New partnership for Tshimologong encourages digital skills development
By Onke Ngcuka
Five innovation hubs, including Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precint, have joined hands to tackle unemployment and the lack of skills development within the digital sphere among the youth.
The partnership with Tshimologong, WeThinkCode, Cape Innovation & Technological Initiative, Joburg Centre for Software Engineering was facilitated by the youth employment accelerator, Harambee.
According to a media statement from Harambee, the programme aims to increase digital and technological skills. The partners aim to create new pathways through alternative and affordable means of gaining a qualification without the need to go to university. They will also develop internationally accepted assessments in order to pair learners with fitting potential tech jobs.
CEO of Tshimologong Lesley Williams told Wits Vuvuzela that the partnership is an ecosystem for digital job creation.
“Everyone is speaking of the Fourth Industrial Revolution but not everyone has the capability to get there…. Something like job creation, you can’t do in isolation. What we decided to do was to come together and each contribute our key strengths.”
She added, “What the partnership brings is that we learn from each other’s strengths and we can implement that among each other.”
Projects manager at Harambee, Julia Taylor, told Wits Vuvuzela that in their search for partnerships, they were looking for demand-driven organisations to meet the needs of the market.
“We look for partners addressing inclusivity and those that are addressing the people excluded from the formal sector,” Taylor said. “We want to ensure that the learners come out with holistic skills. We’re sharing and learning from each other.”
Tshidiso Radinne, a former Wits student and innovator at Tshimologong told Wits Vuvuzela that a holistic approach within the digital space is a much needed development.
“It’s becoming less about the tech and more about the communication skills; how you engage, proposition to the clients, articulating yourself, building a network, corporate governance. All the things that used to be less important are becoming more important,” the 28-year-old said.
The minimum requirement for the programme is a matric certificate. An assessment is also required. The partnerships aim to have 5 000 youth trainees and hopefully surpass that.
Applicants can sign up at https://www.harambee.mobi/ to hear more about the programme from the different partnerships.
FEATURED PHOTO: The Tshimologong Digital Innovation Hub where a new approach to digital and technological skills development will take place. Photo: Onke Ngcuka
