Mindset change needed to help youth get work
YOUTH development lab Lucha Lunako yesterday released its “Youth Development Reimagined Report”, which found that a new approach and a change in mindset were required to prepare the youth to succeed in the workplace.
Reshaping the development and empowerment of youth was one of the approaches necessary to deliver South Africans from the clutches of poverty, said Lucha Lunako co-founder Alana Bond.
She said the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures implemented to curb its spread had been devastating in a number of ways.
“Many studies, including our own Covid-19 survey, also found that the impact on the youth has been significant. Many of them found themselves in greater debt, or without job prospects, study opportunities or internships in the wake of the pandemic,” said Bond.
South Africa is grappling a high unemployment rate – 32.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. Joblessness among those aged between 15 and 24 was at 63.2 percent, while it was 41.2 percent for those aged between 25 and 34.
According to Bond, the challenge of unemployment also meant that the majority of South Africans were living below the poverty line, but they have the potential to grow and thrive.
According to the lab, overcoming these setbacks and getting back on track with youth development will require a new approach and a change in mindset.
The “Youth Development Reimagined Report” indicated that although significant efforts were being made within youth development, the prospects for employment and sustainable futures for youth were disheartening poor.
Furthermore, youth development outcomes and impacts were low relative to the investment being made in the sector.
The report also found that the focus has been on providing youth with
technical skills, workplace readiness and work experience, rather than looking at how young people were affected and shaped by poverty and inequality, and providing holistic, intentional, high-quality development and support in building human foundations.
“To bridge this glaring youth development gap, the report recommends more active consideration of proven best practices to inform programme design and implementation. Youth development interventions need to be holistic, and must be coupled with deliberate efforts to create clear pathways for young people,” said Bond.
“In practice, youth must be exposed to career guidance and possibilities beyond their frame of reference; different lenses must be applied to the problem of job creation and the potential demand for jobs in South Africa must be mapped out differently.”
The report proposed a new framework that focuses on three core areas of development for youth that referred to an all-encompassing development focus starting with self, then others, then the broader work and life context.
Within this “I, You and Youth” framework there were three constructs: “I have it”, the development of self”; “You have it”, a mindshift change to those around one; and “Youth have it”, the greater context of those around them and at work.
Beyond being important for their development, this level of community immersion enabled the youth to identify solutions to problems within a community and develop that idea into a viable, resilient business through which to employ some of their peers, the report said.
“Ultimately, we believe these three areas of development are the core elements for youth development beyond on the job training. These are the attitudes that truly equip the youth with the life skills they need to function and thrive in a modern civic society. Our core belief is that ‘the youth are not a problem to be solved’; they already have what it takes, and therefore development programmes should be designed to unlock their potential,” said Bond.
The report comes hot on the heels of a report by the Anzisha Prize, the Mastercard Foundation and the African Leadership Academy this week, which suggested it was possible to create 1 million job opportunities by 2030 for unemployed African youth, and highlighted 11 key entrepreneurship lessons.