Op-ed: What the ama2000s bring to South Africa’s ECD landscape
“Ama2000” — South Africa’s version of Gen Z — is used to describe a generation perceived as rebellious and vocal. They are known for challenging authority. Yet, at a workshop in Freedom Park in Soweto, I witnessed something that defied these assumptions: young early childhood development (ECD) practitioners brimming with energy, ideas and a willingness […]
PowerFM Interview: Place-based, demand-led training connects young people to real jobs in their own communities
Following up on the op-ed published by the Sowetan, DGMT Innovation Manager, Smanga Mbili, spoke to PowerFM about how demand-led skilling rooted in local realities may play a critical role in addressing South Africa’s youth unemployment landscape.
Cape Talk Interview: Matching skills to place and demand offers a practical route to tackle youth unemployment
Following up on the op-ed published by the Sowetan, DGMT Innovation Manager, Smanga Mbili, spoke to Cape Talk about how demand-led skilling rooted in local realities may play a critical role in addressing South Africa’s youth unemployment landscape. .
SmileFM Interview: Demand-led skilling rooted in local realities can unlock pathways out of youth unemployment
Following up on the op-ed published by the Sowetan, DGMT Innovation Manager, Smanga Mbili, spoke to SmileFM about how demand-led skilling rooted in local realities may play a critical role in addressing South Africa’s youth unemployment landscape. .
Op-ed: The stepping stones that young people need to find work
If you’ve graduated with a degree that can land a job in finance, you are likely on a path to a stable and well-paying career. But if you are one of the nearly 4 million young people between the ages of 15 and 24 in South Africa who are unemployed, out of school or not […]
The Perspectives Series: Turning development on its head
Many of South Africa’s most pressing challenges are structural — but their impact is felt most deeply in people’s everyday lives. While reforms are often pursued at a national or provincial level, they don’t always translate into meaningful change for communities. What if transformation could also start from the ground up? “Place-based approaches” offer bottom-up, […]
Op-ed: You can’t plant hope without nurturing its roots
In rural South Africa, youth unemployment is a crisis. Thousands of young people are locked out of opportunities across provinces such as the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Limpopo, with limited income and pathways to social mobility. In response, agriculture is often promoted as a solution — a means to generate livelihoods, address household food insecurity […]
ENCA Interview: Young people are ready to do work for the common good on Mandela Day, and every other day
On Mandela Day, DGMT called for more than symbolic gestures. With youth unemployment soaring and millions not in education or training, South Africa faces a deepening social crisis. Bridget Hannah, Innovation Director at DGMT, spoke to ENCA about why creating meaningful work, especially work for the common good, is essential to rebuilding social cohesion and […]
Hands-on Learning Issue 30
Through the Hands-on Learning publication, we hope to play a helpful role in synthesising information from innovators and implementers in civil society, supporting them to share what they have learnt so that others can draw from and build on their experiences. Catching up: Lessons in implementing accelerated learning programmes in South Africa In South Africa, […]
Learning Brief – No learning without well-being: Why mental health matters in post-school education and training
Mental health is shaped from before birth onward by a constellation of socio-economic factors, including poverty and inequality. In South Africa, where nearly 70% of children live below the upper-bound poverty line of R55 a day, poverty results not only in unmet needs but in sustained deprivation affecting mental health. International research shows that children […]