Young people can now apply for a year of work

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, through its Youth and Afterschool Project office, is calling on unemployed youth to take up the opportunity to apply for a year of work giving service to their communities.

Unemployed youth, who have a matric certificate and are between the ages of 18 and 25, can apply to become “YeBoneers” – youth who get the opportunity to be part of the YearBeyond programme. These youth follow in the footsteps of the 3 009 youth who enrolled in, and graduated from, the programme in 2022.

The department says the programme is part of the national youth service initiative. It provides young people with the opportunity to develop a number of key competencies needed in the workplace, with the support of a mentor.

While developing these skills, youth build their networks and provide much needed support to learners. Over the past few years, the department has seen 75% of YeBoneers progress into further work or studies at the end of their experience.

Minister Anroux Marais said: “Our department wants to support our youth by offering these opportunities for them to get solid work experience. We encourage them to apply for this exciting programme as a first step towards becoming economically active and successful adults.”

Currently, applications for the Planet Youth (George area only), Academic Support programme and Scouting in Schools are open, and more streams will be open for applications in the next week.

For more information or the link to apply go to www.yearbeyond.org. Youth applying will be required to create a SA Youth Mobi profile, or update their existing profile.

The first applications close in middle January 2023 with the bulk closing in mid-February.