As key strategic partners of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI) – the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL), National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), Youth Employment Service (YES), Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator and other partners have embarked on a series of roadshows across all nine provinces in South Africa, to drive awareness of SA Youth (sayouth.mobi) by hosting a careers expo in each province.
SAYouth.mobi, the National Pathway Management Network (NPMN) with a purpose to expand opportunities and support available to young people, was officially launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa on June 16, 2021.
The Department of Employment and Labour and the Presidency are driving the development of the NPMN.
Spearheaded by the Department of Employment and Labour, the partners on the National Pathway Management Network, kicked off the opportunity roadshows in the Eastern Cape on Youth Day, June 16, 2022, and the roadshows will run until April 2023 under the theme: “Promoting sustainable livelihoods and resilience of young people for a better tomorrow”.
The roadshow was yesterday (23 September 2022) held at Monnanyane Hall, in Bloemfontein, where scours of youth and other work seekers had attended with enthusiasm for the opportunity to be granted learning and earning opportunities. There were at least 200 people who had attended yesterday’s roadshow and attendees were also given one on one opportunity to engage with all involved organisation officials.
The Department of Employment and Labour’s Employment Counsellor: Public Employment Service (PES) in the Free State – Mrs Dimakatso Yanta – said during the roadshow, “The Department is also proving young job seekers with employment counselling (job hunting skills, how to complete job application forms, job interview preparation, small business and cooperatives and CV writing”.
The Department officials were also conducting on-site registrations of young job seekers on the Department’s Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA) online services platform for job seekers.
Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator’s Chief Engagement Officer, Ms Zengeziwe Msimang, said young people must stay active on the SA Youth system so that they can find job opportunities.
Ms Msimang told the attendees, who were predominately young people, that: “What we are trying to do is make sure that all of the jobs that come out, whether from private sector, Government, Civil Society and NGOs, all these jobs get loaded on to the system so that we are able to provide opportunities that are close to where you are and where you live.”
In addition, Ms Msimang told the youth gathering that “there is going to be 300 000 job opportunities from across South Africa that are going to be put on the system on Monday from the Department of Basic Education”.
The NPMN Partnerships Coordinator from Yes 4 Youth, Ms Tholi Cenenda, said what they are trying to do in her organisation is to ensure that they provide young people with work experience and she further emphasized to the young people to register into the online sayouth.mobi site.
“Our absorption rate (of work-seekers) in our organisation is currently at 42 percent, which is quite high and it’s something that we are working on to consistently improve,”
said Ms Cenenda.
Other stakeholders at today’s roadshow included a representative from the Free State’s Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (DESTEA), Community Based Organisations and the Private Sector.
This exercise is meant to come up with tangible programmes and projects that are implementable to address the challenges faced by young people.
The National Roadshows’ primary objectives are focused on:
- Driving awareness of SA Youth and its offerings to young people, partners, and opportunity holders.
- Giving young people line of sight to earning and learning opportunities in their area and province.
- Building strong relationships with partners within the National Pathway Management Network.
The next Opportunities Expo will be hosted in the following locations:
- Limpopo – October 2022
- Mpumalanga – February 2023
- Western Cape – March 2023
- North- West – April 2023
- KwaZulu-Natal – May 2023
- Gauteng – June 2023
- Northern Cape – July 2023
Actual Dates to be confirmed once each province has been engaged.
For more information, contact Teboho Thejane, Departmental Spokesperson, 082 697 0694 or Teboho.thejane@labour.gov.za