Youth programme opportunities come alive
09 March 2016
The City of Johannesburg youth programme, Vulindlel’eJozi has in just its second quarter roll-out secured up to 47 050 opportunities for unemployed young people in job placements, online education, maritime sector and entrepreneurship skills development.
The programme, which was launched in June 2015, set out to empower the youth with entry-level job training and placement in various sectors, online further education and entrepreneurship skills development. So far 15 124 young people have directed benefited from various opportunities created through the Vulindlel’eJozi programme.
These include 2 895 candidates who have been placed into opportunities to earn a livelihood in various sectors of the economy – such as early childhood development, hospitality, information technology, retail, financial services and business process outsourcing.
Several South African companies have come out to partner with the City and its Vulindlel’eJozi programme implementation partner, Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, to break down barriers to various empowerment opportunities for up to 200 000 youths.
Working with Vulindlel’eJozi to unlock employment opportunities for the youth are, among other corporates still in partnership negotiations, Unilever, Nando’s, Mindworx consulting, Woolworths, Pick n Pay, Standard Bank, FNB, Nedbank, Imperial, Scaw Metals and Burger King.
For further education, by the end of the second quarter – between October and December 2015, a total of 1233 youths had registered for the entry level qualifications offering on the Vulindlel’eJozi Massive Open Online Varsity (MOOV), which currently runs in the City’s public libraries. About 20 of these young people have already obtained certificates as web masters – at no financial cost to them.
Vulindlel’eJozi is currently also training 75 youths in entrepreneurship – which also includes incubation of ideas and going through the process of bringing them to live and sustaining their businesses.
The programme’s mobisite www.vulindlela.mobi has already registered up to 140 000 youths, who are keen to participate in the programme by the end of the second quarter – and 15 000 new registrations were recorded during this period.
The Vulindlel’eJozi programme has also opened doors to maritime career opportunities for 10 Orange Farm youths through a partnership with a presidential programme - Operation Phakisa, which is designed to boost the contribution of the maritime sector to the South African economy. This is after a huge potential for growth was identified in areas of fishing, ship building, marine conservation, cargo handling and in the leisure sector.
The 10 youths have reached the final stages of training in swimming and hospitality under the Vulindlel’eJozi programme. They have already been through comprehensive medical examinations and a series of interviews with MSC Cruises – one of the most prestigious operators in the world.
The third quarter of Vulindlel’eJozi is set to be characterised by the acceleration of the Jozi Digital Ambassadors programme which is designed to empower up to 720 000 households in Johannesburg with digital skills using the City’s Free Wifi hotspots and its new Maru a Jozi portal. Some 3 000 ambassadors are expected to reach these households, and already 85 youths are deployed as Jozi Digital Ambassadors in Soweto to kick-start the roll-out of the initiative across the City.
The third quarter will also see more MOOV centres opened across the City. Of the 11 targeted centres, five are already live in Orange Farm, Westbury, White City Jabavu, Joburg Inner City and in Alex.