Breaking the experience trap through public private partnerships
Youth Employment Service (YES), South Africa
Overview
South Africa grapples with many social, political and economic challenges, including the expanded youth unemployment rate in excess of 77% in quarter three 2021 for youth aged 15-24 years. The Youth Employment Service (YES) is a business-driven initiative that partners with government and labour to tackle South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis. By contributing to a company’s affirmative action (B-BBEE ) scorecard, the project incentivises the private sector to create quality work experiences (QWEs) for unemployed young black South Africans.
Work experience is critical to enhance employability. YES’s QWEs represent a first chance at entering the workforce for its youth. 88% of YES Youth come from households that depend on social grants and 91% have dependents, meaning that the income earned during the work experience creates immediate benefits for families and communities.
Alternative pathways include venturing into entrepreneurship and starting businesses, and finding alternative opportunities for learning and earning, such as on South Africa’s national platform for young job-seekers, SAYouth.
YES started creating QWEs for youth in January 2019. Through partnerships with the private sector, these work experiences have highlighted the role that innovative and collaborative programmes can play in the upliftment of the socio-economic landscape.
Good Practice Approach
By creating both employment and employability among youth, YES addresses the need for youth to have work experience to secure employment. This is achieved through a 12-month QWE.
YES has implemented online courses for work readiness, including entrepreneurship. Each YES Youth receives a phone preloaded with zero-rated mobile applications that train them in soft skills, and monitors and evaluates their QWEs and socio-emotional conditions.
YES’s research conducted in collaboration with the World Bank shows that soft skills such as self-awareness, growth-mindset, self-assurance and resilience are crucial to finding employment. These capabilities and skills were included in the modules.
Additional modules were developed and uploaded in 2020 to help YES Youth cope with stress and depression during the Covid-19 pandemic. The digital delivery ensures that youth in townships or rural parts of the country can access the same content as those in urban areas. At the end of the QWE, youth receive a CV and reference letter, making them three times more likely to get a callback within three months of their job search. For women, a reference letter doubles their chances of employment.
Organisations have the option of placing youth either inside their own business, or in one of the 33 YES-vetted partners through YES’s implementation partner (IP) model. Mostly consisting of NGOs, IPs handle the recruitment, administration, training and hosting, payroll and absorption of youth, while businesses receive the B-BBEE scorecard benefits.
The sectors in which IPs work include:
· Healthcare
· Education
· Early childhood development
· Conservation and Agriculture
· SMME development
· ICT and Digital
· Manufacturing
· Marketing and Sales
Key Results
• Quality Work Experiences created for you: 70 011
• Business Partners made: 1795
• Money Injected into the economy from youth pockets: R3,9 billion
• Percentage of youth who are female, 58%
• Learning minutes via smartphone training on zero rated apps: over 17 Billion
• B-BBEE Level Ups: 650
Lessons Learnt
Success Factors
o Policies that incentivise the private sector to create youth jobs.
o For companies that lack the administrative capacity to employ youth, the IP model gives them the ability to do so. It also places youth with vetted partners. Through this model, corporates can create jobs at scale in rural and semi-urban communities. The ability to place youth in communities addresses skills gaps and spatial inequality that align with companies’ Social Development Goals (SDGs) and environmental, social and governance (ESGs) objectives.
o YES smartphones allow youth to learn and develop, and YES to monitor and evaluate their progress.
o YES works closely with supply partners to recruit and train youth.
o YES is aligned with the Presidency’s 5by5 plan to combat youth unemployment in South Africa, but does not receive any government funding.
Challenges/Barriers
o YES’s rapid rate of growth has created operational challenges. In response, YES has capacitated its team and strengthened processes.
o Covid-19 resulted in fewer companies signing up between March 2020 and March 2021 and fewer youth jobs being created. As South Africa has emerged from lockdown, company sign-ups have rapidly increased.
o A low growth environment coupled with detoriating business confidence is not conducive for creating work opportunities for young people, which is why the incentive for business has been a critical success factor.
o A mismatch between skill and demand led to the development of the host partner model, which aims to assist in overcoming the barrier to entry for millions of youth South Africans.
Moving Forward
YES will continue to create opportunities for unemployed youth at scale. Through collaboration with SAYouth and the Presidency, it is hoped more opportunities will be created for South African youth.
YES also plans to accredit its digital programmes to ensure that YES Youth receive a recognised qualification.
Resources
Contact details
Website: www.yes4youth.co.za
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28156481/admin/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Yes4YouthZA
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Yes4YouthZA
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE69Crs0D_G9H05RF0xRScA
Youth stories: https://yes4youth.co.za/for-youth/yes-youth-stories/
Press page: https://yes4youth.co.za/press/
Blogs page: https://blog.yes4youth.co.za/
Tel: 087 330 0084
Email: youth@yes4youth.co.za (youth)
corporatesupport@yes4youth.co.za (corporates)
ip@yes4youth.co.za (implementation partners)
Link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nP-ΩuDxS5hwyvFcM_E10aqsoeLj7wQcZ?usp=sharing
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