AMONGE SINXOTO

SOUTH AFRICA, 20

Project: Blackboard Africa
Pronouns: She/Her

Blackboard Africa is a youth-led nonprofit organization that aims to empower the next generation of leaders through mentorships and leadership development. Their programs teach young BIPOC about leadership, initiative, teamwork, purpose, communication and how to harness those skills to improve confidence. With their programs, they encourage the participants to do away with social norms and redefine their narrative in order to maximize their contribution to the larger community. 

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How does your work explicitly address systemic inequity and injustice?

This generation of young BIPOC are left with growing self-doubt, low self esteem, and a struggle to identify personal value. These are direct consequences of having to neglect parts of themselves (language, heritage and culture) in order to succeed in social systems. Any institutions are still extremely Eurocentric and we encourage our participants to re-center their African identity while upskilling them and preparing them to succeed within these institutions. 

“Our unique perspective is that we value youth voices and have facilitated a platform that is for the youth, by the youth.”
Evan Wei-Haas