Umsobomvu Youth Fund Annual Report 2006 - Nyda

Tshwane Youth Advisory Centre– School-to-Work (STW)* 5 944 young people have served in STW projects through skills programmes,internships and learnership projects.* 90% of youth have completed STW programmes with 79% accessing livelihoodopportunities.* Resources leveraged to implement STW programmes run over R50 million.– Entrepreneurship Education* 576 delegates attended a Youth Conference.* 1 000 business referrals were made and 20 UYF entrepreneurs were profiled andsupported; 1 100 businesses were started; 1 650 jobs were created; and 1 100successful referrals were made to the relevant business support programme.* 5 000 participated in entrepreneurship programmes.* 30 schools participated in three provinces.* 70 learners attended a Biz camp.* 123 teachers/facilitators were trained.* 3 NVCL colleges participated and 69 learners were trained.With regard to skills development, employers have cited a shortage of semi-skilled andskilled workers in fields like engineering, finance, accounting, IT and construction. Thereis a large number of unskilled workers who are unemployed and there is a need toretrain and focus the youth in these scarce skills courses.As we are in the age of hope, it is important to consolidate our gains as we pursue ourgoal of making our country one of the best places in the world to live in.Umsobomvu Youth Fund commissioned research on the status of youth in South Africa.The results of the research have posed key challenges that will shape our actions inthe next five years.Unemployment is a key factor that weneed to address urgently but it callson different stakeholders, includingthe private sector and Government, toaddress this challenge. Our adoptionof Government’s ASGISA and JIPSAprogrammes guides our activities to be inline with government priorities.As Chairman of the Board of Directorsof Umsobomvu Youth Fund, I wouldlike to thank our political principals forthe support and guidance they haveafforded us as the Board. I would like toexpress my gratitude to my fellow Boardmembers for the insight and compassionthey have shown in dealing with youthunemployment and to the staff atUmsobomvu Youth Fund, I would like tosay, your commitment is unparalleled andyour interventions are helping to reversethe curse of apartheid.Adv Richard MolokoChairman of the Board of DirectorsUmsobomvu Youth Fund 2006 Annual Report13