This is after the City had committed to train 200 000 youths in the next 18 months to enhance their chances of employment.
Tau made this commitment in his State of the City address in response to the growing number of matriculants who fail to get opportunities for higher education, training and jobs. In a quest to survive, some gravitate to crime or are enticed to social vices such as drugs and teenage sex.
The employment and educational opportunities will be driven through a programme called Vulindl’ eJozi, a partnership with the Harambee Youth Accelerator which is a youth development agency supported by the private sector.
The programme will screen and assess candidates who will receive literacy, numeracy and digital literacy training. This will be followed by aptitude and capability assessments linking trainees with specific opportunities for formal employment, participation in public works, youth service programmes and in the Jozi@Work initiative.
The mayor said Jozi@Work was “a hand-up initiative which changes the way the City does business, and produces services by forming work partnerships with the community to address both unemployment and service delivery backlogs”.
He said the initiative would also be complemented by a community innovation fund starting in June for communities, including youths, to identify and propose work projects in their areas.
Added to this will be the City’s Digital Ambassadors programme, a partnership with the University of Johannesburg, to train and deploy more than
3 000 youths who will provide digital literacy training to community members.
Details: City of Joburg; 011 407 7375
