Skills Programmes & Projects
What we do?
The Skills Programmes and Projects support employment and firm growth through the facilitation of employment through experiential learning programmes and skills development initiatives. The measurable outputs will be number of people placed in employment and the contribution of those placements to GDP of the province. The aim of this programme is to reduce unemployment in the province to support the break out growth as per the Growth4Jobs Strategy.
Our objective
The Skills Programmes and Projects assist demand led sectors and aims to improve the employability of participants through incentivised workplace experience. The programme is aimed at improving the quality and supply of labour through work-related training for unemployed youth.
Potential Stakeholders
We partner with Public and Private Industry who will provide workplace opportunities for youth which will result in employment after the intervention comes to an end.
Call for Experiential Learning Opportunities
The Department would like to invite all organisations that have the capacity to provide experiential learning opportunities to youth through the provisioning of meaningful employment opportunities, to apply as per the process below. It would be expected that firms have the capacity to provide further employment to participants subsequent to the department’s stipend support.
Call for Lead Organisations
The Department further invites lead organisations, that have the capacity to act as the lead employer of participants to be hosted at host organisations, by following the process below. The lead organisation would be expected to remunerate participant stipends, which will be reimbursed by the department, and stipend top-ups. The department will not compensate lead companies for any facilitation of interns at host companies.
Process to apply for funding.
Application Process
- Interested companies must complete the documentation (4 documents) stated below.
- Completed documentation must only be sent to the relevant email address as stated below.
- Complete documentation will be evaluated by project manager and prepared for the company selection committee. Incomplete documentation will not be considered for evaluation.
- Company Selection Committee will evaluate the documentation based on the following criteria (including, but not limited to):
- Percentage of youth absorbed after stipend support comes to an end
- External training provided to participants while at the company
- Top up stipend paid to the participants by the company
- Feedback will be provided to the company on the outcome of the decision of the Company Selection Committee in the form of a formal letter.
- Contracting processes will commence if company was successful which could include a site visit by the department officials.
All processes are dependent on funding availability and sector demand.
Documentation that needs to be completed
Declaration of Interest (companies)
Documents and all queries need to be submitted
Criteria for companies who would like to partner with us:
To be considered to participate Skills Programmes and Projects stipend support, companies need to:
- Be registered entities;
- Provide written commitment that at least 80% of the participants will be employed after the experiential placement period;
- Be able to provide a minimum monthly top up payment of R500,00 to each participant, which shall be in addition to the DEDAT funded stipend.
- Provide training to participants during the experiential learning period.
- Provide mentorship for the participants to ensure the appropriate support, skills transfer and assessment of participants.
- Should the company want to host artisan candidates- the company must be an accredited workplace with the relevant SETA, must have qualified artisans in the workplace who will mentor the participants and fund participants for trade test preparation and trade tests at their own cost.
Criteria for Participants to be recruited by companies.
- Must be between 18 and 35 years of age;
- Have Matric (or an equivalent qualification). Depending on the entrance requirements of some industries, a lower qualification may be accepted;
- Be an unemployed South African citizen who reside in the Western Cape;
- Participants should not be repeating any internship or should not have been part of any internship before; and
- Participants must not be existing workers of the company or its subsidiary companies hosting the participants.