Nokia, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Embassy of Finland in SA are to invest around $1.9 million in SA to extend the Make a Connection education programme until 2006.
The programme was launched in 2000 by Nokia and the International Youth Foundation (IYF) to equip unemployed university graduates with life skills as well as entrepreneurial and ICT skills.
Martin Sandelin, Nokia senior VP of corporate marketing, said at the re-launch of the project in Sandton yesterday that Nokia was committed to developing a sustainable word-class life skills programme for young people.
"Nokia is pleased to extend the Make a Connection programme, which is now active in 17 countries, and to welcome the American and Finnish governments in forming a tri-sector partnership," he said.
Kirsti Lintonen, Finland`s ambassador to SA, said job creation and youth unemployment were key issues in SA, and that Make a Connection had made a difference in helping young people find employment.
"Statistics show that 42% of young adults in the market are unemployed and university graduates are failing to secure jobs. Without the prospect of employment, the youth are becoming disillusioned. Make a Connection therefore has the potential to make a difference, equipping them with life skills and helping to place them in jobs or learnerships," she said.
Implementing the programme
Veronica Scheubel, Nokia corporate marketing senior manager, said Nokia will contribute $300 000 a year until 2006.
"Nokia will contribute $900 000 over the three years, while the Finnish Embassy has committed over R639 000 for the first year, with that figure expected to increase over the following two years. USAID will also donate $900 000 for the operation in SA and for the expansion of Make a Connection into Mozambique, Rwanda and Malawi," she said.
Ntutule Tshenye, CEO of the Youth Development Trust (YDT), which is IYF`s local partner, said the programme enrols graduates who have been unemployed for a year.
"Make a Connection helps students who are serious about finding employment. It has not only equipped 402 graduates in the last three years with skills, but has helped place them in permanent employment or in learnerships with a 65% success rate," he said.
The three-month course is being run in the Gauteng, North West and Limpopo provinces, and focuses on placing the learners in small businesses or local government, Tshenye said.
"We have found that partnering universities and municipalities by placing graduates in municipalities to help tackle service delivery issues has been very successful. We are now in discussion with the Eastern Cape government to set up a similar partnership with them and the University of Fort Hare to expand Make a Connection to a fourth province in SA."
With the funds provided by Nokia, the Finnish Embassy and USAID, the YDT hopes to increase the number of students doing the programme to 675 over the next three years, said Tshenye. Learners who have completed the course will then be encouraged to sow back into their communities in the form of career guidance and other workshops. In this way, he said, the YDT hopes to reach a further 34 000 young people.
According to Tshenye, the YDT will also assist the IYF in managing the learning network in Mozambique, Rwanda and Malawi when Make a Connection is rolled out in those countries.
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