Call for applications: Youth LaunchPad project in SA

Youth LaunchPad project is a unique programme that places interns in SMMEs in the creative industries to support increased capacity and pave for the way for new job creation. The call represents a great opportunity for business owners nationally to bring in key skills needed into the businesses of creatives, in a subsidised manner, which can help them achieve greater sustainability and growth.

The CDI Youth LaunchPad programme places unemployed matriculants and graduates in SMMEs; it supports work readiness, on-the-job and skills development training. It also supports business owners to develop the systems and HR capacity to manage staff. The programme is a one-year project that is aimed at creating 200 employment opportunities for youth in marginalised communities within all creative sectors nationwide.

Specific indicators are as follows:

• 85% black, 60% female and 2% disabled participants.
• 60% graduates and 40% matriculants.
• 100% placements into employment through internships.

The CDI’s overall approach to this project is to create the conditions for the absorption of the 200 interns in 40 to 60 businesses at the end of the nine-month internship period. This is not just a skills development project as CDI also emphasises the development of the businesses and their capacity to host interns and absorb them but grow the business for long-term sustainability.

Recruitment and selection

Business

• Must be registered as a CDI business member.
• Must be registered as a legal entity (CIPC and SARS).
• Minimum trading period of 18 months.
• Must have participated in a CDI Human Resource/Labour Relations sessions or commit to doing so as a participating business.

 Interns

• South African youth.
• Must be currently unemployed.
• Minimum matric qualification.
• Interns recruited from anywhere in South Africa.

Currently in its third phase this year, the project is divided into three cohorts, the first and second of which have already ended.

Cohort 3 timeline

• Intern recruitment – May and June.
• HR training session 1 and 2 – June.
• CDI and Intern contract signing and scanning – 13 June.

Requirements

• Signed CDI contract.
• Business owners certified ID.
• Signed employment contract(s).
• Intern(s) certified ID.
• Signed job seekers form.
• Cohort 3 completion date – 13 March 2023.

“The CDI first ran the Youth LaunchPad in 2019-2020, which created 149 work-opportunities for youth in 92 businesses,” a statement reads. “The CDI is scaling the programme up in 2022 through funding we have received through the National Pathway Management Network (NPMN) Innovation Fund, a component of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention’s (PYEI) National Pathway Management Network (NPMN), a “network of networks” aimed at facilitating the successful transition of young people into and through the labour market. CDI applied for funding from the NPMN Innovation Fund in November last year and has been awarded a contract to implement.”

Applicants should apply here before 30 May.

View the original call here.