Youth unemployment in South Africa is one of the highest in the world, with a current rate in excess of 65 percent. For the youth of today, securing a basic job is very challenging due to a lack of basic skills, low levels of education and little or no work experience. Without access to skills training, people are trapped in a vicious cycle of unemployment and poverty, with little hope for the future.

Due to the shortage of skills there are currently more than 6.7 million unemployed youth in South Africa. Without the means to secure a decent job, many end up on the streets or turn to government for support, further straining state resources through their dependency on state subsidies. Without the necessary skills, there is little opportunity for advancement, better working conditions or higher pay, resulting in more than 12 million people living in abject poverty, surviving on less than ZAR385 or USD26 per person, per month.

In the course of our daily operations, UIP personnel found that youth constituted a significant percentage of the homeless, hungry and unemployed people wandering the city streets. In a bid to alleviate their plight, the UIP Company began collaboration with uMthombo Street Children, a local non-profit that offers street connected youth an opportunity to heal from trauma, rebuild hope and confidence and develop self-discipline to set positive life goals.

uMthombo’s Programmes include Outreach, Psychosocial, Development, Prevention and Advocacy Interventions. Its Post 16 Programme assists street connected youth with drug rehabilitation and healing from trauma. Its Practical Work Learning (PWL) Programme, imparts knowledge on goal setting, financial management, sexual and emotional health, timekeeping and communication as well as other life skills, to enhance their employability.

Through its network of partnerships, the UIP Company provides real marketplace experience with local businesses that frequently offer jobs to youth on successful completion of the Post 16 and PWL Programmes. The UIP Company’s collaboration with uMthombo has proved a great success and in 2020 alone, no fewer than 74 youth were placed in internship programmes ranging from Tourism and Downton Ambassadorships to Cleaning and CCTV Network Monitoring.