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This
newsletter aims to keep SSACI’s partners informed about what
the Initiative is doing, and why.
It seeks to give sponsors and project implementers a better understanding
of one another’s perspectives.
It highlights issues in the fields of education, training and skills
development that effect SSACI’s work.
“SSACI News” is issued quarterly from the desk of the
Programme Manager:
Tel:
(012) 362-2972
Fax: (012) 362-2971
e-mail: ssaci@sdc.net
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2001
Greeting Card
Our 2001 greeting card shows a SSACI-sponsored trainee from
Furntrain with some handiwork she produced with her newly-acquired
woodworking skills
How
Much Does it Cost to Create a Job?
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There’s
an old saying that “you have to spend money to make money”.
You certainly have to spend money to make jobs. But how much can
reasonably be spent to create a new job? There is no simple answer
to that question. It all depends on what sort of job you’re
trying to create and in which sector of the economy. For example,
jobs at Alusaf’s big new aluminium smelting plant in Richard’s
Bay – a typical secondary (i.e. manufacturing) industry project
- cost an average of R6’000’000 each to create. By contrast,
the South African treasury allocated R3-billion in the 2000-1 fiscal
year to poverty-alleviation projects, which generated 84 500 jobs.
That works out at an average of just R35’503 per job.
However, there is a difference between the jobs created by Alusaf
and those created by most government poverty-alleviation programmes.
Almost all jobs at the Alusaf plant are permanent, high-
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income
jobs. They also generate wealth for the country as a whole by adding
value to existing resources that can be exported to overseas consumers.
By contrast, jobs created through state-sponsored poverty-alleviation
projects are typically low-income jobs, mostly in the service sector,
which create little new wealth within the economy as a whole. Thus,
only 2500 of the jobs created last year through South Africa’s
national poverty-alleviation programme were permanent in nature,
while 82 000 were temporary. At R35’000 each, the cost of
the latter is comparable to that of jobs created by similar programmes
in North America and Europe.
The consensus amongst development specialists is that, on average,
it costs about R1’000’000 to create one new, permanent,
middle-income job in South Africa. On that basis, it would take
our entire GDP to create another 600000 jobs. 
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SSACI
is sponsored by: Alpha; Ciba Speciality Chemicals; Credit Suisse; Givaudan-Roure;
Novartis Pharmaceuticals; Schindler Lifts; Sika Finanz; Swiss Agency for
Development & Cooperation; Swiss Re; UBS; Xstrata.
Progress
With Some Current Projects
ABC-Ulwazi
This project, to which SSACI has committed R800‘000 in 2002,
involves the use of community radio stations in training community-based
tour-operators in twelve localities around the country. The project
is off to a good start. The process of identifying the twelve
community radio stations from across the country for participation
in the project is currently under way. Each station will broadcast
a series of programmes on aspects of the tourism industry, to
complement contact training sessions for aspirant tour-operators.
Research has been conducted into potential business opportunities,
illustrative success stories and practical lessons learned from
community-based tourism to date. This information will be incorporated
into radio scripts that will be developed between December 2002
and February 2002. Production of the radio programmes will take
place in March and April. Training of tour-operators will begin
in April.
Association
for the Physically Disabled
The contract between APD and SSACI calls for a total of R438‘000
to be spent on the training of twenty-five Soweto youths (able
and disabled) as welders or caterers and in setting them up in
their own small businesses. Selection of trainees was completed
during December, all applicants having been carefully assessed
in terms of their suitability for entrepreneurial work. A contract
for the technical training has been negotiated with IETI, a non-profit
training organisation that was recommended by the Department of
Labour. Equipment for a workshop in Soweto has been ordered and
will be installed in early January. Training is scheduled to begin
in February 2002 and successful trainees should be in business
by the end of 2002..
Furntrain
This project, which involved training 50 young people in skills
relating to the furniture industry, produced quick results. By
the end of November:
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28 youths had completed the full training programme and been
placed in jobs with local furniture-manufacturing companies
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2 had completed their training and started their own micro-business
producung garden furniture
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11 had left to take up jobs in the furniture industry that had
been offered them before completing all their training (the
temptation of an immediate income having proved too great to
resist!)
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8 were still in training, with jobs lined up for them on completion
of the programme
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6 had dropped out of the programme for personal reasons
The
high standard of the training, and the value which prospective
employers place upon it, was confirmed by an external evaluator
who attended part of the training programme and interviwed the
trainees and businessmen in the furniture industry. The success
of this project prompted SSACI to approve a further grant of R800’000
to Furntrain in 2002 for the training of 100 young trainees. Special
emphasis will be given to the development of micro-businesses
by budding entrpreneurs who emerge from this group.
New
Projects Getting Under Way
In
December, SSACI undertook to support three new projects:
1.
The training of eco-tour guides through the Midrand EcoCity
Trust. This project will take ten young people from Ivory
Park township in Midrand and, during 2002, develop them into fully-qualified
tour guides specialising in eco-tours to the Wilderocke Ecological
Training Centre and Midrand EcoCity. The trainees will set up
their own registered tour company offering special-interest tours
to local and overseas visitors, starting with delegates to the
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) that is to be held
in Gauteng in September 2002. The whole project will cost about
R450’000. WSSD is an ongoing United Nations initiative,
dealing with issues of sustainable development. It last met in
Rio de Janeiro in 1992, attended by 120 heads of state. Over 30
000 delegates are expected to attend the 2002 conference in Gauteng.
Government representatives will meet at the Sandton Conference
Centre, NGOs at Gallagher Estate in Midrand and the private sector
at Nasrec. With innumerable additional meetings taking place around
the main summit, there will be many opportunities for local tour
operators, especially those focusing on sites of ecological interest,
to show delegates around.
2.
The training of forty wilderness-therapy trail-guides
by the National Peace Accord Initiative. This is a newly-recognised
job-category in the health services sector which ´can also
servicee the growing interest in "wilderness-experiences“
in the tourism industry. The overall objective of this project
is, over two years, to train 40 youths – many of them formerly-militarised
youths - from six provinces (Free State, Northern Cape, KZN, Eastern
Cape, Western Cape and Mpumalanga) as wilderness-therapy trail-guides
or assistant guides, according to standards developed by the University
of Natal and registered with the Tourism and Hospitality SETA.
Successful trainees will be registered with the South African
Wilderness Therapy Institute and will be able to operate as accredited
wilderness-therapy trail-guides. Trail sites have already been
established in most provinces and more are expected to be developed
in the next few years. Apart from the growing number of private
tour groups seeking such trails, the Departments of Social Development
and of Justice have included wilderness-therapy trails in their
rehabilitation programmes for victims of abuse and young offenders,
respectively. SSACI’s sponsorhip of this project will amount
to R930’000 over two years.
3.
The funding of twenty-five tertiary-level bursaries with
a total value of R700‘000 through the Friends of Mosvold
Hospital Trust. The aim of this project is to enable
fifteen young people from the rural Ingwavuma district in northern
KwaZulu-Natal to study approved health-sciences courses at tertiary
level. The courses include pharmacy, physiotherapy, medical technology,
occupational therapy, speech therapy, dental therapy and optometry.
During their vacations, bursaried students will work at Mosvold
Hospital, under the supervision of the Medical Superintendent,
and will visit local schools to raise awareness amongst learners
of career opportunities in the health services sector , stimulate
them to achieve the grades needed for higher education and serve
as role models and peer AIDS-educators. After graduation, the
twenty-five newly-qualified health professionals will work at
Mosvold Hospital or one of its satellite clinics for a period
equal to that of their bursaries.
Focus
on a Project: Siyavuka Lateral Improvement Foundation
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The
Siyavuka Lateral Improvement Foundation (SLIF) is the brainchild
of Martin Lentswe Mathole, an award-winning young ceramic artist
from Soweto who believes that South Africa has the talent to become
a major player in the art world. SLIF was born in December 1998
when Martin and two other artists from the Fuba Arts Academy in
Newtown, Johannesburg, decided to share their skills with unemployed
youths who had an interest in ceramic arts but could not afford
formal training.
While
supporting themselves by selling their work commercially, Martin
and his colleagues began running courses for aspiring potters. Small
grants from the National Arts Council in 1999, Nedcor Community
Development Fund in 2000 and Absa Foundation in 2001 kept the training
programme alive and, gradually, it began to gain the attention of
the wider community. In May 2001, Martin won a Recognition Award
from the Rotary Club of Johannesburg for his initiative in youth
development. |
In
September, Martin was invited to participate in a month-long workshop
on ceramic design and marketing at the International Ceramic Centre
in Skaelskor, Denmark. But the highlight of the year for SLIF was
coming into contact with SSACI, which led to a grant of R366’000
to expand the training programme.
In
terms of the grant agreement, SLIF will train 30 youths from Soweto
as ceramic artists during 2002 Since signing the agreement in October
this year, SLIF has moved from Fuba Centre into new premises at
the Ipelegeng Community Centre in White City, Soweto, where a full-equipped
studio and training room capable of accommodating all the students
is being set up. Preliminary work has also been done on defining
the training curriculum and preparing instructional materials. The
trainees will be enrolled in December 2001 and their training will
run from January to November 2002. |
In
the next edition of SSACI NEWS…
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Lessons from a Survey of SMMEs in Soweto
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Focus on a Project: The Youth Empowerment Network
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What’s Happening with the National Poverty Alleviation Programme?
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