Angaza Clubs & Angaza in Nature
Mentorship, Leadership and Zero-waste living for ages 8–18
Angaza Clubs are a structured mentorship space where pre-teens and teenagers build self-awareness, leadership and the life skills they’ll need for school, work and community life. Guided by trained mentors and peer mentors, members take part in interactive activities, discussions and team-based learning that grow confidence, responsibility, collaboration and care for the environment.
Angaza in Nature: a zero-waste way of seeing the world
Angaza in Nature is our zero-waste approach to the nature and resources we use every day. We don’t separate ourselves from the environment we live in. We teach a balanced view of both, through learner-centred outdoor mentorship on school grounds.
Through fun, hands-on clubs, members learn life skills for caring for their homes and the nature around them. They play games, hold discussions and work through critical thinking challenges that help them explore themselves and the world around them, strengthening problem solving and resilience and deepening their appreciation for the environment.
Closing the loop
Members learn a simple cycle by doing:
- Notice. Look at the waste we produce and where it goes.
- Compost. Turn food and organic waste into compost.
- Grow. Use that compost to grow food through regenerative farming and permaculture. (New, for ages 13 and over.)
- Create. Transform plastic waste into art instead of letting it go to waste.
Nothing is wasted, and what we use comes back as something useful.
What members do at each age
Ages 8–12
- Nature games, discussions and outdoor mentorship
- Learning to notice, sort and reduce waste
- Composting and making art from recycled materials
- Teamwork, confidence and curiosity about the natural world
Ages 13–18
- Everything above, with more leadership and responsibility
- New: regenerative farming and permaculture practices, growing food with the compost members make
- Peer mentoring of younger members
- Deeper critical thinking and problem-solving challenges
Skills for life and, in time, for income
Growing food, managing waste and creating from what others throw away are practical skills with real value. Our aim is for these trainings to grow, over time, into skills that older members can earn from. They also build habits of responsibility, patience and problem solving that serve young people in every part of life.
Safe by design
Safety is built into every Angaza activity. Each club is hosted by the school it serves, and all club activities take place on that school’s premises under the guidance of trained supervisors. Members learn safe tool use and good hygiene practices for gardening, composting and handling waste, and farming is offered only to members aged 13 and over. Activities are matched to members’ ages.
Learning beyond school grounds takes place through our separate Mentorship On-The-Go excursions, which have their own safeguards: parental or guardian consent for every trip, a set ratio of mentors and teachers to young people, a pre-trip risk check of the location and transport, a first-aid-trained person on every trip, and a contact person for parents throughout.
All Angaza programs follow a strict code of conduct and our [Child Protection Policy].
Families are part of it
Parents are children’s first teachers and mentors. We want what young people practise to carry across home, school and everywhere within the family, so parents are welcome to join Mentorship On-The-Go.
Where it leads
Angaza Clubs lay the foundation for what comes next. Young people who grow up in the clubs build the self-awareness, discipline and leadership habits that prepare them for Y-Angaza, our work-skills and peer-mentorship program for ages 18–26, where fellows gain real work experience and prepare for employment or enterprise. In our last three Y-Angaza cohorts, 80% of fellows found gainful employment or started businesses. Peer mentors return to guide younger members, so the cycle continues from one generation to the next.
Impact
Young people build leadership confidence, environmental awareness and practical life skills that prepare them for future study, work, enterprise and community leadership.
Bring Angaza Clubs to your school
Would your school like to host an Angaza Club? Email us at learn@angazafrica.com.