The perceived effect of youth development programmes on youth unemployment in South Africa

Abstract

In its broadest context, youth development encompasses the procedures undertaken by all adolescents in acquiring their personalities, skills, beliefs and social skills needed and deemed as important in becoming effective adults. In efforts to successfully assist in the development and transition from adolescence to adulthood, any private and public companies have formulated programmes designed to upskill the youth of South Africa in order for them to take charge of their futures by providing the necessary support and skills needed to overcome various challenges. Given the high levels of unemployment in South Africa among the youth, the use of Youth Development Programmes (YDP’s) as a mechanism to reduce youth unemployment as been driven by the existing knowledge surrounding the benefits of the programmes as well as the perception that YDP’s increase employability through skills development and promote entrepreneurship among the youth. The purpose of this research was to examine the perceived effect YDP’s have on youth unemployment in South Africa. The study made use of an unobtrusive qualitative data collection in the form of a survey comprising of open and closed-ended questions which were analysed using contentment analysis. Based on the results obtained, it was found that the successful implementation and use of YDP’s have the perceived effect of reducing youth unemployment.