Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator (Harambee) is working with diverse partners to address South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis through SA Youth, a data-free platform that connects young people to jobs, training and entrepreneurial opportunities.
The Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI): A National Coordinated Strategy to Address Youth Unemployment
South Africa’s youth unemployment is alarming: as of the second quarter of 2025, around 55.7% of young people aged 18–35 are out of work, with over 9 million not in employment, education or training (NEET). This complex, multifaceted challenge demands collaborative solutions.
The PYEI is a national coordinated strategy, developed by the Presidency to help more young people transition into the labour market. It does so by coordinating, accelerating and enhancing existing programmes, while unlocking pathways to employment, training and youth enterprise.
The National Pathway Management Network (NPMN), led by the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL), is a public-private partnership that forms part of the PYEI. Through the NPMN, government, the private sector and civil society work together to find solutions for South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis.
Harambee serves as the National Pathway Manager. It operates SA Youth, the country’s largest recruitment platform, which aggregates earning and learning opportunities so that young people can see and access them wherever they are.
The SA Youth Platform: Revolutionising Recruitment
SA Youth is designed to eliminate the barriers that young people face when entering the labour market, such as the high cost of data, transport and the lack of visible opportunities. With over 5 million young work-seekers registered, the platform – which is data-free – uses intelligent algorithms and geo-mapping to match employers with candidates closest to their opportunities. It enables digital engagement via email, WhatsApp and Facebook, as well as a toll-free contact centre that processes around 150 000 calls a month.
To date, SA Youth has assisted over 2 800 businesses to fill entry-level roles. The platform has successfully connected over 1.4 million young work-seekers to earning opportunities across the economy.
“We are particularly proud of the fact that 65% of the young people on SA Youth are women, while 1% of registered users are people with disabilities, with an increased focus on rural and underserved populations,” says Sharmi Surianarain, Chief Impact Officer at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator.
How SA Youth is closing the gap
Through SA Youth, we have learnt that deploying inclusive hiring mechanisms connects the right youth to the right opportunities, generating value for both young work-seekers and employers.
SA Youth achieves this by highlighting young people’s skills and experience beyond the traditional CV. While many young people may lack experience and academic qualifications, they often possess resilience and problem-solving abilities that demonstrate their potential to employers. SA Youth helps them create ‘inclusive’ CVs that highlight their strengths and capabilities, including volunteering and informal work experience.
Youth Voices: Stories of impact
Adelia Nqubuka: From job seeking to job creation
Determined entrepreneur Adelia Nqubuka founded Dela Creations Enterprise, a now thriving construction and landscaping company, in Orange Farm in 2016.
Nqubuka is just one of many young people who have benefited from registering on sayouth.mobi. She applied for the Solar Installation Training Programme by NepoWorx, where she gained accredited solar PV, electrical and renewable energy training and skills development.
Today, with three permanent staff, Adelia undertakes government and private projects, including a three-year landscaping contract with a local mall, and hires an additional 15 local workers per project.
Thami Majiki: A young entrepreneur transforming challenges into jobs
Thami Majiki is the co-founder of Garden Stoner Projects. Majiki’s commitment to social change was ignited by a traumatic incident when he and a friend were attacked in an overgrown area. This experience made him realise the link between environment, safety and behaviour.
Majiki transformed a dangerous space in his community into a safe, green hub, drawing on skills from Harambee’s Youth Solving Youth Issues programme. In 2021, he joined the NYDA’s National Youth Service Programme on sayouth.mobi, where he gained practical experience, received mentorship and secured critical funding to expand his operations and hire local youth.
Lessons learnt
Public-private partnerships such as the PYEI are instrumental in driving scalable impact. We must ensure that our solutions focus on long-term outcomes by strengthening collaboration to accelerate youth economic inclusion at scale.
“SA Youth exemplifies how combined efforts from diverse sectors hold the potential to shift youth unemployment trajectories. By working together, we can transition young people from economic exclusion to active participation – keeping them engaged and active within the system,”
says Surianarain
