They should be the engine driving the nation’s economy, society and democracy, but young people in South Africa are more likely to be unemployed and living in poverty. It’s an untenable situation that has been made worse by Covid-19.

The pandemic has struck the already struggling global labour market a grievous blow, affecting young people more than other age groups. In 2020, youth employment (defined by the International Labour Organisation  as those under the age of 25) fell by 8.7%, compared with 3.7% for adults, with the drop much more pronounced in middle-income countries, such as South Africa and Brazil.

When one takes a deeper look at the South African context the figures are startling with Stats SA indicating in 2022 that the unemployment rate was 63,9% for those aged 15- 24 and 42,1% for those aged 25-34 years  . Further to this, 37% of young people between 15-34 years are not in education, training or employment (NEETs). One of the primary drivers of these high figures is the significant disconnect between the education and skills of job- seekers and the demands of the work environment and employers.

The problems facing our youth are multi-dimensional and complex. South Africa’s young people face additional issues such as hunger, poverty, ill-health, malnutrition, violence, abuse, and neglect, all of which interact with each other, and ultimately make it very difficult for a young person to succeed.

As part of the Youth Innovation portfolio’s commitment to better support the youth development and wider social development ecosystem, the YI portfolio have committed to running a two month personal development programme called Changemakers. 

At it’s heart the changemakers programme is a personal development which looks to equip learners with a social entrepreneurial mindset, as well as equipping them with the skills and mindset needed to access further educational or employment opportunities. The programme can be seen as a merging of conventionally entrepreneurship (profit incentivized-business practices) with socially purpose driven ideas and principles. A key piece of the programme revolves around mental health and psychosocial support, with the cohort taken through an 8-module mental health curriculum titled Breaking Beliefs.

We as a centre believe that if youth focused skills development programmes are to thrive and achieve the lofty outcomes they set out to they need to take meaningful account of the individual at the centre of the programme; part of the massive success of this programme was the consistent appreciation for mental health, and the need to equip young people with the skills required to improve their mental health and their vigour for life.

For more information on this programme please contact the youth team.

Watch the Changemakers Programme video here.

The issues people face in communities such as Philippi on a day-to-day basis are complex and multi-dimensional, influenced by a range of interrelated socio-economic factors, and are hard to predict and define. They require considerable resources, dedication and passion in order to be addressed.

Developing and implementing holistic programmes which look to expose youth to a range of development aligned curriculum should be at the heart of interventions in communities such as Philippi. Communities like these are where most youth continue to live on the margins of society, and are not exposed to a wide range of interventions and methodologies. In other words, it is of the utmost importance to expose young people to ideas and practices which they have may not have come across before.

At the heart of the work across the Bertha Centre and the Changemakers Programme is a commitment to both the development of social innovation practices and social entrepreneurs.

“I saw the BC programme as an institution, because I’ve never attended a formal institution like a university. Now I’m able to run a successful business. Entrepreneurship needs to be the main focus because to have your own side hustle it is important and all of that starts with knowing what a business is.” - Participant 2021

“The programme helped me, especially my confidence. I’m currently studying teaching and want to pursue an acting course afterwards. I needed the confidence boost for my acting and in class we did presentations which were helpful.” - Participant 2021