G-CITI STRATEGIC FOCUS AREAS
Youth & Entrepreneurship
The world bank estimates we need about 600 million new jobs to maintain the current global employment rate in the next ten years. The only feasible way of achieving this and more is to embrace youth entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is be a powerful tool to help fight youth unemployment. G-CITI continue to foster an entrepreneurial spirit; we believe it’s vital to develop entrepreneurs whose success will create opportunity for economic participation for more South Africans. Any society with massive youth involvement in entrepreneurship benefits, because, there is employment generation, product innovation, revenue generation, and community rejuvenation.
Therefore G-CITI has embarked on delivering digital services for youth entrepreneurs and empowering entrepreneurs with digital skills and with design thinking skills for the future.
Youth & Digital Skills
Digital advancements are changing the world of work. It is estimated that over the next ten years, 9 out of 10 jobs globally will require digital skills. This digital transformation has the potential to reverse the trend of ‘jobless growth, altering the structure in economies by investing in digitally-enabled decent jobs. The digital economy has considerable potential to promote the employment of young people. Digital technologies can increase productivity and have the potential to improve the quality of job opportunities, especially for youth.
It is estimated that tens of millions of future jobs will require far more advanced digital skills, including coding, software and app development, network management and many more. Therefore G-CITI is offering Entry – Level and Vocational Digital Skills Programmes that are globally certified and accredited in South Africa to empower youth for the future!
Youth & Employment (Job Activation Project)
Young people represent both current and future employees, investors, and consumers, creating an important opportunity for business. Ultimately, enterprises need skilled human capital to grow and thrive, and the supply of youth talent is critical for business to compete and grow in a competitive and rapidly changing environment. Today’s youth is well-educated and represents the labour force of tomorrow. Working to curb youth unemployment and create opportunities for young people can help business to address its current and future skills needs.
Today’s young people are the most educated generation ever. Nevertheless, they encounter difficulties in entering and remaining in the labour market. Therefore G-CITI has developed a range of employment initiatives called Job Activation Project to support youth in obtaining learnerships / internships and employment through its employment accelerator partnership model.
Youth & STEM Focus (High School Students)
In today’s constantly changing climate, our youth must be prepared with the fundamentals of STEM teaching such as problem-solving, making sense of important information. If we want a nation where our future leaders, neighbors, and workers can understand and solve some of the complex challenges of today and tomorrow, and to meet the demands of the dynamic and evolving workforce, building students’ skills, content knowledge, and fluency in STEM fields is essential.
Therefore G-CITI has embarked on empowering, educating and certifying High School students in support of their subject matters with technology certifications.
Women in ICT & Entrepreneurship
Despite concerted efforts to narrow the gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, major inequalities persist. According to UNESCO, women account for a mere 28% of those pursuing STEM careers in Sub-Saharan Africa, below the global average of 30%. Only 23% of tech jobs are held by women in South Africa – out of 236 000 ICT (tech) roles, women occupy 56 000 of them. As a sector, it needs to hire women to improve diversity within the workplace. But we cannot find women with the required skills, and we cannot attract young women to the sector because when they look at conferences, in the media and inside technology companies, they mainly see men in tech! The narrative must change!
G-CITI FLAGSHIP PROJECT : I-CAN CENTRE
The I-CAN Centre is a digital public access facility, managed by <b> Genesis Community IT Initiative </b>, also an Initiative by the Western Cape Government (Department of Economic Opportunities) as part of their broadband roll out plan for the province. The aim of the Centre is to provide access to broadband and empowerment of digital skills. This public private partnership has yielded both social and economic impact within the Northern Suburbs, Cape Town.
