The City’s Social Development and Early Childhood Development Department launched its Youth focused Rapid Employment and Development Initiative(READI) at the Green Point Amphitheatre today. READI CPT will be implemented as a Youth Ambassadors pilot project, which aims to accelerate skills development, learning programmes and job opportunities for young people through the department’s Expanded Public Works Programme(EPWP).
The Social Development and Early Childhood Development Department currently has 36 youth employed through this EPWP project within the department and aims to create 88 new EPWP job opportunities in total for youth specifically aged 18 – 35 years. The duration of the phased-approach learning programme will be approximately three years.
‘The READI programme will create great learning opportunities and equip youth with new skills which they can use in the job market. The programme will also assist with strengthening interpersonal development. The participants in the pilot programme are our community ambassadors in the areas where they will be employed after receiving training. They will also perform a liaison function with regards to councillors, sub councils and non-governmental organisations in order to ensure stakeholder engagement,’ said the Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Zahid Badroodien.
The department facilitates and implements preventative programmes by creating awareness and resilience within vulnerable communities in the metropole. The READI Cape Town: Youth Ambassadors pilot project will contribute to the EPWP phase 3 linked to training and sustainable outputs at the end of an EPWP contract period.
The Pilot Project will provide unemployed youth with a multi-faceted training programme with internal and external stakeholders within a structured environment over the course of three years. This will equip the youth with practical experience and theoretical grounding to be able to compete in the formal job market.
In addition to the above, the youth ambassadors’ work plans will also assist in a number of tasks that are directly linked to placement specific requirements to support the operations of the basket of services linked to the Community Services and Health Directorate.
The aim is that a minimum of 50 percent of participants be provided with placement after the employment period.
We would like to encourage the participants to make use of the learning opportunities so that they can improve on self-development and important life skills. The pilot project is an investment in our youth and a stepping stone in entering the job market with confidence and to make use of every opportunity to learn new skills,’ said Councillor Badroodien.
Source: City Of Cape Town
