Junior Achievement South Africa (JA South Africa) is excited to kick off the second year of the Google.org funded Jobs and Skills Programme to provide scholarships, instructional support, and wraparound support to young South Africans.The grant valued at R 1,6 million will reach 540 youth from Gauteng, Western Cape, Northwest, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, and Limpopo complete the I.T support programme. To date JA South Africa has recruited 375 learners across all six provinces. Last year 373 young people received the Google I.T certificate and gained knowledge in I.T protocols, cloud computing, Windows operating system, Linux command line, systems administration, encryption algorithms and techniques. The programme churns out youth with the requisite skills for success and address the I.T skills gap challenges faced in the country. Since the programme launched in 2018 , the programme has seen 82 % in positive career outcomes. The implementation of the programme will see Junior Achievement South Africa play a critical role in circumventing the shortage of 49 % skills gap in I.T skills required in South Africa.
Junior Achievement South Africa envisions a world where young people have the skillset and mindset to build thriving communities. We do this by empowering the youth with practical entrepreneurial skills, sound financial literacy, and work readiness thus, transforming lives. Thanks to funding from Google.org, JA South Africa is addressing the much needed IT skills lacking in the South African local economy.