By Ntombi Khumalo, SAAYC Board Member
Within youth development, the term leadership has often resonated with male voices, male authority, and male definitions of success. But the times have shifted. All over South Africa, women are emerging, not just as participants, but as strategic leaders, visionaries, and disruptors in spaces that have excluded their voices. I am proud to stand among them.
As a Board Member of the South African Association of Youth Clubs (SAAYC), I have realised that leadership is not based on power; it is about purpose. It is about showing up, doing the work with diligence, and about deconstructing systems that do not reflect the lived experiences of our youth, especially young women and girls.
More than representation, it’s redefinition.
We speak often about the need for representation, and rightly so. But representation alone isn’t enough. Women in leadership need more than a seat at the table; we need agency, influence, and trust. We bring lived experience and emotional intelligence, and collaborative thinking to every decision we make. These are not “soft” skills; they are powerful instruments for transformational youth development.
At SAAYC, I’ve seen it when women lead authentically. We lead with a holistic perspective. We understand that a young person is a human being with mental needs, emotional needs, economic needs, and spiritual needs. And our leadership must encompass that.
Leadership is fuelled by intention and compassion.
In an industry surrounded by trauma, poverty, and consistently inequitable environments, compassion is a political act. Leading with compassion and empathy is not a sign of weakness; it is power at its best. Often, it is women who have led with compassion through listening deeply and intentionally holding space for those who have been silenced. Intentional leaders create spaces where youth (including young women) can thrive rather than survive, guard safe spaces fiercely, question patriarchal norms, and show what confident, ethical, and values-based leadership looks like.
Bravery in the presence of systemic barriers
Let’s be honest: women in leadership are still judged by different criteria, often excluded, and met with resistance. But we lead, despite the challenges. Much of the world is brandishing new laws to strive for diversity as well as see changes in leadership practices, which allows all of our presence in boardrooms, classrooms, and community spaces to be impactful. Not only for us, but for the young people, we have a responsibility to model and mentor for the future.
In youth development, bravery is:
- Meaningfully confronting the outdated systems, restricting young people’s potential
- Standing our ground in rooms and spaces, where our contributions are minimised
- Making hard choices to partner with young people, even when they aren’t popular
- Saying “yes” to leadership roles that once felt out of reach
Women as catalysts for youth-led change
When we, as women, lead, we invest in legacy, not ego. We create spaces so that success is possible for others. At SAAYC, we showcase our programming, from leadership development to enterprise training, and young women are creating measurable change in their communities and their lives. We are not just mentoring these young people; we are learning from them!
I have observed young women, once timid and uncertain, grow into confident changemakers, initiating programmes, raising their voice for policy change, and guiding others. This is the cycle of empowerment that intentional, woman-led leadership creates.
Leadership is service
The youth sector has a specific form of leadership which is both visionary and grounded. That’s what leading with purpose means to me: balancing strategy with service, courage with humility, and power with responsibility.
We must always ask ourselves:
- Are we leading in a manner that mirrors the ways we want youth to lead?
- Are we creating space for more and more women to lead courageously?
- Are we creating institutions where inclusion is practice and not abstraction?
The future is female.
As we work to dismantle existing systems and imagine new systems, it must be women leading the way, not just because we have earned the right to lead, but because our communities need women leading. Our youth need women to lead. And we will show up for them, and with them.
When women lead with intention, we don’t just transform systems, we transform futures.
“Empowerment starts when we lead with kindness, serve with bravery, and make room for others to lead. That is the type of leadership our youth and our country deserve.” – Ntombi Khumalo.
#WomenLeadSA | #SAAYCVoices | #YouthEmpowermentNow
For more information on SAAYC’s work and leadership programmes, please visit: www.saayc.co.za
