Youth development lab Lucha Lunako co-founder Alana Bond said on Thursday that working to address youth unemployment and its challenges required South Africans to get involved and play their part.

Unemployment is mostly concentrated among youth aged between 15 and 24 years with a rate of 63.2% and those aged between 25 and 34 show an unemployment rate of 41.2%.

“Working to address youth unemployment and its challenges is not a government thing, or youth development agency’s thing but a me-and-you thing,” added Bond.

Speaking during the launch of Lucha Lunako’s 'Youth Development Re-imagined' research report, she explained that an integration of a more holistic approach to youth development with more deliberate efforts to pathway young people into education and jobs can have a meaningful impact on youth development.

She said the media also had a role to play to shift mind sets and thinking to help create some visibility on what is working and what is not in the space.

Bond added that the adoption of a new framework to guide youth development policy, investment and interventions is vital.

Developing the Youth

The agency proposed a holistic new framework for youth development: the “I, You, Youth” Framework, where greater emphasis is placed on foundational development, including dealing with trauma, supported by other youth intervention components such as workplace readiness training, work experience, matching and placement.

“The three core constructs of “I have it”, “You have it” and “Youth have it”, refer respectively to an inward, out development focus starting with self, then others, then the broader work and life context,” Bond explained.

She said although significant efforts are being made within youth development, the prospects for employment and sustainable futures for South Africa’s youth remain disheartening, adding that youth development outcomes and impacts are low relative to the investment being made in the sector.

“Focus has been on providing youth with technical skills, workplace readiness and work experience, rather than looking at how young people are affected and shaped by poverty and inequality and providing holistic, intentional, high quality development and support in the building of human foundations,” she said.

Meanwhile, Bond explained that a lot of money is being wasted and young people are not getting the value of this intervention, adding that there is an enormous amount of money thrown into youth development.

“We believe that a radical collaboration is really required to redirect some of the money that is flowing through the space and ensure that much greater impact is achieved. Youth organisations and funders must collaborate, open source and share and implement best practices, also find solutions to the issue of how to scale high touch interventions,” she said.