South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates for young people. Over 63% of people aged between 15 and 24 will be able to find jobs. Kristal Duncan-Williams joins author Kgotsi Chikane, Youth Development Practitioner Tessa Dooms, and Chairman Of The Board: South African Chapter at BRICS CCI Young Leaders Raymond Matalala in discussing youth unemployment and solutions.
How can we fix youth unemployment?
At Youth Capital, we believe the reason for our inability to make any real change is because of the following two factors:
- a lack of a common agenda;and
- a lack of youth participation in driving solutions that really work.
In 2020, Youth Capital developed an Action Plan to develop youth unemployment. Grounded in young people’s lived experiences, the Action Plan connects young people’s realities of looking for work with data, research, and policies to form a shared strategy to shift the needle on youth unemployment. The Action Plan prioritises areas of intervention where individuals and organisations can work together to improve employment outcomes for young people: supporting them in completing their educational journey, supporting them in their journey from education into the labour market, and ensuring that existing employment initiatives and opportunities provide stepping stones to sustainable livelihoods.