SA Youth networking for progress

Are you between 15 and 34 years old and looking for learning and earning opportunities? Then you need to join SA Youth - a national network for all young people to access opportunities for free.

The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) has partnered with the Presidency, through the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, to launch SA Youth.

Other partners involved in the project include Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, government departments, the private sector and civil society.

This initiative is one of the ways through which government is addressing the high rate of youth unemployment, which President Cyril Ramaphosa idenitifed as a priority of government.

“We must ensure that the most marginalised youth have the support to access opportunities – young people who’ve been unemployed for a long time, who cannot afford the costs of searching for work and who lack strong social networks,” the president said.

He added that government is prioritising the creation of a network for young work seekers to access learning and work opportunities, receive support and work readiness training, and be matched to employment and other economic opportunities.

Through the SA Youth network, young people get free access to online work-seeker support resources. These include:

• Hustling resources.
• Preparation for the world of work.
• Learnership, volunteering and further studies resources.
• Wellness and selfcare support.

The youth can apply for safe and trusted job, volunteer, learnership, bursary and work experience opportunities in their area on the mobi-site – www.sayouth.datafree.co – which is data free. This means that you don’t have to have data to access any of the SA Youth resources.

How to join SA Youth network:

1. Go to https://sayouth.datafree.co/p/nyda
2. Enter your ID number – if your ID already exists, you may have previously registered with SA Youth, Harambee or Tshepo Million. If this is the case, go back, click on login, enter your ID number and existing password.
3. Once you’ve registered and accepted the T&Cs, complete the questions.
4. Click on an opportunity and apply.
5. Click on the profile icon to add information like education qualifications and/or work experience. — This article was published in GCIS Vuk'uzenzele.