High-school learners · Weekly sessions
STEM & Future Readiness
Coding, robotics and digital skills — plus the problem-solving habits that sit underneath them.
- Coding
- Robotics
- Digital literacy
- Problem solving
- Project work
Langa, Cape Town · Since 2017
Young people in Langa, building what comes next.
iThuba Innovation Hub runs daily programmes for learners in Langa — STEM and digital skills, wellbeing and leadership, and a supported pathway into tertiary study and work.
0+
Learners a year
Daily
Programming, not once-off
0
Serving Langa since
How we work
Engage. Explore. Create.
One path, three stages. Every learner starts by belonging, grows by exploring, and leaves ready to build something of their own.
- 01
Where it starts
Engage
- Community, belonging, wellbeing
- Leadership, peer support
- Safe space to practise responsibility
- 02
Where it grows
Explore
- STEM, coding, robotics
- Digital skills, problem-solving
- Hands-on experimentation
- 03
Where it leads
Create
- Innovation, building solutions
- Employment, careers
- Leadership roles, real responsibility
What we run
Four programmes, one learner journey
A learner can walk in at Grade 8 and stay with us through matric and beyond — each programme picks up where the last one leaves off.
All learners · Weekly
Wellbeing & Leadership
Skills don't stick when life is unstable. This programme runs alongside everything else — life skills, group support, and leadership roles that let learners practise responsibility somewhere safe before they need it somewhere hard.
- Life skills
- Peer support
- Leadership roles
- Safe space
Grade 8 through matric and beyond · Long-term (multi-year)
Tertiary & Career Pathway
The long game. We start before learners think they need to, because subject choice in Grade 9 quietly decides what's possible in Grade 12.
- Subject choice
- Bursaries
- Applications
Young adults from Langa · Full-time
Current Future Leaders (CFL)
Young adults from Langa take on real roles across both organisations — design, communications, grant writing, facilitation, operations — earning while building the experience that a first job usually demands and never offers.
- Paid roles
- Real responsibility
- Mentorship
- Portfolio building
Rooted in Langa
Started in the community, run by the community
iThuba grew out of the Happy Feet Youth Project and launched its STEM programme in 2017. We're not a project that visits Langa — we're based here, our team is from here, and our learners walk to us.
- 2017
- STEM launched
- Langa
- Home base
- Local
- Team & learners
Our ecosystem
Three organisations. One community.
iThuba doesn't work alone. Three connected vehicles reach the same young people at different ages and in different ways.
1Ages 5–13Foundation
Happy Feet Youth Project
Arts, culture and sport that reach children early and keep them engaged.
2Ages 13–18Skills
iThuba Innovation Hub
STEM, digital skills and future readiness for high-school learners.
3Ages 18+Sustainability
Siviwe Tours
Township tourism that tells Langa's story on its own terms — and helps sustain the work.
Why it matters: a child can meet us at seven through Happy Feet and still be with us at twenty as a Current Future Leader.
See partnersThe Hub Dispatch
News from the Hub
Issue 09 · Spring 2026 · Langa
Community
A cheerful close to September
Learners gathered for a shared cheer outside the brightly painted container classroom. It was a simple moment together before the afternoon's activities drew to a close.
In brief
Culture · 24 Sept 2026
Heritage Day at the Hub
A facilitator in traditional Xhosa dress addressed the Hub's Heritage Day gathering. The occasion made space to reflect on the languages and traditions learners bring to Hub life.
Visitors · 18 Sept 2026
Sharing the work around the braai
Learners and visiting students helped prepare food around the Hub braai. Sharing the cooking gave everyone time to chat away from the classroom tables.
Langa walkabout · 12 Sept 2026
Getting to know Langa on foot
A facilitator accompanied visiting exchange students on a walk through Langa. Along the way, they paused for questions about the neighbourhood and everyday journeys to the Hub.
Stay tuned
Get Hub updates straight to your phone on WhatsApp — sessions, events and good news from Langa.
Follow along →More from the Hub
Hub lifeA friendly challenge across the classroom table
Two learners tried an arm-wrestling challenge during a classroom break. The friendly contest opened a conversation about knowing your limits and respecting a partner's call to stop.
Read the story →
WellbeingA ball and a breather between sessions
A learner brought a soccer ball into the courtyard for a break between sessions. It was a chance to move, chat and get some fresh air before heading back inside.
Read the story →CommunityA full house: the whole Hub turns out for term-end celebrations
Learners, facilitators and families packed the courtyard to close the term — a reminder of why the container classrooms were painted so brightly in the first place.
Read the story →WellbeingActivity day: sport, games and a break from screens
Friday's wellbeing session moved outside for football, races and a lot of laughter.
Read the story →Hub lifeClassroom rivalries, settled the old-fashioned way
Between coding sprints, an arm-wrestling table decided who cleans up.
Read the story →VisitorsBraai day with our exchange-student guests
Visiting students joined learners around the drums for a shared meal and stories.
Read the story →Back a learner in Langa
Your support pays for materials, transport, meals and the everyday running of the programme.