According to the South African National Treasury, 7.5 million people in this country are currently unemployed and of those 73% are younger than 35. Furthermore, 42% of young people under the age of 30 are unemployed compared with less than 17 per cent of adults over 30. Employment of 18 to 24 year olds has fallen by more than 20% (320 000) since December 2008. Unemployed young people tend to be less skilled and inexperienced – almost 86% do not have formal further or tertiary education, while two-thirds have never worked.
In response to this the South African Department of Environmental Affairs issued a call to Non Profit Organizations and Training Institutes to participate as Implementing Agencies in the Youth Environmental Services (YES) programme. The aim of the programme is to:
a) Expose youth to the green economy as an alternative destination for employment (changing aspirations)
b) Build capacity through training (human development)
c) Enable future employment through education (building a Curriculum Vitae – CV)
d) Provide experiential learning in the workplace (promoting employability) and,
e) Create eco-entrepreneurs (promoting self-employment).
The Wildlands Conservation Trust responded to the call with a proposal to enable youth participation in the Green Economy in the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape Provinces. The proposal was successful and Wildlands was appointed as Implementing Agency for the YES program in those two provinces (9 projects in total – one per province). Recruitment of project beneficiaries started in December 2012 and by January 2013, 200 young individuals joined the Trust to receive accredited training in Natural Resource Management, and to provide community services in the Umgungundlovu and eThekwini Municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal and in the Port St John’s, Mbothyi and Cata areas in the Eastern Cape.
In the second year of the 3-year project, the scope will expand to the Umkhanyakude and Zululand Districts in KwaZulu-Natal and as far south as the Plains of the Camdeboo and Graaf-Reinet in the Eastern Cape. On completion 600 young persons (200 per year) would have gone through the accredited training course and workplace skills learning and the Trust hopes to provide exit opportunities in the form of further leaning, direct employment or self-employment to at least 75% of those who participate in the program.
“Research shows that the green economy is one of the key sectors for growth that can provide employment in South Africa. If we are going to address the social and environmental problems of the country it’s imperative that we enable the participation of young people in the current system, else they will feel isolated and uninterested in participating in the development of the country. The YES program offers an opportunity to engage with young people and to capacitate them to be part of the growing green economy that is transforming South Africa into a more just society,” commented Roelie Kloppers, Director at the Wildlands Conservation Trust.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)