“We are committed to being part of the solution by upskilling South Africa’s youth and empowering them to build brighter futures through our learnership programme,” says Xoe Mfokazi.
The youth unemployment rate in South Africa has reached a staggering 44.6% for individuals aged 15 to 34, casting a shadow over the nation’s future. This alarming statistic highlights a range of factors contributing to the challenges faced by young job seekers, including limited work experience, educational disparities, and pervasive economic hurdles.
For many, the journey from education to employment is an uphill battle, leaving them trapped in a cycle of frustration, with few or no opportunities for work or further training. In response to this crisis, two pivotal pathways have emerged to bridge the employment gap: traditional internships and more outcome-focused learnerships. Both of these programmes are essential in arming young people with the practical experience and skills they need to embark on fulfilling careers. Here’s how to navigate these opportunities.
Understanding internships
Internships are organised, brief programmes aimed at undergraduate students or recent graduates. They provide essential exposure to professional environments and opportunities to cultivate practical skills. By engaging in internships, individuals acquire knowledge about different sectors, thereby improving their employability and establishing connections that could lead to future job opportunities. Typically centred around particular projects or positions, these programs offer participants a glimpse into the professional world and associated expectations.
Exploring learnerships
Conversely, learnerships offer a distinctive method for equipping young individuals for the job market. These programmes are closely linked to employment prospects from the very beginning. By merging theoretical instruction with practical experience, learnerships are especially advantageous for those who lack the resources to access higher education or who have considerable experience gaps. Through the direct combination of academic learning and practical skill development, they provide participants with a strong foundation, enabling them to enter the workforce with confidence.
In a nutshell, internships are short-term programmes providing students or graduates with structured workplace exposure, building practical skills and improving employability. Learnerships, on the other hand, are aligned to an employment opportunity from the get-go, combining theoretical training with hands-on experience. They are particularly valuable for individuals who may not have the resources to pursue tertiary education, or are battling with an experience gap.
At TransUnion’s Global Capability Centre Africa, learnerships are prioritised and preferred based on the positive outcomes learnerships presented over the last four years. “Learnerships play a critical role in addressing youth unemployment by providing young people the tools they need to succeed,” explains Xoe Mfokazi, Head of Operations at the TransUnion Global Capability Centre (GCC) Africa. “We are committed to being part of the solution by upskilling South Africa’s youth and empowering them to build brighter futures through our learnership programme.”
Recognising the need for meaningful youth development, TransUnion’s GCC Africa partnered with organisations like the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator to combat youth unemployment through targeted skills development initiatives. The partnerships aim to empower South African youth by providing access to high-quality learnership programmes that focus on equipping participants with fundamental yet sought-after skills across industries with high demand for talent.
“By structuring interventions to be both accessible and demand-led; young people become equipped to enter the labour market contributing to inclusive economic growth,” notes Victoria Duncan, Head of Research at Harambee.
“Our collaboration with Harambee specifically, is about unlocking opportunities for young people to break into the job market and thrive,” adds Mfokazi. “This partnership allows us to provide so much more than training; we’re closing the skills gap and facilitating access to sustainable employment within our own environment and beyond.”
Over the years, the partnerships have successfully enrolled almost 300 young individuals in the GCC Africa’s learnership programme, which focuses on critical areas such as IT systems support, cybersecurity, and networking, operations, customer and sales support, compliance, and data analytics.
Partnerships such as these highlight the vital role that organisations play in combating youth unemployment. By investing in skills development and empowering young people, these initiatives contribute to individual growth as well as the broader South African economy. At the same time, companies have the opportunity to build pipelines of committed and loyal workers who can evolve and grow with the business. It’s a mutually-beneficial, symbiotic relationship.
“Upskilling youth isn’t about only solving today’s unemployment challenges, it’s an opportunity to create long-term high impact change for our country and its people,” Mfokazi says.
TransUnion is a global information and insights company that makes trust possible in the modern economy. They do this by providing an actionable picture of each person, stewarded with care, so they can be reliably represented in the marketplace. As a result, businesses and consumers can transact with confidence and achieve great things. TransUnion provides solutions that help create economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for hundreds of millions of people in more than 30 countries. Their Global Capability Centres (GCCs) enable a global operating model with robust scale and scope, improving efficiency and effectiveness while strengthening operational resilience and augmenting their existing service offering to clients and consumers.
