Imagine if solving unemployment was as easy as creating more jobs or ending food poverty by producing more food. It's never that straightforward.

In South Africa, around 3 million young people aged 15-24 are not in education, employment, or training (NEET), facing vulnerabilities that deepen when their situation remains unchanged for long periods. Wicked problems like youth unemployment are complex and require comprehensive approaches.

Enter the Basic Package of Support (BPS) programme — a consortium project with the Centre for Social Development (CSDA) and the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) designed to help young people who are NEET to reconnect with opportunities. Through personalised, face-to-face support and connections to support services, BPS aims to empower young people and improve their access to education and employment pathways.

Data-driven insights play a crucial role in the success of this project – not only in terms of understanding the NEET population and their varied needs but also in the landscape of state-sponsored and NGO-driven support services and understanding what it’ll take to improve access to these services and the quality of these interventions.

In this Best Bites podcast, we talk to Bridget Hannah, Innovation Director at DGMT. Bridget’s portfolio is all about supporting young people in our country to fully participate in society and the economy. In an unequal country like South Africa, there are many socio-economic reasons why young people drop out of school, struggle to find work and battle to build economic livelihoods for themselves. Bridget’s portfolio is focused on really understanding young people’s challenges and driving targeted interventions to support them to keep their grip on opportunities and build productive lives.

Visit www.dgmt.co.za/what-does-tomorrows-workforce-look-like to read more and access the takeaway instructions.

The Learning Lunch podcast features three types of episodes: Deep Dives; Nourish & Flourish; and Best Bites.

Each podcast/learning lunch session is structured as follows:
The Main Meal - A ±30-minute podcast
The Takeaways - Instructions for a ±30-minute group reflection based on what you listened to.

To learn more about the work that we do, go to www.dgmt.co.za