Category: <span>PSETA</span>

3 July 2023 Media Release: Garden Route Skills Summit and Careers Festival to be hosted in Knysna

Media Release: Garden Route Skills Summit and Careers Festival to be hosted in Knysna

For immediate release
3 July 2023

Skills Summit 13 July 2023 – Knysna High School

The Garden Route Skills Mecca (GRSM), a product of Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM), together with stakeholders, will on 13 July 2023 host a Garden Route Skills Summit at the Knysna High School in Knysna. The event will host Provincial and National Government Departments, the various Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) and the Private Sector to deliberate and discuss progress made in relation to the implementation of the Skills Mecca. This is a by-invitation-only event.

The Summit further promises an opportunity for a few innovative proposals to be presented by stakeholders working with local municipalities on employment-based skills development projects, and give stakeholders the opportunity to debate on how they can take the Garden Route Skills Mecca to the next level of development.

Focus will also be given to the emerging Western Cape Provincial Growth for Jobs Strategy, Primary Focus area 7 – Improved Access to Economic Opportunities and Employability and how the Skills Mecca process can integrate the implementation of the strategy with the work already being done by the Skills Mecca. This will allow for the implementation of skills development projects that is aligned to the Garden Route Growth and Development Strategy.

The deliberations at the Summit will also feed into discussions that will be take place the next day at the Premier Council on Skills at the same venue, the Knysna High School.

Careers Festival 13 – 14 July 2023 – Knysna High School Sports Ground

Hosted by the Western Cape Community Education and Training College (WCCETC), the festival aims to give over 2000 unemployed individuals and school-going youth the opportunity to engage with SETAs, as well as public and private training providers.

With many local schools in Knysna and surrounds bringing their learners, the WCCETC expects to attract 32 exhibitors that have various training and personal development programmes available to eligible applicants.

This initiative by the Garden Route District Municipality and its Garden Route Skills Mecca is funded by Services SETA and is an open-to-the-public-event taking place at the Knysna High School.

“Garden Route District Municipality, Your route to prosperity”

ENDS

15 March 2022 Media Release: NYDA Focusses on Youth Development In The Garden Route

Media Release: NYDA Focusses on Youth Development In The Garden Route

15 March 2022
For immediate release

 

The second keynote speaker at the first Garden Route Skills Mecca for 2022 was Tshepo Manyama – Regional Manager of the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) Western Cape. He outlined NYDA’s skills development plans, opportunities, and needs that support youth development in the Garden Route.

NYDA is a South African-based agency established primarily to address challenges faced by the nation’s youth. The youth development agency was established by an Act of Parliament (Act 54 of 2008) to be a single, unitary structure addressing youth development issues at the National, Provincial and Local Government levels. The Agency should be seen within the broad context of South Africa’s development dynamics.

During Manyama’s presentation, he outlined their economic participation goal, which is to enhance the contribution of young people to the economy through targeted and integrated programs.

He added that programs created by the NYDA aims to facilitate and provide employment opportunities for the youth and to include them in the economy.

The implementation of this goal is at the following strategic objectives:

  • To provide socio-economic empowerment interventions and support for young people in South Africa
  • To provide increased universal access to young people

NYDA runs several economic programs that include:

  • Grant funding R1 000.00 to R10 000.00
  • Business Consultancy Services
  • Sales Pitch and BBBEE Training
  • Business Management Training
  • Mentorship
  • Market Linkages

On youth with disabilities, Manyama had the following to say: “Young people with disabilities are not homogenous as there are different disabilities that require different interventions. The sector representing youth with disabilities proposes the establishment of a disability unit at the NYDA to undertake to facilitate all programs aimed at transforming the lives of youth with disabilities.”

He concluded his presentation by stressing the importance of eradicating discrimination and stigmas against people with disabilities and increasing economic opportunities for them.

Access to education is limited and inadequate and this needs to be addressed. Integration of people with disabilities will also need to be addressed as there is a tendency of lumping them together despite their different needs.

13 December 2022 Media Release: GRDM embraces Occupational Based Learning

Media Release: GRDM embraces Occupational Based Learning

For Immediate Release
13 December 2021

The Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA), the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and various Municipalities in the Garden Route have partnered to implement an occupationally based course for Public Office Administrators.

An Occupational Certificate is a combination of theory and on-the-job learning that is delivered in an integrated manner to give a person knowledge and practical skills too, rather than only a theoretical background. This means that students will acquire the work experience needed to enter the job market far earlier. Once enrolled, most of the learning will take place at a workplace and not at an educational institution.

These students are learning in the real world for the real world.

Occupational qualifications and certificates fall under the control of the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO); one of three (3) Quality Councils in South Africa.

 “The vision of the QCTO is to qualify a skilled and capable workforce.”

These occupational qualifications are destined to become the new way of learning in South Africa as the country moves towards a more demand-led system that develops young people with the skills needed in the labour market.

As aspiring Public Office Administrators, those enrolling for this CPUT Occupational Certificate, learn core skills such as managing, organising, and analysing the effects of government policies and using business and statistical tools to solve public sector challenges in an ethical way. Added to this, learners will also learn skills in planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting, and budgeting.

The eight (8) Batho Pele principles of “people first” guide the implementation of public service delivery and is core to the values taught during this course. The duration of the certificate is over a period of six (6) months and students from various towns in the Garden Route to take part in it. Once selected, each student is placed at a municipality within their hometown and given tools of the trade such as a laptop and data bundles.

An example of this is the two learners who work with the rest of the Garden Route Skills Mecca Team. Both assist with skills development processes across the country, whilst getting to know all the sections and their main functions within GRDM. They work 40 hours a week and report to a supervisor who mentors them under strict supervision and signs their work experience records (logbooks). A percentage of the marks scored during this period counts towards their final marks.

The outcome of the course is to ensure that each learner is qualified and fit to be employed by the public sector with the newly acquired skillsets and valuable work experience they gained during the time.

Feature image caption: Anelisa Myeki (left) and Trishke Roodman (right), are two of the current CPUT students working with other Garden Route Skills Mecca stakeholders.

ENDS

Information supplied: Anelisa Myeki and Trishke Roodman