Bronwyn February is a martial artist, activist, and researcher committed to violenceprevention, youth empowerment, and social justice on the Cape Flats, South Africa. With extensive years of experience in community organizing, they use sport, wellness,mentorship, and advocacy to drive community-led change.Currently serving as the Programme Coordinator, Coach, and Mentor with the Year Beyond Shukuma programme in Mitchells Plain, Bronwyn continues to empower youth throughwellness and activism. The Shukuma - Moving Mindsets programme aims to equip learnerswith social and emotional skills to regulate their emotions and slow down their responses toviolence and respond in healthy, responsible ways.

More indirectly, the programme aims toenhance psycho-social support for learners and provide opportunities for learners to engagewith positive peer role models. Bronwyn is responsible for coordinating and training youthfacilitators with the technical competencies to deliver the Shukuma social and emotionallearning curriculum through structured block training sessions throughout the year.Bronwyn's role and responsibilities in the YearBeyond Shukuma program is to furthermorecapacitate and monitor young people through weekly reflection and training sessions toenhance their personal and professional skills that offers them the necessary support forpsychosocial, study, and career progression in their own lives.

This helps ensure that young people are serving their communities, enabled through mentoring, and connected toopportunities all made possible through the YearBeyond Shukuma initiative.As a Master's student in African Gender and Transformation Studies at the University ofCape Town, their research focuses on gang disengagement, masculinity, intersectionality ofsystemic inequality, and community violence. Her research seeks to bridge academia andgrassroots action to advocate for justice, peace, sustainable youth development, andcommunity-led violence prevention. Based on the above, she has been selected as a CanonCollins scholar in the year 2025. Bronwyn's academic background ranges from completingher Bachelor of Arts undergraduate degree in 2021 with an esteemed Cum-Laude andBachelor of Arts Sociology Honours degree in 2022 at the University of the Western Capewhere she has been selected as a Social Science Research Council Mellon Mays fellow.

Among many projects that she is proud of, Bronwyn served as a Youth Coordinator at Fightfor Peace South Africa in the Manenberg area, where they developed youth leadershipinitiatives that integrated martial arts, personal development, and community responsibility.Their contributions earned them the Fighting for Peace Award in Cape Town, recognizingtheir impact in supporting young people in high-risk communities.These projects show their true dedication to developing communities by empowering theindividuals within them. True growth within communities can only happen when the peoplewithin them have the knowledge and skills that require development to be built. Bronwyn hasexperience in the field of youth development, crime and violence prevention where shecontinuously aspires to build sustainable bridges between academia and social justiceinitiatives to develop practical solutions to ensure the holistic healing of communities in CapeTown, South Africa.