Student Capacity Building
The OIC facilitates critical conversations with students that contribute towards building inclusion at the University of Cape Town through the Agents of Change Education (ACEs) peer education programme.
The peer educators are UCT students from across faculties who apply and are selected to take part in the programme. Students are trained throughout this year-long programme to deliver workshops on campus and in the student residences, educating their peers in the intersectional areas of HIV, gender, sexual and gender-based violence, sexual diversity, privilege and class.
The OIC recruits between 25 and 30 ACEs as peer educators each academic year.
The Agents for Change Peer Education Programme (ACES)
The ACES (Agents for Change Programme) Peer Education Programme is UCT’s Peer Education Transformation, Inclusivity & Diversity Programme. The programme forms part of the Student Capacity Building portfolio which is located withing the Office for Inclusivity & Change (OIC). The goal of the programme is to build student inclusivity competencies, to enable them to become change agents. The programme focuses on training students to become competent with leading difficult and uncomfortable dialogues in transformation, Inclusivity & Diversity. Through the programme, students are trained in intersectional areas of race, class, gender, sexuality, xenophobia e.tc. It’s a year long programme that commences in January and ends in October. An advert is published via the universal learning platform and distributed across the campus to encourage interested students to apply by sending through an application to the Student Capacity Building Specialist. Once applications are received, students who have prior experience with facilitating small groups, knowledge in gender and transformation, social work, social justice, or public health are selected to participate in the programe. The intake cycle starts in September and ends in October each year.
The ACES programme seeks to build skill sets over time. Therefore, besides acquiring knowledge in Transformation, Inclusivity & Diversity, the ACES peer educators acquire the following skills; teamwork, leadership; self-awareness, self-reflection & appreciation for diversity as well as collaboration skills. At the end of the programme, peer educators should be able to;
1. Lead, organise & facilitate difficult conversations around TID topics
2.Speak openly against oppression and to challenge toxic culture.
4. Advocate for the use of TID resources.
5. Actively engage in university wide anti-oppression campaigns
6. Build inclusive spaces and to foster transformation
The workshop and Training sessions attended by the ACES include.
- The ACES Induction session (Focusing on understanding your role as a Peer Educator)
- The Consent Education workshop (Focusing on understanding policy related aspects about sexual consent)
- The Anti-oppression workshop (Focusing on challenging institutional racism, whiteness, and colonisation)
- The Sexual & Gender-Based violence prevention & Bystander Intervention workshop (Focused on delivering education about SGBV prevention and building active bystander skills
The ACES meet monthly for supervision and undergo training in TID thematic areas, every semester. The Peer Educators work towards acquiring a UCT+ award that is printed on their transcript as recognition for their role in building inclusivity at UCT. After their first training session in January, they are given an electronic budge that recognises them for their role as a change agent, as they support the Office for Inclusivity and Change with building inclusivity at UCT.
Here is a photo of the budge that the ACES peer educators receive once they are selected to participate on the programme.
If you have attended any ACES workshops this year, please provide some feedback by scanning this OR code.
The Gender Marshal Programme
The Gender Marshal Programme is an Active Bystander Intervention Programme designed to help curb incidents of sexual violence at the University of Cape Town. The intervention was implemented for the first time in 2021 in partnership with the Office for Inclusivity & Change and Residence Life. The goal of the programme is to capacitate residence students with the knowledge and skills required to disrupt incidents of sexual violence that may occur at residence events (such as house parties or movie nights) or within the residence setting. This programme is one of the strategies implement by the university to reduce the incidences of sexual violence on campus, particularly in residences by training participants to intervene in safe and creative ways, rather than standing aside as passive bystanders.
The students are trained about sexual and gender-based violence, offering survivor support, consent, and bystander intervention skills. Upon completion of the training, students are required to know how to safely intervene in situations that could immediately lead to violence and how to interrupt a culture that permits sexual and gender violence. Students acquire intervention tools (namely a safety booklet) to use in situations at residence events that seem harmful, to become effective and active bystanders. The participants also obtain an electronic budge that recognises them for the Active Bystander role within the residences. Below is a picture of the electronic budge.
Students who choose to partner with the Office for Inclusivity and Change to build an inclusive UCT, have the opportunity to contribute to a number of ways by building TID skills through a programme over time. They can select their badges as they participate. For examples a student who becomes a Gender Marshal and acquires the Gender Marshal electronic budge, can unlock another badge by becoming an ACE peer educator in the next year and pick up an ACES badge. If they desire to continue partnering with the O.I.C to build an inclusive UCT, they can become a Gender Advisor or participate in the Becoming Men programme. They will receive a badge for every programme they participate in. The diagramme below shows, the series of badges that they can unlock during their time at UCT as they build inclusivity competencies throughout their student journey.
Please contact us on (021) 650 1005 or email Stella Musungu to find out how you can join or participate.
1. Firstly, let me start by thanking you for granting me this opportunity to be a part of your team, and to serve at UCT! I would say that being an ACE has changed my life and ameliorated my knowledge about how the world operates, and how I can exist as a member of the UCT community.
In doing this job, I was able to learn new skills such as group facilitation and event organizing through the workshops I conducted. I attained organising skills by arriving first and early at the venues and setting up before the workshop or event started. I then became a group facilitator by guiding students in the conversations we had on topics around Oppression and GBV. I was also able to enhance skills that I already encompassed such as problem-solving, effective communication, honesty, confidentiality, and privacy as well as effective time management.
Overall, this has been an amazing journey and position I worked in. It is one of the programs that brought highlights into my 2022. I am very happy to have worked with a manager like you Stella. You are exceptional in what you do. You are a great leader and manager to us. Thank you for holding our hands throughout this journey, if it wasn't for you, I doubt we would've been able to achieve these great results. We reached over 1000 students, and over 40 residences if I'm not mistaken. This is proof that Stella does a stellar job! 😊🙏❤. I hope to be a part of the program again next year and continue to make a difference at UCT while I work with an amazing, driven, and dedicated leader like you! Thank you and God bless!
Hope Modise, ACE participant 2022 & 2023
2. Stella was a good role model who gave us adequate resources and information to run our own workshops. She explained everything clearly and simply for everyone to understand. She was also open-minded and took note that all of us came from different backgrounds which she took into consideration. She was also effective and highly knowledgeable in all our briefing and debriefing meetings. If it was not for her patience to make us understand and learn from us it was going to be difficult for us to organise and lead our own workshops. She used the resources available to help us not only have knowledge about these topics but also helped us organise these workshops as well.
Stella is a good communicator. Being a good communicator means that one can send information in a way that the receivers can encode and understand. She also does not do all the communicating as she also gave us the opportunity to communicate our views on these topics. Besides, she was very organised and delivered the programme effectively.
As someone with social anxiety I found it difficult to talk in front of people and engage as well. After participating in the ACES programme, my confidence levels increased, I found myself engaging not only during the meetings but in my classes as well. ACES allowed me to be open-minded. I used to listen to people’s different opinions about different topics but didn’t fully accept these opinions. ACES helped me listen to people’s different opinions and accept them without judging.
Stella as a leader taught me that you can be someone who can change people’s lives positively. During our meetings, she was able to educate us on certain transformation, inclusivity and diversity topics and how as leaders we can use our differences to help each other. For instance, during the anti-oppression workshop training, one thing I learnt is people for a long time have practiced toxic masculinity. During meetings, Stella shared and educated about how masculinity can be positively practiced to prevent violence towards women and children. As a young leader, I learnt how to engage constructively with a diverse group of people and to discuss topics without offending or devaluing others.
Daisy Chinyowa, ACE peer educator, 2022.
3.Mrs Stella Musungu has been my Supervisor for the Aces programme since 2020 till 2022. I have had the privilege of being taught and trained by someone who firstly had the passion for her job and has the required knowledge and skill to navigate through the workshops that we would hold. How this would show is in her ability to accommodate each student in their different social politics around topics such as GBV without making them feel judged and still manage to educate them the important parts about these topics.
It further helped that the programme ran through a specific programme for the day, this meant that although we at times diverted because of the nature of the conversations we held she was still able to bring us back, this is a skill I have learnt through the Aces programme when I hold workshops myself.
I can firmly say through the various conversations we have held, and the soft skills I have learnt particularly the ability to not personalize different views that we hold as people and the ability to speak in front of groups, as someone who is in a career where she has to not judge people and often talk in front of semi large groups, I am confident I will do well. This skill impartation is largely one of the reasons why I stayed under Mrs Stella Musungu supervision.
Also having stayed this long in the Aces programme, I have learnt soft skills that will hold me for life such as empathy and organization, to show this I have already started taking other student leadership role and had the trust from the University that I will lead well. I further won a student leadership award largely because of the work I was able to do through Aces this for me shows that outside of the University I will still do a good job while illustrating the skills that I have learnt from the programme.
Khanyi Mpungose, Peer Educator 2020-2022
4.Stella was an excellent supervisor and was able to educate us about transformation and inclusivity aspects that included anti-oppression and SGBV prevention. In doing that, she led training sessions where we had an open discussion about the topics at hand and allowed everyone an opportunity to share their thoughts which made it easy and comfortable for me to learn. She gave practical examples for the topics which was very effective because we could link the examples to the definition of the terms discussed. In as much as some of us may have know some information on some of the topics like anti-oppression she was not only able to teach us on the topics, but she taught in a way that someone who had no information or understanding on these topics would fully understand them after training. This was helpful and great because it gave us the confidence to go out and have workshops knowing exactly what the discussion would be about. One of the examples that stood out for me in the topics she trained us on was anti-oppression, she made me fully understand that oppression was not only a race issue but included so many other things like gender.
When it comes to her ability to enable us as peer educators to learn, express ourselves and grow she really made a great impact. I personally struggled in knowing how to express myself and apply the knowledge that I had but when we had training with Stella, she made the environment very comfortable that I channelled my confidence and was able to fully express myself and also apply the knowledge I had acquired both from her and my own life experiences with no self-doubt.
Being part of the ACEs programme really has changed my life in so many ways. One of which is how it has boosted my self-confidence as a leader. I can stand tall and be a leader that I have always wished for myself. I believe that the skills that I have acquired through ACEs programme have really set me for life and for my line of work because as a social worker I need to be a good listener, good planner, time conscious and all these skills were some of the skills that I got from the programme.
I believe that Stella really did so well in supervising us, she provided a space where we could debrief after having our workshops which for me was very helpful because you could learn from others’ experiences, and I could correct where I went wrong in my previous workshop for my next one. Also, the way that she managed the whole programme with professionalism, care and love was very inspiring for me as an emerging leader in transformation.
Connie Ncube, ACES Peer Educator, 2022
5.I am a postgraduate law student at the University of Cape Town. I joined the ACES program as a peer educator in January 2021. Stella is an exceptional supervisor who teaches peer educators about inclusivity and transformation issues such as SGVB and marginalization through training sessions. The training presentations that she gave us were effective, organized, and inter-active. She created an atmosphere that allowed us to gain in-depth knowledge, ask questions and contribute our individual opinions.
I was able to use the knowledge I gained in these training sessions to conduct effective workshops on transformation. By volunteering and participating in the ACES program, I have gained leadership skills and knowledge that I continue to share with friends and the society even after my time as an ACE ended. I learnt to articulately express myself in-front of a large group of people and earned a UCT leadership award.
I have become a confident leader that believes that I can achieve anything when I put in the hard work. I have been inspired to apply for opportunities such as young professional programs. Stella’s work has had a positive impact on me.
Tariro Masose, ACES peer Educator 2021
6. Anyone who has had the pleasure of interacting with Stella Musungu will tell you that she is an incredibly passionate individual that consistently demonstrates a commitment to socio -economic and political transformation towards securing the freedoms of all marginalized and oppressed people across the globe.
As an Agent of Change, who first joined the ACES Programme in October 2018 until the end of my final year in 2020, I can attest to Stella’s in-depth knowledge of transformative theories and practice. Stella has consistently equipped new and returning ACES with the foundational understandings of oppression and marginalization, while equipping us with the necessary tools to advance transformation and inclusivity within the university community and beyond. Her method of engagement creates an enabling environment for students to openly share ideas, ask questions and adequately prepares us to engage with other members of the university community on the subject matters of anti-oppression and SGBV prevention and awareness from an intersectional framework.
Stella communicates in an open and transparent manner. The ACES programme has consistently been well organized and responsive to the systemic and institutional forms of violence experienced by students within the university community and the wider society. Even during the uncertainty of the global Covid 19 Pandemic, Stella demonstrated responsive leadership ensuring the ACES could continue their advocacy, while reflecting on the way the pandemic highlighted persisting inequalities.
Among the many admirable qualities that Stella possesses is her unwavering commitment to socio-economic justice, equity, and transformation. She has been a beacon of hope for a better future for all. I for one will eternally be grateful for meeting an individual that inspired and encouraged me and my peers to challenge and dismantle oppressive systems, think critically about the world we live in and take active steps towards making it an inclusive environment for all.
Being an Agent of Change is not confined to the University lecture halls and residences; it is a social responsibility and call to action that finds expression in every aspect of life. Whether it be challenging discriminatory workplace policies or conduct, calling homophobia out at a dinner table. Being an ACE is an ongoing practice of teaching, learning and a refusal to be complicit in our own oppression and the oppression of others. Stella’s work is highly commendable, impactful, brave and a true demonstration of servant leadership. I sincerely hope that you will find her the most suitable recipient of this award.
Lesego Letshwiti, Peer Educator
7. I met Stella Musungu as a peer educator in the ACES programme I participated in whilst pursuing my studies at UCT during 2011 and 2012. Stella was our supervisor who gave us the necessary guidance and training we required as peer educators. As a peer educator, I learnt quite a lot from Stella. She was able to teach us in simple and easy language many topics ranging from transformation and inclusivity which included aspects of anti-oppression, SGBV, prevention and awareness, privilege, marginalisation, inequality etc.
The manner in which she taught us, as peer educators, was easy to follow and she also demonstrated to be a subject matter expert on all issues that she taught us about. She was able to effectively and properly address our questions and undo any confusion we may have had about certain topics. She created a space which was conducive for us to learn and share ideas. As such, whilst she imparted knowledge on us, we were all able to learn from each other. Most of us, if not all of us, found it easy to share our knowledge in certain areas freely, and Stella encouraged that.
In terms of the overall programme, Stella ensured there was a structure each year and adhered to that. The sessions we had were well prepared and at all such sessions, Stella came ready to impart knowledge on us and also learn from us. Of the programmes that I have participated in, I am glad to have participated in the ACES programme. The programme opened my eyes to a lot of real-life issues that I may have thought I understood. For example, one of the things I learnt was the fact that stigma was one of the drivers to the death numbers of people infected with HIV/AIDS. Before being an ACES peer educator, I underestimated the impact of stigma on individuals living with HIV/AIDS.
Having participated in the ACES programme, I took it upon myself to be part of the change agents and since then, I have strived to not be stereotypical about various issues which society tends to not accept or tolerate. For instance, I now know better and understand the LGBTQI community and strive to make others around me to exercise tolerance and accept the fact that we are all different and should be accepted in the way we are. Therefore, all of the skills and knowledge I learnt as an ACES peer educator, I apply in my daily and personal life and everywhere I go, be it social gatherings, church, work, gym etc.
To conclude, I am glad to have partaken in the ACES peer education programme and to have had Stella as the supervisor. Stella was always approachable and welcoming. On all days we had either individual sessions or group sessions, Stella was ready and willing to engage. If anything, she was happy to engage, and always had a smile. In 2011, in particular, I had just started my LLB degree as a postgraduate student. That was very stressful and demanding. I recall this one day I got very anxious due to the workload but after I went to my ACES group session with Stella, I came back more eased and relaxed. Stella was a well thought out leader who inspired all of us to be at the forefront of transformation. Should you wish to discuss any of the above, you may contact me on my details below.
Nomampondo Banzi, peer educator 2011
8. Participating in the ACES programme changed my life. When I got to UCT, I didn't know many people so with my involvement in the ACEs programme, I made a lot of new friends. I was also quite ignorant about all of the things taught within the ACEs programme and I'm eternally grateful that I got that exposure early on because I learnt so much about sex, HIV/AIDS, stigma, gender & it's fluidity, sexual orientation, sensitivity to all of these different elements that make up the human race. As a result, I believe I am a better person as a result because my mindset was broadened. I also got practical learnings which I still use to this day (for example, facilitating sessions on sensitive topics & the confidence to do so). I lead a team in my current role and being able to not judge (or think differently of) people because of the things they do or because the way they live is different from mine has been extremely important. Even in general social interactions (I host friends and family at home from time to time), I learnt to be more open and more understanding of other people's different ways of life.
In my experience with Stella as an ACE, she took her role (and the weight that it held) very seriously. As a result, she ensured that her knowledge of current issues (particularly as it affected the focus of our workshops) was always up to scratch. In many group settings during our training sessions, there were always questions flying around from students (many wild and wonderful but others that were thought-provoking) and Stella did extremely well to navigate them. The aspects we dealt with within the ACEs were broad (from sex 'education' to gender identity, HIV / AIDS to managing stigma & marginalisation). She equipped us with the knowledge needed to deal with students as we visited residences and had these sometimes-difficult discussions with people from all walks of life. It also became so much easier to educate our peers on the dangers of being ignorant of these social factors because we were able to learn all of these in a safe & open setting which is the kind of environment Stella created for us.
In terms of delivering the ACES programme, Stella was well organised and delivered the programme effectively. She created a space for the peer educators to freely express themselves and apply the knowledge learned. When Stella started with the ACEs programme in 2011, it was nice to see a new face, but we knew from early on to take her seriously. She had her training plans organised, venue management was great and facilitation skills enviable. As we'd previously had another facilitator / trainer, she came in a supportive role but still had great relationships with a lot of us. These relationships have lasted until today. Stella was always there for us when we needed her, she was supportive of us as individuals and was just a great leader to follow and learn from.
Malibongwe Sipho Majombozi, peer educator 2011.
9. I've had the pleasure of witnessing Stella's facilitation skills on several occasions with various groups, both large and small, and have been astounded by her ability to bring us all along, engage our input, keep us on task, tie a plethora of complexities together, and enable great outcomes during my period as an Agent for Change Education program with the Office for Inclusivity and Change at the University of Cape Town. She has a great rapport with people and a deep understanding of leadership and interpersonal relationships. Stella's facilitation services come highly recommended by me.
Stella is an extremely skilled facilitator. In a recent workshop, she led a large group of peer educators through a one-day agenda while keeping everyone engaged and interested. The workshop was well received and yielded positive results as most peer educators went on to conduct their own workshop on campus after the workshop by Stella. Working with groups and resolving conflicts are Stella’s strong suits. Her personal skills, intuition, honesty, humour, clarity, and compassion enable her to persuade others of the importance of connecting, resolving issues and collaborating. Stella's skill and sensitivity, as well as her ability to carefully attune to the various group dynamics, made it very clear early on that everyone's voice in the room was equal, and no one was made wrong.
Stella, I'd like to thank you for the one-day sexual gender-based violence workshop you provided. It was one of the most useful courses I've taken; it was well-paced, provided ample opportunities for us to practice what we'd learned, and maintained a high level of energy and interest among the participants. Thank you once more for the extremely useful skills you taught us. Your facilitation style was unique in the way you included all of us. What also made a difference was your ability to elicit each of our thoughts on the topic. The way you examined sexual gender-based violence, inviting each of us to look at areas where we could improve both individually and as a team, allowed each person to fully participate.
As a facilitator working on developmental issues, I have gained more knowledge on sexual & gender-based violence aspects and reproductive health and rights issues which are very instrumental in the work that I do. I have also gained facilitation and leadership skills which are very useful in my day-to-day work as an activist and a development practitioner.
Solomon Ndondo, ACEs peer educator, 2022
10. Our main teacher for the AIDS Community Educator program was Stella Musungu, she taught the program without fear and with an awareness of bringing in everyone. She not only managed to teach us on topics such as SGBV prevention and awareness, marginalisation and, inclusivity – she demonstrated these traits by bringing together a diverse group of ACE’s and enabling them to learn from each other. We were taught to be attentive to others when they speak and to maintain a non-judgemental environment while learning from other people who were from different religions, cultures and backgrounds. The way she modelled inclusivity and appreciating of different views is something that I learnt, and I have tried to include in other areas of my life beyond the ACES programme.
She was effective in how she made a serious topic such as oppression and SGBV prevention and awareness, privilege, power dynamics, and marginalisation very light-hearted with laughter and the encouragement of numerous icebreakers. This was especially my case; I joined the ACES programme as an undergraduate, I had not yet had the privilege of discussing or thinking about these topics in own life. Stella, encouraged me to grow in what we had learnt not only the content of the ACES programme but also in presentation skills, public speaking, friendliness and being inviting and engaging when speaking one on one or to a grand audience.
Being part of the ACES programme definitely changed my life. I went for the first training when I was in first year. I was shy to talk about anything that surrounded sex or the opposite gender. The ACES programme gave me confidence not only to address sexual orientation topics bravely in my own life but also on stage with hundreds of other students watching. Through the trainings I learnt the content and learnt how to be assertive as the master of the knowledge I had been given. I have applied these skills – mainly presentation skills throughout my life. In presenting my research to fellow students and presenting assignments within the workplace.
I was part of the ACES program in 2011 and looking back it has dramatically changed my life. The program gave me the confidence to pursue other uncomfortable areas while I was on campus. I became part of the Golden Key Society and rose to leadership within it and had the confidence to think up ideas and present at meetings. I also wrote for the Cape Town Globalist writing about uncomfortable world news. I grow in courage in presenting my ideas, this was first exposed to me through the ACEs programme.
Leadership is not just hard work; it can also be fun. This is what I got from the workshops we did under Stella’s supervision. I learnt to be empathetic towards other students, and the sacrifices involved in trying to persuade other students to know their HIV status during HIV/AIDS testing drives, but also the joys of seeing students take initiative for their health.
To this day Stella’s life is inspirational and she still chats with us on Facebook, where she keeps checks in about what we are doing in our lives. I am also getting encouraged about what she is doing in her life. She keeps inspiring me to work hard in uncomfortable spaces and still smile.
Fadzai Muramba, ACE peer educator 2011.
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