Grassroots Youth Development

About Grassroots Youth Development

Grassroots Youth Development is the bursary programme linked to Masinyusane Development Organisation. Masinyusane is a non-profit that began in 2008 in Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape. Its mission is that every child reads and every young person works. It runs early childhood literacy and numeracy work in public schools and creates jobs for unemployed youth as literacy coaches.

The group was built to open doors for young people from low-income homes who show promise but lack the means to study further. Its main work is in communities in Nelson Mandela Bay. The bursary carries that mission through to university level, so that a learner's progress does not stop at matric.

How the bursary supports students

Masinyusane also runs a scholarship fund aimed at raising university graduation rates among students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many of these students come from the organisation's own township school programmes. Funding is available for degrees, diplomas and certificates, and the organisation does not limit support to a short list of scarce skills. The thinking is that community upliftment grows when students follow the career they suit best.

Mentoring is a core part of the programme. Recipients are paired with mentors while they study. Masinyusane treats this as just as important as the money. In addition, its university support includes practical help such as graduation attire for students who finish. The organisation has also described a Top Learner Program that invests money and mentoring in hundreds of high school and university students. An earlier annual report showed more than 280 of its students enrolled at Nelson Mandela University. These numbers show how closely the bursary links to the group's school-based work.

What to know before applying

Masinyusane is an independent development organisation, not a company looking for staff. For that reason, no formal work-back or employment obligation is published for this bursary. Support focuses on mentoring and completing your qualification instead of a return of service. Eligibility rules, the number of awards and closing dates are set for each intake and can change between years. Applicants from Nelson Mandela Bay and the surrounding Eastern Cape communities are the main focus. Check the current call before you apply.

To ask questions, email bursaries@masinyusane.org or send a WhatsApp message to 067 223 8885. Keep your documents ready, including your ID, matric results, proof of acceptance and proof of household income. A thoughtful motivation helps too. Explain what you want to study, why it matters to you and how you plan to use it back in your community. Masinyusane also has a strong record on transparency. It held a Candid Platinum transparency rating in 2024, which gives donors and students more confidence in how the programme is run.