Issued by the DG Murray Trust (DGMT): Youth employment interventions in economic deserts require a demand-led skills approach that focuses on generating livelihoods.

More than 3 million young people aged 15-24 in South Africa are not in employment, education, or training (NEET). They have fallen through the cracks, shut out of learning and earning prospects because they haven’t completed matric, or don’t have post-school qualifications or general work experience. This lack of opportunity has a devastating effect: continued unemployment leads to financial hardship, worsening mental health, exposure to crime and violence and social isolation, both in their community and wider society.

“One of the potential solutions to decrease unemployment rates is surprisingly simple, but it still requires a mind-shift from government and education & training institutions. It is called demand-led skilling,” says Bridget Hannah, Innovation Director at DGMT.

At its core, demand-led skilling is about training for real jobs, for the present and the future. These are not abstract qualifications which are sometimes foisted on young people by old-fashioned education and training institutions and even parents who see certain careers as more desirable than others. It focuses on aligning skills development with the needs of the labour market by improving employability even if it doesn’t guarantee a job. The Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI) backs this approach. The PYEI targets five growth sectors: Automative, Agriculture, Social Services, Digital & Technology and Installation, Repair & Maintenance.

Having that national backing gives this approach momentum, but yet true success depends on it being hyperlocal where opportunities are scarce – in economic deserts – away from bustling cities.

Hannah continues: “National strategies often fail when they ignore geography. For instance, it makes no sense to train ship builders in landlocked provinces, horticulturists where water access is limited or placing solar installation training in South Africa’s wettest, most cloudy areas. For this approach to pay off, local relevance must guide training provision”.

There are many real-world examples that we, or our implementing partners, are involved in that we can draw from. In ZF Mgcawu District Municipality in the Northern Cape, young people trained in welding pipes took the initiative to use their new skills to weld and install burglar bars in their community. This is demand-led skilling in action.

Civil society also has a big role to play where markets fail or where interventions prove inadequate. It is a fact that not all valuable work is profitable work. “Care work, environmental work and youth development frequently fall outside the interests of the market, creating a gap. That gap is being filled by NGOs supported by the Social Employment fund and the National Youth Service”, says Hannah, and continues, “These NGOs employ people to run food gardens, clean public spaces, run after-school sports programmes or offer counselling service and art classes. It must be noted that these aren’t acts of charity, as they are often portrayed. They are investments in the public good. It is valuable, much needed, work that builds social cohesion, dignity and resilience”.

Pivoting to demand-led skilling is possible within current state frameworks. The systems are already in place, but they are poorly connected. State agencies that provide funding for tertiary education, facilitate skilled development and training aligned to industry, provide finance to small micro and medium enterprises and support SMMEs with not financial assistance are not working together to build pathways to employment for the most vulnerable – those who have fallen through the cracks.

Work-integrated learning (WIL), which is a cornerstone of the vocational education and training (VET) approach, remains one of the weakest links in the system, with limited placements available, under-resourced trade test centres, and fragmented employer participation that further constrains young people’s ability to transition from training into meaningful work.

For a demand-led strategy to work there must be: Employer partnerships for apprenticeships and internships; progression routes from training to work; and support to ensure young people transition and stay in employment.

Once these are in place, a reimaged system is indeed possible that connect young people to meaningful work.

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