mLab announced a new partnership with the Digital Skills for Jobs and Income II DS4JI II project to implement cloud computing career path measures through the STEP UP II programme. The DS4JI II project's objective is to enhance employment opportunities for youth and refine integration of support services to facilitate successful transition of youth not in education, employment or training NEET into the digital labour market.
Through this partnership, mLab will run the second cohort of Step Up, a programme that empowers unemployed youth with digital, cloud computing, workplace readiness, and entrepreneurial skills while also supporting the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises SMEs. Step Up first launched in February this year in partnership with Edunova, where 17 young people from Daveyton, Gauteng, trained for six months to become System Administrators. After learning cloud computing technologies, they were placed for 12 months within SMEs that needed digital skills to grow their businesses. Importantly, 59 of the participants were female and 41 were male, showing mLab's strong focus on gender inclusion.
100 young people will be trained in digital skills and placed with SMEsWith the support of GIZ, Step Up II is advancing and expanding on the success of STEP UP I. This time, the programme will train 100 young people in Gauteng, Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Limpopo. The programme is open to NEET youth with a matric pass NQF 4 up to those with TVET college higher qualifications such as diplomas and degrees NQF 5-7. Along with cloud computing certifications that meet specific employer requirements, industry mentorship and work readiness training, participants will gain new in demand skills such as digital marketing and the responsible use of AI for work efficiency.
