About 60-million youths worldwide are struggling to find employment
Glenda Daniels
Youth unemployment has soared to more than 50% in South Africa and is expected to rise to between 60% and 70% in the next few years. It is one of the biggest social crises the country has faced. To address it the government, business and NGOs are focusing on self-employment for people in the 15 to 24 age group.
Solutions to the crisis were the focus of the Work 2001 youth summit held recently at the University of the Witwatersrand. An international conference on employment creation, the summit functioned as a consultative forum in preparation for next year’s Youth Employment Summit.
South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis is shared globally. According to the International Labour Organisation, there are more than one billion people between the ages of 15 and 24, and 85% of them live in developing countries. About 60-million people worldwide in that age group are struggling to find work. In South Africa this year about 350 000 school leavers will be seeking jobs.
A large part of the problem is the HIV pandemic. With about 18% of the workforce already HIV-positive and workers in the above age group most likely to be infected with the virus, employers are reluctant to hire them.
The summit focused on self-employment and entrepreneurship, school-to-work programmes and work-based training, private sector partnerships, productive on-farm and off-farm employment, the use of new information and communication technologies to support youth employment, and training and education targeted for work opportunities.
A paper presented by the International Labour Organisation, entitled Strategies To Combat Youth Unemployment and Marginalisation in Anglophone Africa, concentrated on reforms in the educational and training system, active market policies and direct employment creation programmes.
The conference heard of recent South African initiatives to combat youth unemployment, such as the establishment of the Centre for Small Business Promotion to spearhead, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the national small business development strategy.
Other functions of the centre, which is funded by the Department of Trade and Industries, are to provide support services like entrepreneurial training, the provision of development finance, making business information available through walk-in centres and enabling access to markets.
A national mentorship scheme will be established, with new lending schemes. The Fisheries Fund, for example, which caters for disadvantaged entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35, and the Nations Trust Youth Enterprise project for the same age group will be expanded.
A business incubation programme will be created to minimise the risk of small business failure and to provide technical assistance, training and market access.
For these initiatives to bear fruit, an implementation committee will be formed, consisting of various social partnerships between the Department of Trade and Industries, black empowerment groups and other private sector companies.
Several initiatives are forging ahead. Ronnie Midaka, head of the South African Graduate Development Association, said: “As a group of unemployed graduates in 1996 we created [the association]. Today we focus on training and development, while also providing communication channels and placement schemes. Our mission is to train and develop graduates for active participation in the economic mainstream, while inculcating a culture of social responsibility.”
Dumisani Nyoni of the Education Development Centre is launching a youth-based information technology project to assist rural youths in developing IT skills.
Hofni Shikon, of the National Youth Council of Namibia, said: “We provide grants to youth projects, manage a youth service scheme and host an annual youth expo where young entrepreneurs can exhibit their products and services.”
Meanwhile, the organising committee for the international Youth Employment Summit of 2001, has formed a broad global alliance of governments, NGOs, the private sector, and education and training institutions.
The committee plans to establish a virtual forum for youth employment. The aim is to create a worldwide movement using new information and communication technologies to expand knowledge sharing and foster interactivity and collaboration.
The committee will also expand community outreach using information hubs. The purpose of the hubs will be to gather information from the virtual forum and make it available to communities that do not have Internet access.
Next year’s global summit will launch a decade-long campaign of committed action by the committee requesting governments, the United Nations, the private sector, NGOs and education institutions to take action to create opportunities for youth in the world of work.
Interested parties can visit the website: www.youthemploymentsummit.org