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Mashawana Foundation will address unemployment crisis

16 Aug 2012

South Africa urgently requires a multi-pronged strategy to raise employment and support inclusion and social cohesion, especially considering that nearly half of its youth are unemployed. This is according to the Collen Mashawana Foundation, a non-profit organisation that has been established to address the issue of youth unemployment in South Africa.

The Foundation's chairman Collen Mashawana says the high youth unemployment means young people are not acquiring the skills or experience needed to drive the economy forward. "It also inhibits the country's economic development and imposes a larger burden on Government to provide social assistance."

There has been a recent call by government encouraging South Africans to work together in solving challenges faced by the country. "Government alone cannot solve the challenges faced by the country, but working together, solutions are possible." The Foundation's vision is to create a workforce of forward thinkers and dream builders and it aims to eradicate poverty through job creation and the cultivation of job creators.

Strong relationship with government

Mashawana has built strong relationships with all spheres of the South African government and the private sector, devoting a lot of time in understanding government's service delivery mandate. This has resulted in a more strategically focused approach of aligning Mashawana's business interest and ideas with different organisations which would focus on working closely with the government.

Marli Connoway, chief executive officer of the Foundation has always wanted to make her mark in the world through community service and social upliftment and has a deep appreciation and passion for the role of education in sustainable societies. Connoway believes that the solution to poverty and job creation in South Africa lies in the cultivation of forward thinkers who take responsibility for their immediate environment.

Aims to assist the youth

Nearly 42% of young people under the age of 30 are unemployed compared with less than 17% of adults over 30. More importantly, only one in eight working adults under 25 years of age have a job compared to 40% in most emerging economies.

"Though this organisation might not solve the challenge of youth unemployment entirely, ours is to contribute what we can to the best of our ability in assisting the youth of South Africa by running different programmes which will contribute positively to the critical issue of education and youth unemployment," concludes Mashawana.