Feedback from one of MOT SA’s first partnering colleges

February 2023

This month we have received really great feedback from one of the principals from our partnering colleges who have been with MOT since it started in South Africa 15 years ago.

Please read further on her feedback.

This year, as MOT South Africa prepares to celebrate 15 years of its establishment, I am reminded that False Bay TVET College was part of the earliest cohort of colleges to become involved with the programme.

I occupied the position of Student Support Manager at the time and was part of the drive to implement the programme. I was trained as a MOT Coach and ran the programme with our MOT Youth across two campuses.

The factors that often impact student success relate to a student’s ability to cope with the daily challenges of life and their need to be able to strengthen their awareness and courage to live, courage to care and courage to say no in all situations in which they may find themselves. When we were presented with the opportunity to partner with MOT South Africa fifteen years ago, the college was in fact looking for such a programme. What MOT presented was perfectly aligned with our needs.

The MOT programme model is powerful. It creates a safe and energised space for young people to engage and reflect on themselves. Where MOT Coaches are lecturers, it creates a powerful and positive dynamic and space for students and staff to relate to one another in a totally different way and promotes positive relationships and trust.

The programme also has a very deep impact on those who are trained as MOT Coaches. It enables them to become the learner as each MOT session creates unique opportunities for self-reflection and interactive learning.

The MOT programme has changed the lives of our participating students and staff at our college.

As a TVET College, we have the privilege of influencing a young person’s life at a critical point in their development and while this time of interface is short, it is deeply satisfying knowing that an institution, in partnership with an organisation like MOT South Africa, has been able to influence a young person’s values in such a way, that it could set them on a different path, informed by different and positive choices.

We thank MOT South Africa and congratulate you on your achievements over the past fifteen years. We wish MOT SA well for all its future work with youth in SA.

Thank you!