WiserEarth Area of Focus Suggestions
Improving WiserEarth Areas of Focus
List suggestions for new areas of focus or for changes to the current areas of focus
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Created: Apr 21, 2008
Updated: Nov 27, 2009
Membership: Open
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Zenzele Training and Development is a registered Section 21 non-profit organisation and is based in Khayelitsha, an impoverished and overcrowded informal settlement situated just outside Cape Town. The organisation has as its mission and vision:
"to provide skills training and business development training to unlock & develop the God-given potential of all South Africans, especially residents of disadvantaged communities, through an economic empowerment programme which includes skills training for better employment opportunities".
According to Wesgro, unemployment in the Western Cape region is estimated at 18.4%. Although formal statistics are not available for the Khayelitsha area, it is clearly one of the most disadvantaged parts of Greater Cape Town where unemployment is estimated at 65%. Thousands of people continue to flock to Khayelitsha from impoverished rural areas in the hope of finding employment. Few do. With the majority of new arrivals being functionally illiterate and few being able to communicate in English, formal sector jobs are rarely available to them. Clearly one solution to this probably is to provide skills training and entreneurship training to better their chances of finding a way to economic empowerment.
Zenzele (Xhosa for "do it yourself") was established in 1998 to provide skills training and entrepreneurial development and targets these previously disadvantaged, unemployed, unskilled members of the Khayelitsha and nearby Crossroads communities.
Zenzele offers innovative training programmes, using a combination of technical and business modules.
To date, Zenzele has provided over 4,000 unskilled, unemployed people with the necessary skills to either seek employment in industry or to become self-employed. Woodwork, welding and sewing are taught as core courses with ad hoc courses such as pottery and tourism offered when there is a demand for them. All courses at Zenzele are accredited by the appropriate training authorities.
Aftercare for trainees is considered critical, and a supportive system is in place to track and ensure that ex-trainees do not ´fall by the wayside´. We are very proud to report that at least 40% of our graduates are economically active and are either self-employed (and in many cases employing others) or in formal employment.
"to provide skills training and business development training to unlock & develop the God-given potential of all South Africans, especially residents of disadvantaged communities, through an economic empowerment programme which includes skills training for better employment opportunities".
According to Wesgro, unemployment in the Western Cape region is estimated at 18.4%. Although formal statistics are not available for the Khayelitsha area, it is clearly one of the most disadvantaged parts of Greater Cape Town where unemployment is estimated at 65%. Thousands of people continue to flock to Khayelitsha from impoverished rural areas in the hope of finding employment. Few do. With the majority of new arrivals being functionally illiterate and few being able to communicate in English, formal sector jobs are rarely available to them. Clearly one solution to this probably is to provide skills training and entreneurship training to better their chances of finding a way to economic empowerment.
Zenzele (Xhosa for "do it yourself") was established in 1998 to provide skills training and entrepreneurial development and targets these previously disadvantaged, unemployed, unskilled members of the Khayelitsha and nearby Crossroads communities.
Zenzele offers innovative training programmes, using a combination of technical and business modules.
To date, Zenzele has provided over 4,000 unskilled, unemployed people with the necessary skills to either seek employment in industry or to become self-employed. Woodwork, welding and sewing are taught as core courses with ad hoc courses such as pottery and tourism offered when there is a demand for them. All courses at Zenzele are accredited by the appropriate training authorities.
Aftercare for trainees is considered critical, and a supportive system is in place to track and ensure that ex-trainees do not ´fall by the wayside´. We are very proud to report that at least 40% of our graduates are economically active and are either self-employed (and in many cases employing others) or in formal employment.