Wraparound support for young people

WRAPAROUND SUPPORT

FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

South Africa’s youth bulge is significant and in an election year, we are reminded that young people have the power to shape South Africa’s future. Yet a third of young people are not in education, employment or training (NEET)1 due to the multiple and complex barriers that young people face in accessing and seizing opportunities. Effective support requires a coordinated response from local service providers who share an understanding of the realities of young people and a commitment to supporting their development. Wraparound support places young people at the centre and is intended to respond to individuals with a range of needs in a specific community. By design, this type, and level, of support is different to one-dimensional interventions. So, what does the design look like and how can it be replicated?

This learning brief looks at the pioneering work conducted by Bumb’INGOMSO (BI) and its partners delivering multi-faceted HIV-prevention and youth development initiatives in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) in the Eastern Cape.

Young people in South Africa make up a significant portion of the population, with a diverse range of talents, skills, and aspirations.2 Yet the most recent labour survey statistics released in February 2024 show youth unemployment, excluding those who have given up looking for work, at 44.3% and the percentage of young people (15-24) categorised as ‘NEET’ at 33%.3

A multi-disciplinary body of evidence tells us that when young people are NEET and remain in that position for a long time, they are more likely to experience poor physical and mental health, substance abuse, social exclusion, and increased risky behaviour.4 From a fiscal perspective, countries with a large proportion of young people that are NEET have less state revenue through tax collection but need to spend a considerable amount on public health, social welfare and even the criminal justice system.5

Let us look at what Bumb’INGOMSO (BI), Basic Package of Support (BPS), #Keready and JobStarter have done to respond to young people’s needs in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) — an area with a population of nearly one million people. In this area, the unemployment rate is 30.7%.6

BUMB’INGOMSO (BI)

Since 2016, Bumb’INGOMSO, meaning ‘mould the future’ in isiXhosa, has aimed to reduce the vulnerability of girls and young women in the BCMM by addressing individual, interpersonal, and structural challenges. This comprehensive HIV-prevention project in East London also now includes young men aged 15-29. It integrates behavioural, biomedical, social, and economic strategies to encourage these individuals to avoid high-risk behaviours and make healthier life choices. Its approach is based on international evidence showing that robust, multi-faceted prevention efforts can significantly lower HIV rates if maintained broadly and intensively.7

The initiative is propelled by a core team alongside four implementing partners: Small Projects Foundation (SPF), Masimanyane Women’s Rights International, Masibumbane Development Organisation (MDO), and Beyond Zero.

A key component of this initiative is a youth centre in Mdantsane, which provides a range of services including HIV counselling and testing, screenings for tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections, and psychosocial support. This centre also houses the BI economic hub, which offers assistance to unemployed youth in the area.

BUILDING POSSIBILITY

Through the following programmes, BI and partners aim to build self-efficacy and a sense of imminent possibility that shifts the social and structural dynamics shaping young women’s lives.

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CREATE A POSITIVE CHANGE IN RISKY BEHAVIOUR

For behaviour change to happen, BI believes that young people must be able to understand themselves and have a sense of community, connectedness and the ability to make informed choices in their lives. The SPF is at the centre of the intervention, responsible for encouraging and facilitating behaviour change.

PROMOTE ACCESSIBLE HEALTH SERVICES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND HIGH-RISK GROUPS

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Effective health services enable young people to make informed choices about their bodies and sexual health. BI aims to increase access to youth-friendly care at public health facilities in Buffalo City and the Amathole District Municipality (ADM)8 to strengthen youth-friendly services. Beyond Zero implements the health intervention.

2 Dhliwayo, R. 2023. Harnessing the employability of South Africa’s youth. UNDP South Africa. https://www.undp.org/south-africa/blog/harnessing-employabilitysouth-africas-youth

3 Statistics South Africa. 2024. Quarterly Labour Force Survey Q4 2023. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa.

4 Franzen, E.M. & Kassman, A. 2005. Longer-term labour market consequences of economic inactivity during young adulthood: a Swedish national cohort study. Journal of Youth Studies, 8(4), 403–424.

5 De Lannoy, A., Basic Package of Support research consortium. 201) Towards a Basic Package of Support for Young People who are not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) in South Africa. Project summary report. Cape Town: Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town. https://tinyurl.com/3cvjaynx

6 Stats SA. 2023. Quarterly Labour Force Survey Quarter 2: 2023 https://www.statssa. gov.za/publications/P0211/P02112ndQuarter2023.pdf

7 Bekker LG, Beyrer C, Quinn TC. Behavioural and biomedical combination strategies for HIV prevention Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2012 Aug 1;2(8):a007435. doi: 10.1101/ cshperspect.a007435.

8 This programme started in BCMM in 2017 and expanded to parts of ADM closer to BCMM in 2020. In ADM, additional programmes offered include health, behaviour change and communication, and IKHWELOLethu.

RESPOND EFFECTIVELY TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE (GBV)

Given young women’s greater physical and social vulnerability to infection with HIV, BI seeks to mobilise and engage communities to be actively involved in the prevention of GBV. Masimanyane Women’s Rights International is the implementing partner addressing violence against women.

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ENABLING ACCESS TO ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUNG WOMEN

In the Eastern Cape, information and mobility barriers significantly limit the life choices of young people. BI empowers them by enhancing access to skills training and information about available opportunities through its economic opportunities and work readiness intervention. BI youth coaches provide career coaching, while the Masimumbane Development Organisation (MDO) offers psychosocial support for first-year students at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. This support aims to prevent dropouts and provides work-integrated learning opportunities, helping TVET students complete their portfolios and graduate from their programmes.

SHAPING EQUAL GENDER NORMS AMONG ADOLESCENTS AGED 10-14

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Early adolescence (10–14 years) is an especially crucial phase in which young people undergo physical, emotional, social and cognitive changes, including socialisation into prevailing gender norms. The IKHWELOLethu intervention is a BI programme aimed at a younger cohort that focuses on shaping equal gender norms during early adolescence for boys and girls.

YOUNG PEOPLE MAKE THEIR OWN NETWORKS

In addition to these interventions, BI also encourages young women to take control of their lives through interaction with their peers, enabling them to create their own networks of support. The Bumb’INGOMSO Leadership Network (BLN) brings together young women in different communities as a means of growing their social capital. Through the network, young women are able to help each other unlock their potential and make informed choices.

Bumb’INGOMSO clubs also bring together groups of young women in different communities. Each club has a maximum of 12 members who meet regularly to engage in discussions led by a trained facilitator/mentor. These clubs are facilitated by young women from the same communities who are trained and supported by the BI team. All BI partners recruit young people into the leadership network and clubs.

Leadership initiative: Young people reached

A total of 4 885 adolescent girls and young women were recruited by the end of 2023 to join the BLN. To date, 56 435 young women have been recruited into the network.

BI currently has 421 active clubs, with an average of 10 members per club, and a total of 6 071 young women participating in club activities. Of this number, 284 are in-school clubs, whilst 127 are out-of-school clubs, and 10 are in the two TVET colleges supported by BI.

“I use sport to gather young people and engage with them on the variety of issues they face.”

Ayabonga Jezile (24) BLN member, soccer player and HIV educator

FOCUS ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

BI has spent years reaching thousands of young women, building a sense of self and agency among them. How can this continue amid the high levels of poverty and unemployment in South Africa?

Bridget Hannah, DGMT Innovation Director, says that since the Covid-19 pandemic it has become increasingly urgent to focus on economic opportunities, skills development and employment so that young people can make positive decisions about their own lives.

This is why BI partnered with the Basic Package of Support, a unique response to youth unemployment that offers targeted, individual and ongoing support to young people who are NEET, while simultaneously supporting service providers to improve their interventions.

THE BASIC PACKAGE OF SUPPORT (BPS)

“Often young people fall through the cracks because they are not able to access what is available to them in their communities, either because they simply don’t know about it or they are not referred to the relevant services by those who should be providing support.”

Simone Peinke, BPS project lead

The Basic Package of Support provides holistic support to young people to improve their life chances. It acknowledges that young people face multiple barriers to accessing opportunities, so once-off or one-dimensional interventions are not enough to help them access and stay connected to opportunities. The approach is based on decades worth of national and international research about the type of interventions that are most effective at improving employment outcomes for young people. Its design has been refined in consultation with local civil society groups and government stakeholders.

BPS began its pilot in 2022; it was concluded at the end of 2023 when the project achieved proof of concept and entered an expanded phase of implementation. There are currently four sites: Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape, Orange Farm in Gauteng, Cato Manor in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal and Atlantis in the Western Cape.

Through the BPS, young people receive support from youth coaches to help them better understand their strengths and interests as they transition into the workforce. This includes practical support like CV building and guidance on accessing the job market both online and offline. Individual and group sessions connect youth with organisations that can identify and nurture their talents.

Building relationships with community service providers is essential. The BPS team maps out existing services for young people within a given community and visits the various service providers, ensuring they know what is provided for and what they can connect with.

BPS project lead Simone Peinke says that through the partnership with BI, a number of young people have been connected to earning and learning opportunities. BPS works with the economic opportunity lead within BI to strengthen how young people are connected to service providers and to improve referral networks. She adds: “The BPS coaches have been able to refer young people to social workers based at the site, as well as family planning experts and nurses.”

In the economic/work opportunity context, JobStarter, a techbased initiative that supports young people to get ready for the world of work, is often referenced by BPS.

JOBSTARTER

“We use digital technology as a bridge that takes young people from a point of feeling stuck to a point where they are economically active.”

Nomfundo Calana, JobStarter project lead

JobStarter is an online work-readiness platform, not an app, that acts as a virtual career coach. JobStarter does not connect youth with potential employers. Rather it gives young people the tools to be fully prepared and ready to take advantage of work opportunities when they arrive.

Nomfundo Calana, JobStarter project lead, explains: “It helps a young person understand who they are, what interests they have, what skills they have, and how they can use those skills to build a CV that could land them a work opportunity.”

Other components of JobStarter include various study modules dealing with topics such as how to prepare for a job interview, financial literacy, communication in the workplace, and what it would mean to become an entrepreneur. About 98% of users access the platform via their mobile phones.

JobStarter’s strategy is based on partnerships. The online platform partners with youth development organisations that use the digital platform to complement their existing programmes. For example, BI uses JobStarter as its main workreadiness and CV builder tool, coaching participants to get ready for the world of work.

Calana notes: “What’s nice about this is that they are able to track what young people are doing.”

In 2023, JobStarter began training Keready mobilisers and communicators in the Western Cape and Gauteng, equipping them to be information ambassadors for the platform. In early 2024, this initiative was extended to the Eastern Cape.

Keready offers a range of health services to young people through 46 mobile health units, each equipped with free Wi-Fi. Calana explains: “When people arrive at mobile clinics, Keready mobilisers may discover that one of their top concerns is joblessness; they are able to help by showing them how to use the JobStarter platform.”

KEREADY

Keready launched in February 2022 with the objective of encouraging youth participation in the rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations. Keready was branded as an initiative for young people, by young people, and not as a government project. No jargon and no judgement – this is the ethos. The initiative’s frank, unfiltered approach to providing health information from young doctors bolstered its credibility; within the first two months of the campaign, an additional quarter of a million young people, above the trend-line expected, came forward to be vaccinated.9

Keready has since evolved into a movement that seeks to enhance healthcare-seeking behaviour among young people. The 46 mobile health clinics are located across KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape, offering services such as health screenings and tests, family planning, immunisations and treatment. It also has a WhatsApp line – “Ask a Doctor” – which young people can message any time of the day with health questions.

Mobile clinics enhance access to healthcare services for young people. Before these clinics arrive, Keready teams identify gathering spots for young people and send mobilisers to inform the community about the upcoming services. Communicators and nurses also participate in community radio programmes to discuss health topics and promote the available services. The goal of these mobile clinics is not only to provide essential health services but also to ensure a positive experience for young visitors. This encourages them to return or seek further assistance through other community support services if needed.

HEALTH AND EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP IN THE EASTERN CAPE

In partnership with the Small Projects Foundation (a BI implementer) and the departments of education and health, the Keready mobile teams also work with school health programmes. In the Eastern Cape, Keready has eight mobile clinics that visit schools to conduct mass health and eye screenings, including vaccinations. This collaboration ensures that learners in rural areas, who can struggle to access healthcare services, are seen by young doctors and other healthcare practitioners and receive the necessary treatment and/or eyeglasses.

BI was also one of Keready’s original partners in the vaccination campaign; one of the mobile clinics is based in Mdantsane and Keready appears frequently in the BI magazine, YAKHA.

Through BI we can see the importance and impact of intersectoral partnerships working to achieve the desired impact. However, coordination is not without its challenges.

TOP LESSONS SHARED BY PROJECT IMPLEMENTERS

YOUNG PEOPLE MUST BE FRONT AND CENTRE

“It starts with the person delivering the services being aware of their connection to the network,” explains Peinke, BPS project lead. Youth coaches are a crucial part of the support ecosystem. They are trained as child healthcare or social workers, with a significant focus on community services and how to access them. Although a person might be referred for testing, they might not follow through without guidance and encouragement from a coach.

Similarly, the young people in BI’s leadership network and clubs identify challenges in their communities, develop a plan to address them and are then supported by BI. This creates a sense of ownership and enables young people to become self-sufficient.

9 G:ENESIS KeReadysa: Evaluation of the COVID-19 Youth Vaccination Programme, April 2022.

Part of the success of Keready is that it puts young people in charge. Dr Phumelela Sambumbu, a Keready doctor, says: “They have access to a health professional whenever they want. If they can’t reach us physically, they can use the WhatsApp line. And the answers come directly from us. That would not have been available to them previously.”

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TRUST TAKES TIME AND BUILDS OPPORTUNITY

“Buffalo City is a very hard space. There is a lot of hostility and hardship, alcohol and despair and difficulty getting young people motivated.”

Nokuthula Futwa, Bumb’INGOMSO project director

Availability doesn’t guarantee that young people will use services or seize opportunities. BI has observed that extended periods of unemployment can lead to disillusionment among youth, diminishing their confidence to engage with opportunities when they arise. Futwa says: “We need to work with the young person where they are at. Learn how they are feeling and what struggles they are facing. BPS does work on that, but at a very individual level. The challenge is that kind of work is needed at a much bigger scale.” With an increase in mental health issues among young people, it's crucial that youth coaches connect them with support services and counselling.

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MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES ARE INCREASING THE WAY PARTNERS COLLABORATE IS IMPORTANT

Each of the partners working with BI has a strong brand identity. But this can sometimes mean that young people are not aware of the other programmes on offer in this stable of interventions. For example, a young unemployed person may be involved in one of the GBV interventions, but not aware of the support they could get from the economic hub. Because the organisations tend to work in silos, they don’t always share information.

Peinke notes that to address the multiple needs of young people, service providers must be intentional about connecting them to a broader spectrum of services, and not just the one particular service they provide.

BI’s place-based intervention has been operating in Buffalo City since 2016. Over the years trust has been built with the community, and thus BI is able to amplify its impact and convene a range of partners. Futwa says: “One of the things we have realised is that as BI, we have become the glue. We are trusted by young people; we are trusted by parents.” In the Eastern Cape, BI serves as a robust central support for various organisations, creating an ideal environment for partnerships. For instance, BI leveraged Keready’s national health campaign, while the Small Projects Foundation, with its strong connections to schools, helped integrate Keready into that existing network.

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INTEROPERABILITY OF SYSTEMS IS A CHALLENGE

Each service provider typically has its own case management system for tracking and managing beneficiaries. For instance, BPS uses a system to track which services young people are referred to, but this information is not shared with other organisations like DSD. As Peinke explains, “That [information] isn’t then shot across to DSD, for example, to say this young person has just been referred, they will be coming through the door.” BI is currently in the process of installing a customer relationship management (CRM) system, which is not yet operational. Once up and running, BI will be able to track the young people entering its programmes, monitor their progress, and provide prompts when needed.

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PRESCRIPTIVE PROGRAMMES DON’T WORK

Young people who are unemployed and living in poverty frequently face one crisis after another, requiring immediate responses that can't be delayed until later stages of a programme. Since starting its pilot in 2020, BPS has restructured its programme to better address the immediate needs of young people and their communities. "If you don't address the issues that people come in with, there's a real risk of pushing them away," explains Peinke from BPS.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The social and economic challenges that South Africa faces mean that no single intervention can be entirely effective on its own. A series of interconnected interventions that provide holistic and comprehensive support are more likely to be successful. Importantly, young people have the ability to change their own futures if they are equipped with the right tools and a supportive network.

This is the learning experience of:

This brief was written by Daniella Horwitz, edited by Rahima Essop, with contributions from Bumb’INGOMSO, Basic Package of Support (BPS), JobStarter and #Keready.