For companies, partnering with the Youth Employment Service (YES) to provide quality work experiences to unemployed youth, tracking their youth development programmes – and reporting the impact of their programmes – has never been easier. 

That’s thanks to YES’s collaboration with TIMU, a local software service provider that provides software solutions to help organisations run and report more effectively on youth development programmes. TIMU custom-built a platform for the YES turnkey solution that assists in the efficient management of the youth, host and corporate journeys throughout the year, resulting in accurate and reliable data that can be used for verification and impact reporting.  

The YES turnkey solution works with 33 host partners across South Africa to place youth, and has proven an effective tool for companies who want to help address the youth unemployment crisis, but are unable to host youth within their own organisations.

Essentially, companies sponsor the youths’ salaries in one of the host partners, which range from underserved social sectors like healthcare and education to digital economies with high absorption rates and potential for self-employment. While it’s a powerful tool to upskill and provide critical work experience to youth, it’s hard to manage all the moving parts, says YES COO Leanne Emery Hunter.

The platform creates a safe and easy way to track youth throughout the year, manage drop-offs and replacements, collate, and manage documents required for verification, and report real-time information to stakeholders, all in one central place. 

“It has made the process more convenient, allowing partners to free up time that they would previously have had to spend on admin,” said TIMU CEO Danielle Geddes. “Our system is fully customisable, allowing for the development of various dashboards or reports that are required. We host and maintain the platform on behalf of the client, while providing support and training to the team responsible for utilising the tool. Any costs related to the hosting and management of the system can be claimed under a company’s Skills Development spend.” 

Zarina Parker from ORT SA, which has implemented TIMU said the tool had assisted with daily operations, especially with payroll management and drop-offs and replacements. “The ability to view the programmes at a glance has made access to information quicker and less cumbersome. Updating information is quicker and seamless and has replaced the monthly excel uploader,” said Parker.

“The TIMU team remains committed to providing systems that will continue to empower the youth of South Africa and is eager to co-build solutions around any digital data challenges faced by our customers,” said Geddes.