Mobilising Future Careers for South Africa's Youth

Dear AVA Friend

The vision of the Mobile Career Café (MCC) has always been to reach youth across South Africa and this became a reality with the first week long trip of the MCC to the Eastern Cape in January 2023. More than 200 youth actively participated in the various work-readiness and career guidance workshops.

The outcomes achieved are mainly measured by the results from a questionnaire, but the comments from participants such as Princess Makhata from Makhanda, provide more insight into the benefits for the youth that attend the MCCs: “What I gained from the MCC is how to write a proper CV using a new format and I also learnt about my career.  The career planning was very informative.   I gained more knowledge on hard and soft skills and got to learn about career management.  Now that I know what career path I am taking, this has assisted me in creating a network that will benefit my career and increase my chances of getting employed.    I have also gained confidence to job hunt as I know what is expected of me.  I now have a greater understanding on how to find a job.  Other job-readiness workshops don’t have the variety of workshops the MCC offered”.

To measure the increase in knowledge and awareness on various career and work related aspects that youth experience as a result of the MCC workshops, they rate the degree of accuracy of various statements at the start and end of each MCC. A summary of the responses in two such statements are worth taking note off:

• I understand how a career develops. (See Figure 1 for the results)                     
  
• I know how to compile a professional looking CV.  (See Figure 2 for the results)                        
  

The first extended trip of the MCC was a great success!.  Significant outcomes were achieved through the MCC workshops on career awareness, attainment of job readiness knowledge and overall positive youth development outcomes.  This report does not do justice to the real impact of the various MCCs in the Eastern Cape, but I hope it is enough for you to see the difference your donation made to the development of a very important service.  Career guidance is not a luxuary.  It is a necessity.  With the overwhelming positive response and requests to return and reach more youth, AVA is keen to do a follow-up trip to the Eastern Cape again.

THANK YOU for your support that enables the Mobile Career Cafe to educate youth for employment.

Janine