Increases Public-Private Partnerships Needed to Combat Youth Unemployment and Skills Development Gaps in South Africa

The youth unemployment crisis is among South Africa’s most pressing issues. Even finishing school does not guarantee young adults a concrete job. Existing opportunities may even be closed to them due to the skills gap caused by the changing market. The government must find solutions to the skills crisis—and the gap between education and employment—that are innovative, practical, and scalable. One of the most viable and useful solutions is to create stronger public and private partnerships.

The most recent DHET Budget Vote Debate highlighted the need to change the prospects of youth employment through the affirmative action of the government and industry. The Deputy Minister, in his speech, stated the Department has formed partnerships with Old Mutual, Microsoft, Google, and Takealot to improve job opportunities for TVET and CET students. These partnerships directly contribute to the needs of the job market through education and skills development.

The combination of government, education, and business sectors in public-private partnerships effectively addresses the growing shortages of qualified professionals. The business department of the DHET offers guidance and policies, as well as the development of infrastructure and access to learners. Private partners offer expertise about the market and the use of technology, and they provide funding and job offers. Using this combination of resources, the system provides rapid and effective response to the prevailing economic conditions to design career paths for young people that will be sustainable.

One example of this is the partnership between DHET and Google. Within this partnership, 10,000 people will be offered scholarships to participate in Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, and Digital Marketing online training. These fields are growing rapidly across the globe, and within South Africa, they are becoming more valued in the Digital Economy. The partnership provides young people access to training that will give them skills to meet the demands of the workforce in both the local and global economies.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has emphasized the importance of digital skills. Automated businesses that rely on cloud infrastructure and data for decision making create a higher demand for skills related to digital technologies. Competence in Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, and Digital Marketing opens the young workforce to a world of possibilities for remote work as well as entrepreneurship ـ a marginal opportunity for many South Africans.

The scholarship creates an opportunity for technology businesses to engage in socially responsible economic opportunities. By subsidizing training costs, they increase access to the opportunity for lower-income individuals. This will increase the social mobility of lower-income individuals by providing them a means to engage in the digital economy.

This scholarship is enhanced by the partnership with Takealot. Through Takealot, TVET and CET students will have access to workplace learning and logistics support as well as entrepreneurial opportunities in the digital economy. These opportunities provide students the ability to engage in the practice of business.

Workplace-based learning is by far the most valuable means of learning a particular skill set. This is because companies want to hire someone who has actual experience and skills in the area of practice. Learning programs offer students the experience of learning within the operations of a business. This helps students gain an idea of what’s expected in a business setting as well as unique skills they may not have developed in learning classroom theory.

Entrepreneurship is another important pillar of the Takealot partnership. South Africa’s economy of the future will not just need people to be employees, but people to be entrepreneurial, set up companies, create employment, and be innovative. With the digital economy, young people can now be taught the skills needed to see a gap in the market, set up a business, and trade online. This is a much better option for the youth to be part of the economy and active in developing it, rather than sitting back and waiting for jobs to be created for them.

The Old Mutual and Microsoft partnerships complement and broaden the rest of the strategy to integrate education and employment. Financial institutions, such as Old Mutual, build financial literacy and business acumen and introduce work-related skills. On the other hand, tech companies like Microsoft offer the digital age training and certifications, as well as the innovations that help to prepare students for employment. All of these partnerships, together, help to offer a wide variety of employment and learning opportunities that appeal to different skill levels and interests.

One of the best attributes of a public-private partnership is that it is easy to replicate. Generally, government initiatives aimed at addressing challenges that affect millions of young people are often constrained by inadequate resources. Potential programs can be expanded and replicated successfully, quickly, and at low costs by drawing on the funding, skills, and structures provided by the private sector. For example, the 10,000 Google scholarships is a case of how clear and well-defined partnerships can create a wide and large impact quickly.

Additionally, partnerships assure program sustainment concerning industry relevance. The rapid development in the labor market demands the swift adjustment of educational curricula. Private sector partners are often in the best position to detect the evolution of workplace skills and of the technologies used. When involved, educational institutions can revise, renew, and add new practical related employability skills to improve the employability of their graduates. This equilibrium between practical skills and job openings goes a long way in decreasing the gap between the economy and employability.

The effectiveness of these programs also depends on the TVET and CET Colleges. These institutions are part of South Africa’s skills development strategy, as they offer both the vocational and occupational training related to employment. Improving the partnerships between colleges and different sectors of the economy can enhance curriculum development, improve workplace learning, promote lecturer development, and also improve the employability of graduates. This means that TVET and CET Colleges enhance social and economic development.

Apart from achieving employment, public-private partnerships attain several other national development goals. The persistent high levels of youth unemployment cause poverty, inequality, social exclusion, and unequally distributed economic growth. Employment causes young people to be independent and be willing to support their families and communities. Positive effects are extend to the economy as employment increases consumer spending and tax revenues.

DHET’s partnerships are aimed at implementing measurable outcome-based interventions. These partnerships focus on more than just statistics related to the number of people trained. They seek to develop pathways to employment and provide opportunities to gain work-related and entrepreneurial skills. This approach is valid because the most critical part of developing skills is not training people but providing people the ability to sustain a better standard of living.

As Dr Gondwe stated, these are the outcomes-based, scalable interventions that the youth of South Africa really need. The youth of South Africa are full of potential, creativity, and the ability to recover and adapt from difficult situations. However, to harness that potential, interventions need to be implemented across all sectors of society. The public sector alone cannot resolve the challenges of high unemployment, and the private sector cannot resolve the challenges of unemployment in isolation. Collaborative partnerships are the key to fortifying the public sector and enhancing the private sector.

Within South Africa there is still much room for improvement in cross-sector collaboration initiatives, especially in the areas of renewable energy, manufacturing, agriculture, health care, leisure, financial services, and IT. There is the potential to establish further collaborations that will provide young people access to internships and apprenticeships, and develop mentoring programs, and training in digital skills and entrepreneurship. All of these collaborations will strive to provide young people the necessary skills to succeed in today’s global economy.

Public-Private Partnerships for Youth Employment and Skills Development in South Africa: Benefits and Challenges

In South Africa, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are increasingly being recognised as a vital part of the effort to reduce youth unemployment and improve skills development outcomes. PPPs bring together governments and private sector businesses to provide young people with the opportunity to develop job-related skills and gain access to employment.

While PPPs offer many benefits to both young people and governments, there are also challenges associated with implementing PPPs and ensuring that they are successful over the long term.

Benefits

1. Increased Employability of Young People:

The most significant benefit of partnering with the private sector to create a better trained labour force is that it will improve the employability of youth by providing them with industry specific skill sets. For example, Google’s, Microsoft’s, and Takealot’s ability to understand what skills are required to succeed in the workplace today will enable them to help align their respective training programs with the skills that are currently needed in the labour market.

2. Skills Training for High-Demand Occupations:

The partnerships that will be established through PPPs will create opportunities for youth to receive training in high demand job fields. Youth will have access to training in high-demand job fields (Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, Digital Marketing, Information Technology and Logistics). These fields are expected to experience rapid growth and will provide youth with numerous opportunities to work in both the domestic and international labour markets.

3. Workplace Learning Opportunities:

Many employers are looking for candidates who have some form of practical experience. Students can achieve this practical experience through internships, apprenticeships and workplace-based learning programmes, which will support their transition into the workplace and increase their confidence and proficiency as professionals.

4. Closing the Skills Gap:

The public/private partnerships help bridge the divide between what students are taught in educational institutions and what businesses require from employees due to the fact that businesses have a direct influence in the development of course curricula.

5. Increased Employment Opportunities:

Partnerships between TVET/CET Colleges and businesses allow for businesses to recruit graduates directly from those institutions, thus creating a clear pathway from education to employment while also decreasing the time it takes to get an employee from graduation to employment.

6. Promotion of Entrepreneurship:

Partnerships, such as those with Takealot, introduce students to entrepreneurial opportunities within the digital economy. With this exposure, students learn how to start and operate a business, which may provide them with the ability to become self-employed and to create jobs.

7. Access to Technology and Innovation:

Technology providers supply students with access to modern e-learning platforms, digital tools, and internationally recognised certifications. This exposure allows South African youth to be more competitive in the global job market.

8. Scalability and Increased Outreach:

Private-sector investment provides greater resources to support skills development programs so that more students can access them. A good example of this is the launch of 10,000 Google scholarships, which will reach a large scale with the help of partnerships.

9. Economic Growth and Social Development:

Providing jobs through youth employment has been known to have a positive effect on poverty level reduction, economic growth, and social stability. A more skilled youth workforce increases their ability to contribute positively to their community and to the national economy.

10. Shared Responsibility:

The joint efforts of the government, educational institutions and businesses, in creating public/private partnerships, allow all stakeholders to share the responsibility for addressing a national challenge, which increases the likelihood of achieving results that will be sustainable.

Some of the Challenges Facing Public/Private Partnerships

1. Limited Reach and Access

While there are many thousands of students that benefit from public/private partnerships, there are millions of unemployed youth that are still in need of support. With many partnerships either not extending to rural communities or disadvantage areas, and unemployment rates being some of the highest in those areas, many of those youth will continue to not get any assistance.

2. Funding and Sustainability

The majority of initiatives are reliant on continued financial support from private partners. Economic downturns and/or restrictions on budgets or an emphasis change at the companies that are originally supporting these programs can place the long-term sustainability of many of these programs in jeopardy.

3. Unequal Access to Technology

Technology has become an integral part of what is required to complete most digital skills programs; higher levels of internet access, computers, and digital literacy among those from the lowest-income households may hinder their capacity to fully participate.

4. Training and Job Mismatches

Graduates who have finished their education might find themselves looking for jobs with no open positions due to a limited number of jobs available to them after completing training.

5. Issues with Coordinating

To form a successful partnership, institutions need to work together—the government, private companies, and school systems—however; they may not always agree on timelines or how long it will take for them to implement their agreements.

6. Lack of Quality Control

Because the number and scope of skills upgrading programs are increasing throughout Canada, quality control become very difficult to manage. Therefore, agencies providing training or skills development must have developed strong monitoring systems to measure and evaluate how well their students are meeting the goals and objectives of the skill development program in order for students to receive the quality of education and support that they are supposed to receive.

7. Dependence on Private Industry Alone

Private companies typically provide skill programs for people based upon the skill set that they actually need in their business, and there may be an overabundance of different types of skill training but not many companies requiring to hire those skilled people.

8. Limited and High Demand for Work Placement Opportunities

There is high demand for work placements for students to complete their work placements; however, there are a limited number of placements available, which will create fierce competition amongst students for limited work placement opportunities, thus limiting the total number of benefits to students in partnership programs.

9. Rural-Urban Divide

A majority of the partnerships and opportunities within a region are concentrated in urban centres because they generally have many more companies operating in that urban centre than they typically will in a rural region, leading to fewer training/work experience opportunities for students attending school in rural areas versus urban areas.

10. Measuring Long-Term Impact of Skills Development Initiatives

Determining whether or not a skills development program will lead to sustainable employment for the participants over the long term can be challenging. Continuous monitoring and data collection are required to effectively assess the success of the skills development Programme.

As shown through the collaborative efforts between DHET/Old Mutual/Microsoft/Google and Takealot, stronger partnerships between the private and public sectors will be essential in addressing youth unemployment and improving skills development outcomes in South Africa. Through scholarships, training in digital skills, workplace learning, logistics initiatives, and entrepreneurial training, skills development programs address some of the barriers faced by youth. The programs successfully provide practical, scalable, and sustainable solutions to align education with labour market requirements and allow South Africa to continue its progress towards building an inclusive and prosperous economy by empowering youth and unlocking full potential.