LEARNING STORIES

Language Inclusive Global Multiple

and learning education engagement programme schools

Learning stories from the IB continuum share examples of good practice from IB World Schools in order to
promote inquiry, action and reflection by educators and school learning communities. School samples in
this series represent a range of development and application of IB programme standards and practices.

A learning story about Community Entrepreneurship

Development by UWC Waterford Kamhlaba
IB Diploma Programme students
Background information

Waterford Kamhlaba United World College (UWC), located in

Swaziland, was founded in 1963 in opposition to the apartheid
system of education then being practised in South Africa. The
school has historically played an important role in opposing
oppression and advocating democracy in southern Africa
and became a UWC in 1981, the same year it began offering
the IB Diploma Programme (DP). In addition to teaching the
DP, the school also has younger students from Forms 1–5
(aged 11–16). This creates a particularly diverse community,
encompassing a wide range of age groups, experiences and
cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.

As a UWC, Waterford Kamhlaba’s mission is to make education

a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future. Moreover, located in a country with about
80% of the population subsisting on less than US$2 per day and an approximately 40% unemployment rate, poverty
alleviation has also become a key mission of the school. This led to the formation of Community Entrepreneurship
Development (CED). CED is a creativity, action, service (CAS) programme (a core component of the DP) started with the
sole objective of equipping highly disadvantaged Swazi out-of-school youth with essential entrepreneurial skills that
would help improve their socio-economic welfare.

This initiative’s key objectives for the targeted young people are:
• to improve their self-esteem and self-belief, values and inspire a sense of hope in them
• to develop their leadership qualities and skills
• to spot entrepreneurial opportunities within their communities
• to develop skills for initiating and developing business plans
• to develop understanding of the steps necessary in starting, implementing and sustaining a business.

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Cultural context

In Waterford Kamhlaba, there are over 600 students from over 50 countries and 57 academic staff from 18 countries.
80% of the student body is African. CED is run by DP first-year students from diverse nationalities whose main
participants are Swazi youth aged between 18 and 25.

Inquiry, action, reflection

Inquiry/challenge

Action/solutions Reflection/
next steps

Inquiry/challenge
The rate of unemployment among Swazis is of significance; therefore, this initiative was developed to assist the
unemployed gain a business understanding. However, there were many challenges to overcome such as finding Swazi
youth with an interest in entrepreneurship and with some ability in English. Although English is the country’s official
language, the language mostly spoken in Swaziland is Siswati. Additionally, some participants were young parents and
therefore their consistent course attendance was not assured. Finally, getting funding for the participants to start their
business projects after finishing the course was not an easy task.

Action/solutions
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” This was the main
focus of this initiative. The CED’s aim was to change the mindset of the Swazi youth from “jobseekers” to “job creators”.
This led to the creation of a three-tiered CED programme that would be run by DP students with some business
background (most studying the DP business and management course) as part of their CAS programme for one year.
I would train the DP students for a few weeks before implementing the programme with the Swazi youth.

The first part of the CED programme was aimed at instilling a self-belief system among the participants, integrating
aspects of the iceberg model, which graphically demonstrates the idea of culture having both a visible and invisible
structure. The second part of the programme comprised teaching the key business functions of finance, marketing,
human resources and operations. The final part of the programme included developing the business plan.

On completion, each participant is issued with a Certificate of Completion together with their finished business plan
during a graduation ceremony organized by the Waterford Business/Economics department on Global Entrepreneurship
Week (GEW).

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When the CED programme started in 2011, 10 DP students
and I would drive to Lobamba every Thursday from Waterford,
a journey of approximately half an hour. The training period
would last for approximately 1 hour 15 minutes before
returning to school to ensure we arrived before 12:40pm in
time for the next lesson/period. The challenge we experienced
here was the valuable time wasted on the road, which could
have been used in educating the participants. Hence, in the
following year, we decided to hold the sessions in school,
where the school drivers would pick up our participants at
designated points. We were now able to have 2 hour training
sessions per week as opposed to only 1 hour 15 minutes.
Through the years, I have also ensured that there is a good
balance of DP Siswati speakers in the group to help with the
translation of some of the challenging business concepts
during the training sessions.

Reflection/next steps
I learned that taking initiative has positive consequences. At least 50% of the participants we have trained so far have
been able to get funding and start their own businesses. Others have opted to go back to school and advance their
careers. When the CED programme started, very few people knew about it. However, now the surrounding community
is always talking about it. Indeed, one of the participants from last year’s (2013) CED graduating class offered to
interview any interested people from the community who wanted to join this year’s (2014) group.

This programme has amplified the importance of giving within the Waterford community. Even though we do not
provide them with seed capital/finance to start up their businesses, we educate participants on valuable skills that
they could use not only for entrepreneurship success, but also for personal development. Plans for the future include
continuing to look for potential investors to fund their various projects, enabling them to form partnerships with
business organizations and seeking internship/work shadowing opportunities to enable the participants to gain work
experience. In addition, I would also like to carry out more follow-up sessions to see how they are doing, possibly
through a CED alumni network.

Standards and practices

The standards and practices addressed with the CED initiative include the following.

Standard A5
The school promotes responsible action within and beyond the school community.

Standard B2
9. The school has systems in place to guide and counsel students through the programme(s).
10. The student schedule or timetable allows for the requirements of the programme(s) to be met.
11. The school utilizes the resources and expertise of the community to enhance learning within the programme(s).

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Standard C3
2. Teaching and learning engages students as inquirers and
thinkers.
3. Teaching and learning builds on what students know and
can do.
9. Teaching and learning uses a range and variety of
strategies.
11. Teaching and learning incorporates a range of resources,
including information technologies.
12. Teaching and learning develops student attitudes and
skills that allow for meaningful student action in response
to students’ own needs and the needs of others.
13. Teaching and learning engages students in reflecting on
how, what and why they are learning.
14. Teaching and learning fosters a stimulating learning environment based on understanding and respect.
15. Teaching and learning encourages students to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.

Standard C4
4. The school provides students with feedback to inform and improve their learning.
Starting CED has provided a unique opportunity for DP students. They are able to use the skills they develop in class in
a practical way as part of their CED programme, which is a CAS activity. This CAS activity has equipped young people in
the Waterford vicinity, who were not part of the school community, with some of the skills and qualities needed to spot
entrepreneurial opportunities in their communities. It also provides them with the necessary steps to start, implement
and sustain a small business.

Additional information

The following links have some reference to the CED initiative.

http://www.johncatt.com/downloads/pdf/magazines/ismag/is15_1/is15_1.pdf (see page 16 of the article)
http://www.times.co.sz/business/93486-waterford-assists-nine-entrepreneurs.html
http://www.waterford.sz/component/content/article/85-Global-Entrepreneurship-Week/568-GEW-Interview-with-
CC-and-MM
http://www.waterford.sz/News-and-Events/685-Global-Entrepreneurship-Week-2013
http://www.waterford.sz/school-life/Community-Service/IB1-Comm-Serves (scroll down to get CED)
http://www.waterford.sz/WK-Kicks-off-Global-Entrepreneurship-Week-2012

Note: Creativity, Action, Service has been renamed to Creativity, Activity, Service. Although the word Action
may appear in this document, please ensure you refer to it as Activity when leading this workshop.