Celebrating a bold move towards skills development
The appointment of former Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) participants to sustainable jobs in the Gauteng department of i nfrastructure development and its private sector partners is a celebration of skills development excellence i n the province.
It is also a sign of commitment, dedication to work and high levels of discipline displayed by the people who were only given an opportunity to learn a skill for a limited time but then used it to build careers and take them to even higher levels.
On Monday September 5, dozens of EPWP graduates and current participants gathered at the Johannesburg City Hall in the first ever annual celebration of EPWP excellence hosted by the department.
The gathering was addressed by MEC Jacob Mamabolo, the chief director of the EPWP Rae Davids, and Brian Gubbins, a representative of the EPWP strategic partner EOH, which is an organisation specialising in recruitment and training and development solutions. Stanley Mkhize also spoke on behalf of one of the strategic partners, the department of home affairs.
In one of its major recruitment drives to fill vacant posts in its units the department has drawn many of its new employees from the rich pool of Zivuseni Reloaded Programme and the National Youth Service (NYS) participants.
Their skills base ranges from human resource management, to boiler-operator assistants, administration, artisanship, to information-communication-technologies (ICT) and professional cleaners.
Many of these newly appointed employees have been deployed at more than 100 worksites in the department and its many partners in the private sector.
A twenty-eight-year-old Mpho Nt s h i n g a s a i d s h e h a d e a r l i e r started as an NYS participant, was then enlisted as an intern at human resources and was now a permanent employee. She encouraged other young people to believe in themselves and to take advantage of programmes such as the NYS.
Of the newly appointed employ- ees who are former EPWP beneficiaries, 176 are from Zivuseni Reloaded, while the appointment of more than 200 other former EPWP participants is currently being finalised.
The MEC said the department will also soon establish a Co-operatives Hub that will assist other EPWP graduates and people from designated groups to establish their cooperatives and also gain access to opportunities in the broad portfolio of work of GDID. This hub will assist cooperatives owned by women, youth, military veterans and people with Disabilities.
Plans are also on course to provide entrepreneurial development to former EPWP graduates who would like to start their own business enterprises upon completion of their contracts. This will include access to the Contractor Incubator Programme as well as exposure to GDID’s capital expenditure and maintenance projects.
A partnership with the EOH Youth Job Creation Initiative has also enlisted 504 youths into a 12-month ICT Learnership Pilot Programme. Participants obtain accredited training, mentoring and workplace exposure on End User Computing (NQF Level 3), Technical Support (NQF Level 4), and Systems Support (NQF Level 5).
One of the graduates from the ICT Learnership Programme, Dolezar Mabunda, said just one call he had received from the programme office in Sandton had changed the life of an ordinary boy from Orange Farm, in the south of the City of Johannesburg, to one filled with practical skills and a positive mind about his future. He said it was now up to him to take his own career further.
The programme also aims to bridge the gap between employer requirements and learner perception by providing a bigger picture understanding to learners, helping them develop personal brands as ICT workers, exposing them to team work, and enriching their leadership and communication skills.
The department believes the set of skills obtained by the learners will make them more than ready to face the job market and make a meaningful contribution as competent and employable ICT associates and workers.
T h e G a u t e n g d e p a r t me n t o f infrastructure development has enlisted more than 3 000 youths under the Expanded Public Works Programme for the financial year 2016/2017.