A service concept for boosting work readiness amongst youth in Southern Africa through a certified digital work readiness portfolio

The JobReady project addresses the significant and growing problem of youth unemployment on the African continent. Africa will have the largest labour force in the world by 2040, posing huge potentials for social and economic development,
but also a risk if youth unemployment cannot be alleviated. The JobReady project is a collaboration between European universities, SMEs and RLabs – a well established social enterprise based in Cape Town, South Africa, with branch operations in 23 countries. The specific problem addressed in the JobReady project is the gap between education and first-time permanent employment that is caused by a lack of work readiness among African youth. This problem is well documented in reports on unemployment in Africa, and well substantiated by experience from RLabs operations in Southern Africa. The JobReady project presents an innovative service concept, co-designed with local stakeholders, to support youth in improving work readiness through engaging in temporary jobs, community services and training. The concept includes a novel digital platform automatically offering work readiness activities matched to individual skill needs. Activities are documented in a digital work readiness portfolio, that can be printed in a government certified format for job applications. The digital platform is integrated into an existing RLabs café concept. The functions of the JobReady digital platform are provided both at the café as a walk-in-portal, and via a web interface, designed to accommodate low bandwidth mobile phones or computers, for easy access without installing software. The JobReady solution is first deployed and validated in Cape Town, South Africa. Next it is transferred to Iringa, Tanzania and Windhoek, Namibia to demonstrate scalibility and transferability. The project has a large potential impact for the targeted communities in South Africa, Tanzania and Namibia – and a potential for broad deployment throughout the developing countries.