Johannesburg, 22 November, 2023 / 3:02 pm (ACI Africa).
Members of the Religious Institute of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) ministering in South Africa are strategically choosing young people from “disadvantaged communities” in the country’s Cape Town region, equipping them with entrepreneurial skills capable of realizing positive social change.
Through a program dubbed NEETs that is offered at the Salesian Institute Youth Projects, Salesians reintroduce the young people between 18 and 26 years to learning, nurturing entrepreneurial skills, and providing valuable exposure to real workplace experiences.
“The NEETs program combines essential life skills training with vocational skill training. Youth are selected from specific disadvantaged communities within the greater Cape Town area. This strategic choice is intended to foster social change within these communities, creating a ripple effect,” Salesian officials say in a Tuesday, November 21 report.
They say the youth undergo a 12-month program with three modules: life skills and fundamentals such as language and math, an internship in social enterprises, and workplace learning.
In 2023, 86 students are enrolled in the “New Venture Creation and Wholesale and Retail Curriculum”, which focuses on hydroponics. This large-scale hydroponics community project involves workshops with students, their families, and community members, as well as the production and distribution of home hydroponics kits and the commercialization of produce.
