Call for Volunteers and Background of the Give 5 project

Call for Volunteers and Background of the Give 5 project

'Inherit the spirit of leadership, submit a motivation for committee position now' email to Terryl Mc Carthy and Bulela Mvengenya t.mccarthy@ru.ac.za and srcbenefits@ru.ac.za now!!!!!!!!!!!!

'Be part of something bigger than us all, now'

Give5: one of Rhodes University's initiatives for Rhodes University

'Rhodes students raising money from fellow students for students'

Background:
Give 5 is a fundraising campaign run by students to raise money for fellow students.

It was originally launched in 2004 and ran annually until 2009 when it was discontinued due to a lack of ownership. 2012 saw the re-launch of the campaign – it will be run annually by the SRC with the Rhodes Alumni Development office, thereby ensuring that the campaign will have continuity. The campaign is aimed to provoke a spirit of philanthropy in students and provides them with an opportunity to help “one of their own.” The success of the Campaign relies on the Community Engagement Representative and the Senior Student from each Res to galvanise the students into planning and participating in the fundraising activities.

Students are invited to contribute R5 during the campaign and healthy competition is encouraged between the Halls and Residences with a prize for the one that collects the most money. The Campaign will run one week a year, with a 5m Fire Walk either starting the campaign or ending the campaign. The Fire Walk symbolises that life can be uncomfortable, however with the right attitude and support, one can overcome all obstacles and view them as a challenge rather than a problem.

Objective:
Money will be raised under the umbrella of the Rhodes Annual Fund and the project chosen will be one that helps current students financially. This means that the students are raising money for one of their own, creating a wonderful opportunity to make it more personal for the donors within our close knit community and enabling them to see the benefits of their fundraising. Currently, the money raised annually, has been used for the Pocket Money Fund which aids students who do not have enough money to buy essentials with an amount of R170 per month for ten months of the year. Any student needing aid via the Pocket Money Fund can apply at the Student Financial Aid Office. The Director of Student Affairs works closely with the Financial Aid Office in dispensing the available money to the recipients.

The amount of money raised during this one week campaign is crucial to the Pocket Money Fund. R72 000.00 was raised in the one week of the 2015 Campaign with a further R21 000.00 being added by continued fundraising activities by the students throughout the year. The large amount raised is phenomenal and displays the ethos of our current students - caring, capable, efficient and supportive of their fellow students.

Continuity of the Campaign:
Give5 is part of the Rhodes Alumni Development student engagement strategy, which seeks to introduce students to the culture of giving whilst on campus.

The SRC (Student Representative Council) has accepted ownership of the project and will ensure that the portfolio is included in their Community Engagement portfolio annually.

'Inherit the spirit of leadership, submit a motivation for committee position now' email to Terryl Mc Carthy and Bulela Mvengenya t.mccarthy@ru.ac.za and srcbenefits@ru.ac.za now!!!!!!!!!!!!

'Be part of something bigger than us all, now'
Committee Members:
The members forming the committee annually will consist of:

Chairperson (SRC Student Benefits and Sponsorship Councillor)

Vice Chair

Treasurer

Sponsorship

Media

Hall Administrator Representative

Alumni Relations

The members forming the committee will be done so on a volunteer basis.

Plan of Campaign:
The Community Engagement Reps and the Senior Students from each Residence, including the Oppidans will liase with the students in their Res to work out their fundraising initiatives and help to put it into action.

Stickers, pens, posters and collection boxes will be issued to the volunteers along with a sheet to record which residence and hall the money comes from. The money will be tallied daily and a running record of the best Hall and Residence will be sent out to the students from the Alumni Office. Collection tables will be set up and many other innovative ways that our current RADical Rhodents can think of will raise funds for this cause.

Competition:
The Give5 Trophy will be awarded to the Winning Hall.

The Winning Residence will win a Flat Screen TV.

‌‌Spot prizes and lucky draws, sponsored by our local businesses, will be issued daily.

Small Halls and Residences will have an equal chance to win these prizes, as the challenge is based on student numbers.

Manifesto of General Mvengenya the Candidate for Secretary General Rhodes SRC 2019

Manifesto for Secretary General

[The beacon of hope for integrity, justice and dedication in the student leadership]

PRODUCTIVITY, PROGRESS AND TRANSPARENCY  

As the SRC Secretary General, I would ensure that the council strive to be productive in their engagements, Progress and Transparency.

Productivity: Hold each council member accountable by having weekly meeting with them to find out what challenges, obstacles they are facing so that I can offer my support. (Portfolio Assessment)

Progress: Each and every term councillors will submit their termly report alongside with their monthly reports. I would be publishing the minutes of each council meeting within the 9 days and that would assist the student body at large to assist the SRC in assessing the progress of the SRC. Working with the media councillor for the website update and making use of social media in supplement to the mailing system that we shall seek to improve even further.   

Transparency: I will liaise with the Media Councillor in improving our communication skills making sure that all the minutes, events and projects, challenges that the SRC face will be communicated to the student body. When it comes to official communications to the student body, through the secretariat official communications will be issued in and the media councillor will further advertise the event or a meeting but the official communication will be sent out from the office of Secretary General and if needs be, the Registrar’s office will be given the communication to distribute on our behalf because this has been the challenge this year.  

Ø  Unity: As the engine of the council I believe that we need to uplift the team spirt within council, so that we can unite and pull into one direction.

-          Drawing from my past experience as SBS having to work with other councillors on projects; have assisted in building my interpersonal skills, which I will use to foster the spirit of unity amongst councillors.

Ø  Hands-on: As Secretary General I will make sure that I am hands-on on the daily activities of the council. By being hands-on, it will assist me in noting all the events that are planned. To avoid having clashes/overlaps on events.

Ø  SG’s role is beyond the administration. I will be co-ordinating the availability of councillors, to ensure that at all times there is a councillor that is in the office. Administrative skill is vital to all of the SRC members for the improvement of bookkeeping and follow-up on important issues, therefore I will ensure that workshops are given to emancipate the higher level of administration for every office bearer for the council of 2019.

How?

Evidently, the SRC institution has started what one can refer to as transformation, the process of transformation because it has started to attract candidates from different demographics that are found in this community with different views, cultures, beliefs, economic levels, races, with different interests and historical and social backgrounds of which all of that makes them who they individually are. Research on organisations suggests that in building a strong working team accommodating individual differences remains essential. Candidates run for the SRC for specific portfolios that obviously suit them but SRC most of the time works together as a team and makes decisions collectively. When the Social Identity Theory is taken into consideration, one can see how easy it can be that people form small and usually informal groups within the organisation (Note, SRC is a typical example of what I refer to as an organisation) according to commonalities each person finds from other members of the organisation e.g. social background and or gender. The important point in all of this is that the success of the organisation depends on the ability of the organisation to manage those individual differences that can either make for example an individual isolated from the rest of other members or having many groups in the organisation that oppose each other. Now the Secretary General of SRC as an example of an organisation it is fundamental to have good skills to manage diversity in the organisation because the Secretary General of SRC is there to support each member of the SRC or any group in the SRC be it an informal group or working group/task teams that is usually a formal group for the improved overall performance of the SRC institution. I am personally reach in interpersonal skills and with a confidence in my character and conduct. I am embodying strong working ethics and approachable. I am a hard worker in nature and full of passion and creativity. I am currently a student leader for Community Engagement and I believe that the trainings offered for us by RUCE have moulded me to this dedicated leader that values the input of each individual from the group. I am also currently the Deputy Secretary of Young Men’s Guild in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa for Circuit 1302 of Clarckbury District and I really hope that I have developed many essential skills such as listening and taking the minutes of the meeting. The issue of managing diversity in the SRC institution will be easy to deal with as I am someone who since understand that there is no only one way of explaining peoples’ behaviours. This makes me employ a simply positive psychology in the day-to-day running of the SRC and interactions that the SRC has for the improvement of SRC’s performance as that proves to motivate a positive attitude of each member to their job. Making sure that there is inclusion in the decision making of the organisation for the sake of productivity and effectiveness, I will utilize Booysen’s ‘Systematic Model for Management of Diversity’ which suggests seven steps on how to manage diversity but for sure, that is a theory that one can indulge from just to guide themselves so practically, will ensure that the operational model of the SRC accommodates even the practices, preferences, beliefs, views and efforts of even the minority group that can be found in the SRC and to make sure that everyone’s values are accepted, valued and promoted through the council’s operational model that council can draw for its term of office as I am also confident that a constitution that is on review now will be in line with a most desired student governance on the campus. I will make sure that these groups that might exist within the SRC (both formal and informal) as informed by the group identity theory carry the equal weight in all decision making processes and I will do that by remaining a mediator by all times as someone who embodies the secretariat of the SRC. I will never choose sides if the groups develop because that compromises the integrity of the Secretary General’s office which concentrates on the functioning of the SRC. In improving the effectiveness if the SRC as an organisation, it becomes easy to obtain any goal that the SRC has and for that I believe there will be less to know incidences where the student body will complain for a “structural violence” in the hand of the SRC”

A Fight against a persistent gender-based violence and gender inequality    

As I am contesting a position of leadership as a male student I hold a view that we must not deprive women their ownership to their struggles. I like doing observations and research on things before trying to play my own role into things. I think it is time now that national networks that fight stereotypes among manhood start in the institutions of higher learning. I believe that as women, particularly students are fighting crime that is aimed at them, it is time that men also set the foot on how we can develop a relevant or rather a positive masculinity that does not embody the cause of fear and oppression to women. We can form partnership with existing organisations that I know that they were formed to fight for men’s rights that are now shifting to working on a positive masculinity. For example, Young Men’s Guild (YMG) of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) is now partnering with SISONKE GENDER JUSTICE NETWORK to fight against gender-based violence across South Africa. Its time now that we take a close look into these organisations like YMG that was formed to unite the men during the industrial revolution for Christ than now looks into the broader societal issues. My office would like to assist in making this the first step that men can embark to as to play a part in fighting this persistent monster of behaviours.

Thank you for reading, please vote for me.

General MVENGENYA

Bulelani.mvengenya@gmail.com