Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator

Context

• South Africa has a 48% youth unemployment rate – one of the highest in the world.
• Young people lack the skills, information, networks and social capital to find and sustain employment, leaving them excluded from the economy
• Employers claim they cannot find suitable entry-level talent

Solution

• Since 2011, Harambee helps the most vulnerable young people in South Africa access economic opportunity. In 2018 it expanded its work into Rwanda.
• Harambee provides work-seeker support to unemployed youth – how to search for work, write CVs and prepare for interviews – thereby increasing their employability.
• It partners with government and over 550 employers across industries to connect youth to entry-level work opportunities. Harambee assesses the competencies of each candidate to match them to jobs where they are most likely to succeed. It then provides targeted training to close the work-readiness gap of each placed candidate.
• In addition, Harambee helps employers fine-tune their interviewing skills so they are better able to asses a young person’s capability and potential, beyond previous work experience and qualifications.  
• In order to increase the number of net new jobs available for young people in the economy, Harambee also works with government and business coalitions to design incentive structures that will bring increased investments to industries that are likely to hire youth.