AB4IR’S DIGITAL HUB
AFRICA BEYOND 4IR A ccording to the Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Survey for the fourth quarter of 2020 released on February 202, South Africa’s unemployment rate increased by 1,7 percentage points to 32,5% in Q4:2020 compared to Q3:2020. Approximately 3,1 million (29,8%) out of 10,3 million young people aged 15-24 years were not in employment, education, or training (NEET). The overall NEET rate declined by 2,2 percentage points in Q4:2020 compared to Q4:2019. Effectively South African youth aged 15-24 years and 25-34 years recorded the highest unemployment rates of 63,2% and 41,2% respectively. The unemployment rate among the black African (36,5%) population group remains higher than the national average and other population groups. Black African women, like the youth, are the most vulnerable with an unemployment rate of 38,5%. These statistics reflect the impact of COVID-19 related lockdown restrictions and the junk status pronounced by the rating agencies on the eve and during the lockdown restrictions. Overall, South Africa and its youth faces the following challenges: • • • •
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Unemployment rate is increasing unabated year on year. Lack of access to ICT resources for disadvantaged communities. The growing gender and digital divide. Clients demand for competitive pricing and quality goods and services. Insufficient programs to convert income seekers to entrepreneurs that own sustainable business.
To address this challenges, nonprofit
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Municipal Focus
organisation AfricaBeyond4IR’s (AB4IR’s) Digital Hub will be hosting their second instalment of the Digital Youth Festival during June and overlapping into the first week of July 2022. In 2021 the event was hosted in three provinces, Gauteng, Limpopo, and Eastern Cape. The event has since grown in leaps and bound to include two more provinces taking the number of the provinces to be visited to and the provinces are now as follows: Gauteng, Limpopo, Eastern Cape, Northwest, Free State.
Digital Youth Festival (DYF) is aimed at creating a platform for exposing South African youth from disadvantaged communities to digital creative industries opportunities? The COVID19 pandemic inevitably accelerated and forced the world into the digital space where 4IR (the fourth industrial revolution) took the center stage. Whilst this could be viewed as further widening of the digital divide, it created an opportunity for AB4IR to create an enabling environment for the youth to explore and exploit benefits of the digital revolution. The inaugural festival in 2021 was hosted as a hybrid (physical and virtual) event in Gauteng Limpopo and Eastern Cape provinces during the Youth month of June. The vision for the event has been and remains to offer host the event in all nine provinces. In the 2022/23 financial year we are growing the event from three provinces to five provinces with the help of partners and sponsors. The objectives of the Digital Youth Festival are to:
CEO of AB4IR: Kelebegile Molopyane
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In 2021, the festival was a great success and it attracted over 7 000 participants. The festival is expected to be bigger and better in 2022 and it will discuss the following topics: • • • • • • •
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Raise awareness of opportunities inherent in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and beyond Encourage youth to be innovative
Design thinking and Ideation Aviation opportunities Gaming and animation Future jobs and skills Funding opportunities Digital trends Entrepreneurial journey
The festival will offer the following elements: •
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and participate in technological revolution and the digital economy Promote innovative entrepreneurship. Encourage youth participation in the digital economy.
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Exhibitions and technology demonstration Masterclasses Business pitching E-Sport tournament
