HSRC: Challenges and opportunities in addressing youth unemployement seminar
What way forward?
IkamvaYouth was invited for the HSRC seminar that was held via video conference in the three major cities of South Africa (Tshwane, Cape Town and Durban). The Durban seminar was attended by Thabisile Seme (Regional Co-ordinator for KZN) and Cheryl Nzama (Branch Assistant: Chesterville branch). The Seminar took place at the HSRC Cato Manor offices near the Chesterville branch and the ikamvanites received a warm welcome from the HSRC staff.
The opening speaker for the Seminar was Dr Monde Makiwane who discussed the “youth bulge”, a phenomenon that South Africa currently faces. He explained the youth bulge phenomenon as being the “result of the cohort of young people and prime-aged adults increasing at an alarming rate –and this is not caused by the high teenage pregnancy rate S.A has but by the fact that more people were born during the early 80’s & 90”s – and since S.A is a developing country, the high unemployment rate is associated with the youth bulge.
The second speaker, Dr Miriam Altman, discussed key challenges linked with youth unemployment. The seminar raised the question of how the government and South Africa at large are to tackle the high unemployment rate that mostly affects the youth.
There are a lot of factors that affect the high unemployment rate of South Africa however the youth needs to stop relying on the government and take matters into their own hands and go out there and want that better future for themselves and families too. The right attitude always leads you to your goals undoubtedly!
Click on the following links to access the presentations:
youth_employment_-_altman_-_june_13_-_2012.pdf
Cheryl Nzama
Lloyd Lungu