EOH Work Readiness Initiative - Narrative Reports 2014 - 2015 Aug. 2014 | Page 10

WORK READINESS INITIATIVE UNDER DIGITAL JOBS FOR AFRICA

THE EOH YOUTH JOB CREATION INITIATIVE
Aspects of the EOH Youth Job Creation Initiative have been mentioned in the preceding section on Digital Jobs Africa, to
illustrate the synergies between the two approaches to youth unemployment.
In addition, the following facts are important in understanding the context for the EOH Work Readiness Initiative described in
the rest of this document:

FAST FACTS
▲▲ Initiated by
−− EOH
▲▲ Beneficiaries
−− Disadvantaged South African youth
▲▲ Time-span
−− 4 years
−− Announced July 2012
▲▲ Scale of impact:
−− 28,000 disadvantaged youth across South Africa
▲▲ Nature of impact:
−− Provide work experience opportunities coupled with formal education and training resulting in nationally recognised
qualifications and employment
▲▲ Educational components
−− primarily learnership programmes with vendor certified add-ons such as the A+, N+, Oracle, Microsoft or other
certification
−− a work readiness component is included in all YJCI programmes, but its duration varies according to the availability
of funding
▲▲ Learnership programmes are:
−− one year or longer in duration
−− on-the-job learning culminating in government accredited qualifications
−− a placement rate of 70% in learnerships is a minimum requirement of most funding partners in South Africa; EOH
aims for an 80% placement rate
−− externally quality assured and certificated by government education authorities (SETAs)
−− able to qualify employers for tax incentives and points on the socially responsible business scorecard (used in
awarding government and other procurement)
▲▲ Link to business process outsourcing:
−− EOH is itself a BPO firm and has built a business case to encourage other employers to use this model in
alignment with the South African government’s youth empowerment strategies

NOTES TO THE PRECEDING TABLE
1.

2.

Placement rate refers to post learnership employment, self-employment or further study

3.

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Work readiness is commonly accepted as an important component of all workplace learning initiatives for youth in
South Africa, yet funding constraints result in probably less than half of such initiatives including anything more than a
rudimentary effort at work readiness
The socially responsible business scorecard refers to the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment scorecard of
the \\