Professional services firm PwC and the United Nations Children's Fund South Africa are collaborating to help prepare young people with relevant skills to enter the workforce.
This is part of a three-year global collaboration between the two entities in support of Generation Unlimited, a multisector partnership aimed at helping 1.8-billion young people transition from school to work by 2030.
This collaboration will support young people who are currently outside of the workforce to develop the requisite twenty-first-century skills to gain entry into the job market and to become entrepreneurs in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“This is a critical time for the business community, educators, government and other stakeholders to contribute collectively to the development of our young people.
"Our collaboration with Unicef will expose young people to diverse digital skills and broaden their knowledge and expertise for the future workplace. We believe that, together, we can make an exponential difference by helping uplift and prepare the youth for tomorrow’s new workforce,” says PwC Africa CEO Dion Shango.
The South African collaboration will provide a specific focus on girls and young women who often miss out on developing information communication technology skills.
Only 23% of tech jobs are held by women globally according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and this inequality is mirrored in South Africa.
PwC will support three key areas, including improving young people and employers’ access to information and services about learning opportunities through a new data management platform.
Secondly, it will bolster the Techno Girls and Naspers Labs programmes, supported by Unicef, to expand opportunities for young girls to access science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics- (STEM-) related skills and work opportunities. This will be done by scaling up the programme and delivering the experience virtually.
Lastly, it will enhance existing entrepreneurship programmes and related training curricula in partnership with the University of Pretoria.
Meanwhile, on August 26, PwC and Unicef will broadcast a dialogue between young people engaged in the Techno Girls and Naspers Labs programmes and Shango and Unicef South Africa representative Muriel Mafico.