More than half of South Africa’s population is under the age of 30, which may be good news for the country’s future prosperity. However, South Africa has failed to benefit from this population advantage. The main cause of this is a lack of complementary talents.
That’s why 60% of its youth (those under the age of 25) can’t find work. The spread of COVID-19 exacerbated the problem. Young people and those with less experience were hit hardest by its effects on the job market.
This gap between company needs and young people’s abilities contributes significantly to youth unemployment in South Africa. This is characterized by a lack of technical proficiency as compared to what companies require. Many students in the country’s basic education system do not graduate with the rudimentary competencies in reading, writing, and arithmetic that the country desperately needs.
The South African government launched the National Rural Youth Service Corps project in September 2010 in response to the country’s unemployment issue, specifically aiming at young people in rural regions who are at a disadvantage. It’s still operational to this day.
The main goal of the program was to provide participants with technical and vocational training that would improve their chances of finding gainful employment or starting successful businesses. During their two years in the program, participants get a stipend. They also learn to lead, build relationships, and solve problems effectively. We aimed to determine how well the program worked to close the gap in available skills and also sought to determine which talents were most strongly correlated with employment success.
We observed that among employed participants, the development of “soft skills” such as problem-solving, networking, and leadership was the most important factor in their professional advancement. Participants who had already founded enterprises found the same thing to be true: soft skills were far more valuable than technical ones. These findings emphasize the importance of soft skills, reflecting a global trend toward putting more focus on these attributes in government-funded employment initiatives.
In sum, the initiative has had some success in assisting rural youth in enhancing their technical and soft skills, but it has several limitations that restrict its usefulness in linking its graduates to secure work or sustainable firm creation. There is a misalignment between the skills learned and the needs of the workforce, and the programme’s alumni receive inadequate post-exit support.
Program Strengths and Shortcomings
We also looked into the programme’s appropriateness, efficiency, transformative impact, and inclusion for all demographics. Changes in participants’ views, commitments, and groups’ and individuals’ social and cultural values were also analyzed. Participants and program officials we spoke with overwhelmingly characterized the program as an effective policy intervention for reducing rural adolescent unemployment.
However, they acknowledged that there might be certain difficulties for participants in putting it into practice. The program’s inability to help its alumni secure permanent jobs was a major flaw. It is expected that fewer than 10% of graduating students use these services.
One important reason is that the program’s leadership does not allocate enough time and money to graduate students. Inadequate administrative frameworks make it difficult to keep tabs on recent grads and offer them the organisational and material support they need to enter the workforce. Entrepreneurial program participants are also on their own. In addition, rural communities suffer from an absence of professional networks. Startups are typically helped by existing networks as they join regional supply chains. Another major barrier to graduates’ success is the gap between the technical skills given in the curriculum and what businesses want. This makes it tough for recent graduates to secure stable work or launch successful businesses.
The vast majority of our key informants (people whose positions allowed them access to significant information relevant to the interview topic) felt that the programme produced inferior skills and qualifications compared to those produced by technical vocational education and training colleges. Despite the widespread belief that these institutions are unequipped to address the shortage of technical talent, this remains the case. The inclusion of women in the program has been particularly fruitful. They constitute a sizable proportion of the group’s members.
Recommendations and Implications
This explains why initiatives like the National Rural Youth Service Corps have failed to significantly reduce youth unemployment in South Africa. If rural enterprise development and job creation are to thrive, there needs to be more cooperation between the many parties involved. The skills students are given should also be in line with what businesses need. In particular, land and startup funds need to be made available to recent grads.
In addition, graduate support needs to be streamlined to enable accurate participant tracking and needs assessment at graduation. Soft skills should be at the heart of any youth employment program because they are so crucial to young people’s success in the workforce.
About The Author:
Lunga Dlamini is a journalist specializing in African start-ups and entrepreneurship. Lunga’s fascination with innovative business models and emerging market trends guides his writing. He has an MBA and has been with Africa Nova since its inception.
