B A MB IS A NA NI NE WS Welcome to the firs t edition of the B ambis anani news letter! T he news letter is an important way of keeping in touch with everyone we’ve met along the way and cementing a national network of local s takeholders around the defining is s ue of our generation – youth unemployment. S ince November las t year we have been extremely bus y holding initial meetings and convers ations in our 20 municipalities around the country. To date we have met with s takeholders in E mfuleni, E malahleni, J ohannes burg, eT hekwini, Ms unduzi, Ts hwane, Nels on Mandela B ay, B uffalo C ity, P olokwane, C ape Town, Makhado, T hulamela, R us tenburg, and Mangaung. T he forums have been very s ucces s ful. A range of organis ations
and communities have participated in them and the dis cus s ion has been lively and informative. F ull lis ts of forum participants will be pos ted on our landing page. P leas e do keep the convers ation going! R elations hips continue to be built with key national role players including the National Youth Development Agency (NY DA), the S outh African Local G overnment As s ociation (S ALG A), and the S outh African C ities Network (S AC N) T he project’s landing page (http://www.youth.cde.org.za/) is now operational and a full, interactive webs ite will follow in due cours e. P rogres s has been made on the res earch that will be commis s ioned for the two products aris ing from the project: a s et of policy recommendations for national and provincial policymakers and guidelines for municipalities and other local s takeholders on how to deal with youth unemployment. Over the next few months we will be thinking very hard about the guidelines for local s takeholders s o if you have any s ugges tions on what it s hould contain or how it s hould be s tructured then pleas e get in touch! We would love to hear from you. (T he B ambis anani Team)
Os ia Mochadibane
IN T HE S P OT LIG HT 34-year-old Os ia has been living in S harpeville all his life, he is an accounting technician and bookkeeper with s everal years ’ experience at various firms . He became unemployed when the las t firm he worked for s hut down due to reces s ion. While he has good qualifications and work experience he has s truggled to find s teady employment. He however
unders tands the importance of us ing his time wis ely and is currently gaining work experience at NAF C OC as the Deputy Director of the Youth Department at E malahleni.
INS IG HT S : Young people can’t acces s information that could help them connect to the job market Young people both in urban and rural areas s truggle with gaining acces s to information regarding job opportunities , career guidance and entrepreneurial development s upport. T here is a huge lack of youth centres which provide acces s to free internet, mentors hip, career works hops , volunteering opportunities , as well as s port and art facilities to keep them off the s treets .
C reating J ob C reators : Youth E ntrepreneurs hip S chools need to encourage people from a young age to s tart their own bus ines s s o that thos e who have it in them can become job creators ins tead of job s eekers . T he road of entrepreneurs hip is not an eas y one, and while larger corporates often give financial s upport to new s tart-ups , they s hould als o inves t in providing mentors hip on how to run and grow a bus ines s to help make it a s us tainable s ucces s .
B eing Young F iguring out which career path to follow takes time for young people, and the unfortunate reality for many is that they only have one chance to educate thems elves . T hey cannot afford to change cours e and s tart all over. T herefore, career guidance as well as other
opportunities like volunteering or s ocial networks , where young people can get to know thems elves , are es s ential to ens ure that their chos en career is well-cons idered and maximis es their chances of becoming happy and good in what they do for a living.
Vis it webs ite
P leas e C lick here for more information on C DE ’s G rowth Agenda, which s ets out our our priorities for mas s employment and inclus ion in S outh Africa, and provides a clear diagnos is of what is going wrong and a focus ed s et of catalytic recommendations for getting S outh Africa back on track. B ambis anani is
C ontac t Us
s pons ored by the
5 E ton R oad, P arktown
E uropean Union
J ohannes burg, S outh Africa T: +27 (0)11 482-5140 F : +27 (0)11 482-5089 E : info@ cde.org.z a
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