Nosipho Mngomezulu, co-ordinator of the Student Volunteer Programme at Rhodes University’s Community Engagement Unit
(Image: © Louise Gubb)“Students need a 3D education,” says Nosipho Mngomezulu, co-ordinator of the Student Volunteer Programme at Rhodes University’s Community Engagement Unit.
She believes that volunteering while at university offers students an opportunity to really connect with the community they live in. But volunteering shouldn’t be a one-way relationship, where one party invests in the other – it’s about mutual skills transfer and trading.
“We need to break away from traditional models of community engagement and move to a more strategic model of reciprocation,” she says, defining the thinking behind Trading Live, a week-long initiative run by the university in July that saw an exchange of services and skills among students, NGOs and community members.
Trading Live began as an inter-schools initiative between education establishments in Grahamstown. Over three years it developed into a Mandela Day activity that highlights reciprocity in community engagement, profiling the mutual give and take that builds relationships, and getting communities to work together to effect change, encourage collaboration and build strong community ties.
Read more about Trading Live here
Trading Live is all about partnerships – those with Rhodes University and the community, as well as with community press, local NGOs, the Department of Education, the Student Representative Council and the university’s School of Journalism.
“Bilateral skills transfer acknowledges that community organisations have much to share. It means a shift in consciousness to understand that transformation is available to all who interact with the process. It’s not just about the fortunate giving to the less fortunate – it’s about everyone having something to give,” says Mngomezulu.
“It is essential that community engagement includes reciprocity, mutuality, an understanding of the power relationships at play (with no exploitation or exclusion), learning, action and a framework for reflection for all parties. There has to be more than a one-way stream in order for relationships to be meaningful.”
Involvement in Trading Live has grown substantially since its launch. In 2012, there were less than 50 groups that participated. In 2013, 96 groups participated, and in 2014 some 120 groups were registered to participate in the weeklong trading initiative.
“We managed the trade platform largely via our website, where we captured skills on offer along with community requests, and matched up players where possible,” Mngomezulu explains.
Elements of Trading Live defined
Matchmaking is a core part of the Trading Live project, and it’s up to Mngomezulu and her colleagues to start the process by matching offers and requests.
“After that we look for things that people have offered or need that don’t have matches. We then see how we can harness our partners and student volunteers to fit these requests, and try to allocate a time for that to happen within Trading Live,” she says.
The week of trading includes public and private group interactions, some open to all, some closed (in the case of interaction with minors or events involving sensitive topics). Six main areas of volunteerism and service are highlighted: high school education, arts, IT, care (orphans), holistic wellness and health.
“What we hope is that when people participate in Trading Live, they get to know Grahamstown a little better,” she says.
“The process of engaging is not all butterflies and rainbows – it can sometimes be gruelling.
“In the weeks counting down to the trade, we share the contact details of trading partners and together they start defining and planning their interaction. In a lot of well-meaning initiatives, people overstate the willingness of the recipients. But we emphasise that both parties are working together in a trade relationship; they are co-creating and negotiating the terms of their relationship.
“One of my aims is to get a lot more of the people who are matched together to enjoy ongoing partnerships after Trading Live. Long-term matchmaking would be a great reward – and one that extends well beyond Mandela Day.”
