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Preparing Out-of-School Youth for Work: A Namibian Case Study
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Abstract
PCF5 Sub-theme: Livelihoods // Like other countries within the Southern African Development (SADC) region, Namibia also experiences high levels of unemployment, particularly among young people. Currently the unemployment rate stands at 37%. One of the most problematic and challenging issues in our society and economy has therefore been how best to prepare young people to compete in the labour market and to mature into productive members of society. The Municipality Assisted Training Scheme (MATS) in Keetmanshoop, Namibia was one employment and training programme that has been developed and implemented over the past four years with the purpose to provide on-the-job training to out-of-school leavers. Nevertheless, the Keetmanshoop Municipality found this programme lacking in its end result, namely enabling young people to gain employment. It became clear that employability skills are not automatically developed at school, or in the workplace without purposeful training. //
The Municipality of Keetmanshoop sought advice from the University of Namibia how best to make the programme more efficient. In order to assist the MATS programme, a collective case study research on six enterprises within Keetmanshoop, was carried out. The research questions were as follows: // • What are the perceptions of the participating young workers regarding the effectiveness of their employability skills development? // • What are the perceptions of the participating employers with regard to the effectiveness of the MATS experience to develop employability skills in youth? // The MATS programme was found to be useful in some respects, but lacks the potential to develop employability skills over a broad spectrum in a quick and qualitative manner. // Paper ID 352
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Country
Namibia
Region
Africa
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Date
2008-09
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Commonwealth of Learning (COL)