Umsobomvu Youth Fund Annual Report 2006 - Nyda

Shaft 17 National Youth Service ProgrammeMedium and Micro Enterprises (SMME) and co-operatives. The Research Unit is alsoable to access information on trends and prospects for employment from varioussources.• Provide training – The one predominant factor that hinders young people fromaccessing opportunities is often the lack of skills and experience. UYF provides differenttraining programmes that focus on developing vocational, life and entrepreneurshipskills as well as work experience to enhance youth employability or entrepreneurshippotential.• Link to employment or provide business support to pursue self-employment – UYFhas developed job preparation and job linking services to enhance employability andsupport placement. For young entrepreneurs, UYF provides business support servicesand support to access procurement opportunities. These employment and procurementopportunities, where possible, should not be an afterthought but should representlinkage to opportunities identified earlier as per the first step above (identificationof oppotunities).• Provide access to finance – This is aimed mostly at young entrepreneurs who requirefunding to start or sustain their businesses/co-operatives.The degree of intervention required by a young person depends on where they are atin terms of their stage of development. Youth in category 1 require all four interventionswhilst youth in category 2 may require fewer and even less so for those in category 3.The type of intervention will also differ according to the stage of development of theyoung person. Youth in category 1 require more foundation/core skills, largely technical,and life skills whilst young people in category 2 may require job preparation and linkingas well as support to pursue self-employment should that be a preferred option. Youthin category 2 may also possess skills which do not fulfil the requirements of the labourmarket in which case they may still require core (technical) skills. Youth in category 3may require support to start or to sustain and grow their own enterprises but this doesnot rule out the need to pursue further training.Products and servicesThe products and services for the benefitof young people in the three categoriescan be and are offered in an integratedfashion.• Skills Development and Training – UYFtraining programmes have a biastowards preparing young people toaccess jobs and support to start andmanage their enterprises. Whilst UYFstill offers programmes to developtechnical skills, the bias is towardsthose that link youth to opportunities.• The skills programmes are as follows:– Graduate Development Programme– Co-operatives Training– Entrepreneurship Education– Supplier Development Training– Technical Skills Training (School-to-Work)• National Youth Service Programme – Theyouth service programme affords youngpeople the opportunity to acquire skillswhilst they serve their communities.• Job Opportunities Seekers Database(“Graduate Database”) – Aimed atlinking unemployed graduates to jobopportunities.Umsobomvu Youth Fund 2006 Annual Report15