The program helps young people make a connection to their peers, their communities, and themselves.
			Make a Connection aims to bridge the gap between tertiary education and working life.
			The program focuses on a variety of competences, including computer literacy.
			Interpersonal communication and teamworking are essential aspects of the program's life skills component.

International Youth Foundation - NGO
Youth Development Trust - CSO
Nokia Corporation - Business

Make a Connection – A youth work skills program in South Africa

In April 2000, the International Youth Foundation (IYF) and Nokia launched the Make a Connection program: a global, multi-year partnership to promote positive youth development worldwide through education. In recognition that a traditional education is not necessarily a guarantee of success in today´s world, Make a Connection places particular emphasis on local programs that teach life skills. These range from soft skills like conflict management and teamwork to concrete skills like computer literacy. The goal is to provide youth with permanent skills that will empower them to become competent, confident and caring adults and help them to make a positive contribution to their societies. Make a Connection is currently operating in 10 countries, with plans to expand.

In South Africa, Make a Connection is implemented by IYF’s local partner, the Youth Development Trust, in co-operation with Nokia. The local program tackles the persistent problem of youth unemployment by offering an innovative three-month training course to young Black university and technikon graduates aged 20 to 28 who have been unemployed for at least one year. The aim is to develop these young people’s life and professional skills by bridging the gap between tertiary education and the world of work.

Make a Connection in South Africa focuses on providing skills that allow young graduates to cope with the challenges of adulthood and the workplace from both a social and economic perspective. Aspects of the course include understanding the professional world, attitude to work, how to look for and retain employment, financial management as well as computer and entrepreneurial skills. At the same time, the program emphasizes interpersonal and teamwork skills, self-confidence, conflict resolution and problem-solving skills as well as motivation to succeed and responsibility to one’s community.

Young people entering working life are often expected to integrate into a company’s business culture immediately. However, adapting to the rules and ways of the workplace takes time and is not something that students usually learn at university. Especially in a country like South Africa with its many cultures and nationalities, working with others in teams may require skills like adaptability, tolerance and mutual understanding. To reduce the visible gap between studies and working life, the Make a Connection program concentrates on equipping graduates with the right skill-set to meet the requirements and demands that confront them as they launch into their careers. The program, while bringing added value to the graduates themselves, also brings economic benefits to South Africa´s business sector overall, as higher caliber graduates with broader competencies enter the workplace and are willing to build not only on their own, but also to contribute to their country’s future: It is one important aim of the project to provide young graduates with the skills to actively contribute as good citizens to their communities.

Feedback from many participants completing the training is that they now feel empowered to create their own place in the world and are proud to be able to give something back to South African society. One young graduate starting her course in March 2002 said “We are not just doing this for ourselves, but will be ploughing back to our communities in order for South Africa to benefit as a nation.“ (Delcy Dludlu, Johannesburg, March 5, 2002)

Make a Connection in South Africa is clearly bringing far-reaching social and economic advantages not just to the young graduates, but through a “ripple effect” to their families and friends, their future colleagues and employers, and as such to society as a whole.

Youth Unemployment in South Africa is high: 41% of economically active youth between 14 and 35 are unemployed –about 3.5 million*.

Permanent employment or traineeship after graduation will provide the economic basis, self-confidence and experience that help young people find their place in the work community and create their place in life - whereas prolonged unemployment following a long period of study can create frustration and a sense of hopelessness, bringing with it social and economic problems.

Make a Connection gives young university and technikon graduates the opportunity to succeed in working life. The life skills these students acquire distinguish them from their peers. Many were hired straight out of the training “because of their personal attributes”, as Mr. Marcus Moses, Managing Director of Ndawo Consulting, stated.

The measurable outcome of the program proves its success: In 2001 more than 60% of graduates completing the program successfully found full-time employment or long-term internships. The target for 2002 is to significantly increase this figure. Already during the first training series in 2002, five students were hired straight out of the program.

Make a Connection also teaches and supports entrepreneurship skills, encouraging young graduates to start their own businesses. Thirteen business plans have thus far been prepared and presented to various Black Economic Empowerment companies. Make a Connection has started a Business Establishment and Sustainability Programme to encourage interested students in establishing mini-enterprises, offering support beyond the three-month training.

Since the project began in October 2000, 131 young professionals in the province of Gauteng have graduated from the course. Another 250 students wil be trained from July 2002 to September 2003. From September 2002, the program will expand to include the Limpopo (former Northern) and North-West provinces.

*Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE) Youth 2000 survey, commissioned by Royal Netherlands Embassy

The Make a Connection program is in line with the South African Skills Development Act and Black Economic Empowerment Initiative. Most of the companies that now employ Make a Connection graduates are very satisfied with the students’ attitudes to work, their level of professionalism and their level of maturity, even if they are new employees. Therefore, program expansion and replication make sense for both business and government in South Africa.

An application for additional funding from the South African government’s Skills Development Fund was already submitted.

Youth Development Trust and Nokia also invite other companies to join the Make a Connection program as partners, for the success of the program to reach the entire country. Make a Connection has established a best practice that is easily replicable and promises success – thus proving itself a socially responsible investment for any company that literally “pays off”. In addition, this program offers possibilities to accept graduate students as interns and to offer opportunities for volunteering to own staff who can act as mentors to the young graduates.

The Youth Development Trust has also developed a special “train the trainer” program to advance the program expansion. In both Limpopo and North-West provinces, young professionals will be trained to run Make a Connection effectively in their areas. This is already creating employment for 12 young trainers.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are doing valuable work in educating young students to specialize in their own areas of expertise. However, important life skills to succeed in today’s societies and working life are too often neglected. Here Make a Connection is truly innovative – this program’s content is worth being made a part of the curriculum in tertiary education.

In South Africa, the Make a Connection program has received an endorsement from both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labour. The importance of work and life skills was addressed by representatives of both ministries attending a Make a Connection induction ceremony in March 2002. The Make a Connection program has accepted young people graduating from HEIs who bring with them knowledge and great potential. For them to now also successfully enter work life, encouragement and motivation are needed. Those give them a boost that sets free their energy and sense of empowerment.

The program provides individual participants with enhanced opportunities to realize their personal and economic potential as employed knowledge workers and professionals in the formal economy or as self-employed Black Economic Empowerment entrepreneurs with the potential to create jobs in their own venture.

“Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that a son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.” Nelson Mandela, Nongeke Senior Secondary School opening ceremony, 9 October 2001.

Make a Connection is a unique four-way partnership that first began when Nokia approached the International Youth Foundation about establishing a global program that would make a difference in the lives of thousands of young people. Nokia already had a long-standing commitment to education and addressing the needs of young people. The company began to examine possibilities of expanding and deepening that commitment, addressing the importance of contributing to the communities in which Nokia employees live and where the company operates.

The International Youth Foundation is one of the world’s largest public foundations focused on children and youth. IYF is dedicated to supporting programs that improve the conditions and prospects for young people where they live, learn, work and play. IYF has been supporting programs for children and youth for more than a decade through its network of partner organizations in more than 60 countries, helping more than 23 million young people gain the skills, training and opportunities critical to their success.

The result of the partnership between IYF and Nokia was the Make a Connection program.

IYF’s partner in South Africa is the Youth Development Trust (YDT). For Make a Connection to be successful, there was a need for a partner on the ground who could name the problems and urgent issues to be addressed and who had the expertise to implement an educational youth program with good results. YDT offers all this.

Nokia was joined by RF Group, its distribution partner in South Africa. RF Group lends its on-the-ground support, contributing expertise, important connections, and also participation in the workshadowing program.

Combining the best practices and expertise of non-profit youth development organisations and committed corporations, Make a Connection in South Africa is a truly special partnership that hopes to convince and inspire others to replicate similar models.