YES: A year in review

‘Tis the season to be grateful, and YES is more grateful now than ever to our valued clients and partners who have helped us create nearly 69,000 work opportunities for South African youth in under three years. In this blog, we look back at all we’ve achieved this year as well as some learnings. We also look forward to 2022’s goals and strategies.

2021 has been another tumultuous year, filled with new highs and lows as we acclimatised to living and working with Covid-19. The latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey for quarter three paints a bleak unemployment landscape: 46.6% of South Africans are unemployed and only one in three youth are working (61%, expanded definition). These stats track intimately the July riots, showing that Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (the provinces where the riots took place) suffered the worst unemployment losses in Q3 (read more of our analysis of these statistics here).

However, despite this, YES, with its partners and clients, has still managed to create a sustainable and tangible impact on company, country and youth.

Creating over 69,000 work experiences in under three years is no easy feat. 88% of our YES Youth come from grant recipient households and 91% have dependents – meaning that the YES salary and work experience impacts not only individual YES Youth, but ripples through families and communities.

Looking back…

YES has been focusing on finding solutions for specific industries so we can create more youth jobs across a range of positions that will interest our youth.

An important aspect of YES is that our youth receive quality work experiences, and we strive as much as possible to ensure that these work experiences are aligned with the youths’ interests. We target as many industries as possible. This is not only good for the youth, but good for our clients as well, as interest in a position reduces drop-offs.

We’ve also looked at more ways a company can benefit from YES, beyond B-BBEE, tying into, once again, industry-specific legislation and requirements. In line with this, we have begun to focus on how to integrate YES with your environmental, social, governance (ESG) and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) strategies.

We’re producing webinars and blog posts to help our clients understand the YES message:

Webinars

YES hosted a series of exciting webinars this year, delving into industries and specific programmes, from mining to healthcare and the creative industries. You can catch up on our webinars on our YouTube page, or read up on our blog page.

Catch up on specific 2021 webinars:

Blogs

Our YES blog page has become the go-to informational site on all things YES, transformation and unemployment. This page seeks to help our clients make sense of the B-BBEE process, the latest unemployment stats, and transformation strategies. Catch up below:

• South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis: The clock is ticking, and it’s five minutes to midnight
• A South African tragedy: The untapped power of unemployed youth
• Learnerships internships apprenticeships - The difference between the ships and a YES quality work experience
• ESG reporting: How to do it right
• Leading transformation: Demystifying YES and B-BBEE
• Why YES exists
• The role B-BBEE plays in true transformation
• Building a strong legacy for country, company & youth this Heritage day
• Conserve futures and the environment with YES: Webinar round up 
• 6 Reasons why South African brands should care about creating green jobs
• COVID-19, lockdowns and gender in South Africa: NIDS-CRAM finds that black women bear the harshest economic brunt
• Capacitating the health sector through YES: Webinar round up

YES host partners

In the second half of the year, we put out a call to expand our host partner network, aligned to our corporate partner strategies. We searched for host partners in the following sectors:

• ICT and digital
• Agri and agri-processing
• Green energy
• Artisanal

We are currently reviewing and shortlisting applications. Expanding our host partner network is an exciting development, as it links to our main goals above: giving youth interesting quality work experiences that are future-fit, and giving corporate clients the options to use YES jobs as a vehicle for furthering their transformation, ESG and SDG strategies.

Read more about our YES host partner here.

YES Hubs

This year, we launched the much anticipated YES Netcare Ulusha Alexandra Hub. This would be the third YES Hub that has opened. The other two Hubs, Kago and Genesis, are located in Tembisa and Saldanha Bay respectively.

The Hubs programmes have evolved and are also aligned to the goals of providing added value to youth and our corporate clients. Hub programmes include:

• The Youth Content Collective (creative agency)
• The Drone Academy
• The Culinary Academy
• Textile manufacturing
• The Green Engine (urban farming)
• 3D printing
• The Digigate Lab (digital courses)
• Small business support centre

In 2022, we are expanding our programmes to include a hair & beauty programme, a creative arts and pottery programme, an agri-processing programme, and a welding programme.

You can contribute to YES Hubs by sponsoring youth salaries while training, or you can donate / use your socio-economic development spend to build infrastructure and programmes.

YES is a registered PBO (public benefit organisation), and as such, you can receive Section 18(A) tax certificates when you donate to a YES Hub. The best part? These donations don’t come out of your annual budget, but rather out of the monies you give to SARS every year.

Read more about our Hubs here.

Looking forward…

As we look towards 2022, our resolve to rebuild a more inclusive economy is strengthened. We look forward to co-creating a future that works for all with you. We wish you a joyous festive season and an impactful new year.

We appreciate the passion and commitment of our clients and partners to creating a better, more inclusive, future for all, despite these trying circumstances. Thank you for staying the course with us and continuing to transform youth lives and uplift communities.

To the next 69,000 and beyond.

Join the movement

Calculate your YES Youth target and co-create a future that works for all.

Youth Employment Service (YES) is a pioneering, business-driven not-for profit which has partnered with government and labour to tackle South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis and drive youth employability. YES aims to create work experiences for youth at scale, through enabling business to be a co-creator of a future that works. In this process, a business can gain one or two levels up on its B-BBEE scorecard.

YES has already proven itself to be one of the true innovators in South Africa, generating over R3.8 billion in youth salaries and more than 69,000+ quality work experiences in under three years, with no government funding. Over 1,800+ businesses have already signed on to co-create a future that works. Find out more at www.yes4youth.co.za
Say YES. It's a win-win-win for company, country and youth!