Durban Youth Council

The Durban Youth Council is a non-profit, a-political organisation that works to uplift the community of Durban and in particular our youth. It is made up of high school learners from many eThekwini schools and focuses on youth development, life skills training and community participation projects.

Council meetings are conducted every Wednesday from 17:00 to 19:00 where each committee discusses relevant problems in today’s society. The council consists of learners from many different schools. The qualities that a councillor should possess are passion and care for the community, determination and reliability, amongst other leadership qualities. The council is split into the board and six different committees. These are Advocacy, Arts & Culture, Environmental and Infrastructure, Feeding Schemes and Disabilities, HIV and Humanities, and Sports and Recreation.

In 2019 the Council was involved in finding sponsorship to build a library for an underprivileged school, and a Shoe Drive at school to collect shoes for LIV Village. They also started planning a project for 2020, entitled “We Are Here”, which will be a platform for the youth to showcase their talents. One of the challenges that the 2019 Council faced was changing from an era of pen and paper to a digital system. All the planning previously done on paper is now done via a DYC app.

Being involved with the DYC is truly a great experience and a wonderful way to form everlasting friendships. It also enables the learners to make connections and build networks with a variety of people in different spheres of life.