Question NW266 to the Minister of Environmental Affairs

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20 March 2018 - NW266

Profile picture: Xalisa, Mr Z R

Xalisa, Mr Z R to ask the Minister of Environmental Affairs

With regard to the grant from The Jobs Fund that was received by the South African National Biodiversity Institute in order to build human resource capacity in the biodiversity conservation sector, with an explicit promise that all those employed through the jobs fund programme will eventually get full-time employment, (a) what is the total number of young persons who were employed through the programme, (b) of these, what is the number that has been employed full-time and (c) what are the reasons that some are not yet employed full time?

Reply:

a) The objective of the SANBI Groen Sebenza Programme, funded through the Jobs Fund, was to support 800 unemployed youth by equipping them with the skills and experience needed to access jobs in ecosystem management. Section 2.1.53 of the contract between the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) and SANBI provided for the “sourcing assessment, selection, training and placement of the applicants in an incubator programme” During their 2.5 years in the scheme these participants recieved mentoring, training and rotational placements with the goal of improving their employability in the environment sector. The placement of these young people took place through 46 partners in the ecosystem management sector, with SANBI playing an overall coordination role. While the target was to incubate 800 young persons to prepare them for full time employment, the programme exceeded the target by incubating 955 unemployed youth.

b) The programme envisaged the creation of 800 jobs through this incubation programme, and a total of 645 youth were employed by partner organisations or beyond the partner organisations immediately on conclusion of the programme, reflecting a successful conversion rate of experiential learning into permanent employment. While we appreciate the external dynamics with some partner organisations, we duly acknowledge the role of these partners especially for taking this mammoth task and responsibility of creating envisaged permanent jobs as part of this programme.

c) The fact that some of the participants were not in permanent employment at the end of the programme relates to a situation where some of these young persons chose to further their studies, some are self employed whereas some are not yet employed. SANBI is currently busy with a Tracer study on those not yet employed. Government will continue to follow due processes as guided by relevant policies to ensure tranperancy and fairness in training, placements and appointments. This programme provided the much needed experiential learning which newly qualified graduates generally lack, and it positioned them to take advantage of potential opportunities that may emerge in the sector and beyond.

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