International Projects: Training Refugees in Cape Town Workshop
Nine hours of Entrepreneurship and Leadership workshops were held for refugees in South Africa on July 30th and 31st 2010, at LEAP School and the Brooklyn Community in Cape Town. The refugees were primarily from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) but also included men and women from Zimbabwe, Burundi and Zambia. Three trainers, Sarah Diefendorf, Subina Mahal and Deborah Snyder, sponsored by Teach with Africa and the Environmental Finance Center at Dominican University of California, led the workshops.
TRAINING WOMEN REFUGEES – DAY 1, ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The first, three-hour workshop focused on women refugees and was held on Friday, July 30th at LEAP School. Approximately 40 women attended both days. Day one was devoted to developing entrepreneurial skills by helping the women identify their business ideas, build their mission and vision statements, consider various marketing and sales strategies, and work on basic budgeting and other financial considerations. Some of the core issues that immediately surfaced included deficient funds and poor comprehension of basic business concepts. Participants had a difficult time understanding the difference between mission and vision, and were stymied by the lack of start-up capital they felt was necessary to launch their own businesses.
The women were tasked with developing their own missions and visions, but without specific business ideas already in place, it was difficult for them to visualize what their hypothetical businesses would do now and even more foreign to imagine into the future. In addition, because a number of women were from French speaking countries, there was an immediate language barrier to overcome. While participants took away valuable skills, and some showed up early the next day for additional tutoring, it was clear that a longer, entrepreneurial-focused workshop, perhaps over one to two weeks, would have a greater impact.
TRAINING WOMEN REFUGEES – DAY 2, LEADERSHIP
On day two, the women were introduced to the concept of leadership while the goal of the workshop was to create a community based team of refugees that could begin addressing some of their challenges. The day began with a discussion of the problems they face from high unemployment and poor job skills, to inadequate health care and xenophobia. The women were asked to identify a single issue upon which to focus and eventually chose barriers to employment as their number one priority.
Training focused on the definition of a leader, what makes a good leader and what types of personality traits either help or inhibit us from becoming leaders. 
Some of the barriers included hopelessness, the sense that they were facing too large a foe (the South African Government) and the belief that someone else should emerge to lead and ultimately save them. However, as the afternoon wore on, they began to understand that they must take responsibility for their own futures. By the end of the training, one woman had emerged as the leader, the one who would organize from that day forward, and 15 others signed on to support her efforts and form an official executive committee. The first meeting of the executive committee is scheduled for August 7th with a full group meeting set for the following week on August 14th.
LEADERSHIP TRAINING FOR REFUGEES IN THE BROOKLYN SUBURB
On the evening of July 31st, the training team moved to the suburb of Brooklyn where we met with members of the Grace a la Grace Church. Grace is a multi-racial church committed to gender equity and economic development in response to xenophobia, unemployment, poverty, drugs, teenage pregnancy, prostitution, and high instances of HIV/AIDs that plague the community. The church maintains a high number of Congolese refugees within its membership, as well as many South Africans. Pastor Thierry requested the training to promote community empowerment through leadership and personal responsibility within his congregation.
The workshop was held from 6pm to 9pm at the Grace a la Grace Community Center for approximately 30 participants who were mostly refugees from the DRC. The primary emphasis was on leadership and community empowerment. To that end the workshop began with a debate about community challenges and what problem should be the first priority for the attendees. The members agreed that xenophobia is the greatest challenge they face and should be the first issue they address. Following that discussion, the workshop turned to leadership and team building.
The community was trained on the concepts of leadership and what makes a strong and effective leader, then each member was asked to identify two personal qualities that made them a good leader and two qualities that made them less effective.
Participants cited commitment, passion and humility as some of their strong points and shyness, poor organizational skills and quick tempers as some of their weaker points. At the end of the exercise it was clear to the participants that they all had qualities that could make them leaders and that their weaknesses could be overcome.
After the leadership segment, attendees were broken into smaller groups to discuss possible action items to fight xenophobia. Grace a la Grace members agreed that community events open to all races and ethnicities as well as developing materials to educate South Africans about their history, geography and personal stories would be powerful antidotes to misinformation and fear. By the close of the evening, four congregation members had volunteered to lead the new Grace a la Grace community team and the next meeting was scheduled for the evening of August 7th.
RECOMMENDATIONS
While it was clear that the workshops were valuable and each community group emerged stronger and with a sense of purpose, it was also clear that the movements were extremely tenuous and the participants, due to severe time constraints, were left with virtually no guidance on how to proceed. Given language and cultural barriers, the training sessions were far too brief to ensure a long-term outcome. It is recommended that leadership workshops be offered again for the length of one week, including follow-up, so that trainees can better grasp the concepts of leadership and organizing, and have the confidence they need to address such difficult community challenges.