Johannesburg, 19 Mar 2008
As a specialised recruitment company, NeilsonYoung Consulting (NYC) has observed that while South Africa struggles with high levels of unemployment, there are severe skills shortages in various industries across the country, with job posts often left vacant for months on end.
In choosing to be part of corporate social investment (CSI) projects that focus on skills development and education, NYC hopes to play a part in bridging this divide.
The Themba-Diepsloot Community Project aims to enable as many people as possible living in the Diepsloot area to become self-sufficient. Through up-skilling the 150 women who are currently members of the project in various fields, it hopes to restore dignity and furnish trainees with the skills to eventually start their own businesses.
Many of NYC's staff are not from privileged backgrounds, and the company's employees have developed an attitude of appreciation for the opportunities they have been afforded in life. In seeking to give others the same opportunities, NYC recognised the merit of the Themba project and offered its assistance.
Staff baked cakes, provided food and attended the 2007 Christmas party, and collected clothes for a resident who had lost belongings to a fire. NYC has also taken on the responsibility of marketing many of the project's craft products, and is currently focusing on finding a national retailer to stock the high-quality, hand-beaded silver salad spoon sets that the women are producing, as well as investigating the possibility of allowing them to set up an exhibition in the NYC reception area on certain days to showcase their products. The company also plans on marketing Themba items as unique corporate gifts to its clients who show interest in the project.
While NYC's contribution has been much appreciated by the Themba project, the company wanted to find an area where its staff could assist in the skills development in a hands-on manner. "We realised that one of the biggest problems the project was experiencing was that people couldn't speak or understand English," says Roxanne Broughton, Recruitment Consultant, adding that this made communication very difficult. "We volunteered to up-skill people in that department, as there's a constant demand for learning the language and it was an area where we felt we could assist. Many of the people want to sign up for English lessons so that they can do the Matric English exam, and there are about 80 people wanting to learn."
NYC's Lynn Roux, Senior Recruitment Consultant, is a qualified teacher and has a passion for teaching English. She will run the biggest of the three classes (beginner, intermediate, and more advanced) that the company plans to offer, while Broughton, who studied English and Psychology and has tutored students for the past few years, will run another. The third class will also be headed up by an NYC employee, who will receive basic training prior to beginning to teach.
"We've been doing lots of research, speaking to lecturers at UNISA, looking at the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course and reading various teaching and study manuals," says Broughton. She explains that the classes will be held on Saturdays or during late afternoons on weekdays to avoid interrupting the other areas of the skills development programme.
Through training the Themba women in English, NYC hopes to do more than teach them the basics of a new language. Rather, through building communication ability and confidence, the company seeks to further the Themba mission of instilling hope and dignity.
Share