoughts and ideas
on how to improve the situation
Understand basic communication skills.

Overally participants should emerge after the programme as well-groomed citizens with the
positive minds, determination and burning desire to want to be achieving goals beyond their
predicted potentials.

APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY

Participants will be engaged on Saturdays for one and half hours in afternoon sessions that
are divided into two main sections. The first part of each session (30-45 minutes) will focus
on personal development topics and capacity building and may feature individual or group
exercises depending on the presenters style. The second part of the session features
discussions on topical issues on various subjects like climate change and human rights. Each
topic for either of the sections can be spread over a maximum of three weeks giving the
presenters time to adequately emphasize on the key notes. The entire programme will run
under the umbrella theme Our Urban Environment because the core business of the course
is to prepare and arm the participants with skills and tools that can help acquaint them better
with the environment and society, encouraging the generation of ideas that would make them

efficient, knowledgeable citizens when they come of age and have to live their lives. Over the
holidays older participants; that is those who have less time left in the home will be extended
temporary employment in established industries where they will be expected to acquire some
work experience while also attending entrepreneurial discussions on Saturday afternoon with
the rest of the group.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Every fourth Saturday is set aside for a course discussion to allows participants to reflect their
learning status and helps trainers to react and tailor-make their inputs. Participants will also
be assessed based on reports that from organisations that take in participants temporarily into
their work place.

Contact Info:
Promesse Masvosve
Mobile: +263 784 895 673
Email: p.masvosve@gmail.com
Nyasha Chidzero
Mobile: +263785 699 785
Email: nyasha.chidzero@gmail.com