Our Mobile Career Cafe (MCC) supports youth (15-34 years) with career and work-readiness services across South Africa. Career education in secondary schools is crucial as young people begin shaping their post-school studies and career goals. By providing career guidance,learners can align their subject choices with future aspirations. With 45% of youth unemployed, South Africa is facing a serious problem - and the MCC is a unique and innovative solution to address this - with potential to scale.
South Africa's youth unemployment rate has remained above the 40% mark since mid-2020, posing a significant challenge for young South Africans aged 15-34 years. And with only 7% of learners gaining university entry, those remaining wait on average 6 years for acceptance into further education. One underlying cause of this challenge is poor career guidance, which can contribute to unemployment, keeping youth trapped in generational poverty. Many in need of career support, can't afford it.
In 2021, AVA started its Educate-2-Employment strategy and launched the Mobile Career Cafe, affectionately known as the MCC.The MCC helps youth aged 15 to 34 navigate their educational paths and improve their prospects of becoming economically active. The MCC travels to underserved areas to facilitate career education and work-readiness sessions that help inspire new thinking about careers, encouraging deep reflection on career development and using advanced tech to drive the process.
Simply put, the MCC empowers youth to dream beyond circumstance, to choose with clarity, and to challenge cycles of poverty through informed action. Because of this, schools that host the MCC can become vehicles for positive change. Some youth reported having found bursary opportunities and are much clearer on their pathway to employment. The MCC relies on collaboration with local NGOs in the rural areas. This allows AVA to transfer capacity to them so they can implement similar programmes.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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