You have heard it said, and we will reiterate: youth unemployment remains a critical challenge in South Africa. Over nine million young people are not in employment, education, or training (NEET). StatsSA indicates that the NEET rate among 15–24-year-olds reached 37.1% in Q1 2025, up from 35.8% the previous year, affecting roughly 3.8 million young people. This crisis is rooted in South Africa’s history, economy, and the systems meant to support young people. But fundamentally, disconnection persists not from a lack of resources, but from a lack of structured collaboration.
Too many young people feel lost, unsure where to find support, and excluded from decisions that impact their lives. Simultaneously, numerous organisations are building parallel, albeit well-intentioned, pathways, leading to a lack of strategic coherence where energy is high, but…
