The Smart City Community Contact project is a collaboration between the Youth Development Trust, City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, United States Agency for International Development, Embassy of Finland, Khanyisa Real Systems and The Innovation Hub.
Launched at The Innovation Hub on 14 June 2005, the project aims to improve communication between the city and its residents through the use of innovative technologies. Unemployed university and technikon graduates are trained in 3-month sessions to bridge existing knowledge with advanced skills necessary to work on unique projects as consultants, handling customer service for the municipality. The ultimate goal is to create a business service bureau to be run by graduates themselves, providing vital information like municipal billing services to residents.
"The US Government's grant to the Youth Development Trust reflects our commitment through USAID to support young South Africans who strive to take advantage of new opportunities made possible using 21st century technology and advances," said US Ambassador to South Africa, Jendayi Frazer.
"As the YDT, we are extremely pleased with the strides we have made in helping develop training programmes to meet the specific needs of the labour market. We are actually incubating a niche industry to create job openings for these graduates. To that end, our business development unit has been working hard to develop partnerships with various stakeholders such as local government, foundations and small and medium enterprises to ensure that the youth develop the skills necessary for the future success of the country," according to Ntutule Tshenye, YDT chief executive.
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