Cultural Affairs and Sport
With reference to the Western Cape Government’s Year Beyond Programme:
(a) How many young people have participated in this programme in the past three years, (b) what measurable outcomes have been achieved in terms of employment or further study opportunities for these participants and (c) how does his Department intend to expand or adapt this programme to strengthen its impact on youth development in the province?
(a) How many young people have participated in this programme in the past three years,
Response:
2023 – 3640 young people benefited from the programme
2024 – 3074 young people benefited from the programme
2025 – 3558 young people have been recruited with more joining now to bring us to the 4 000 target.
(b) what measurable outcomes have been achieved in terms of employment or further study opportunities for these participants and
Response:
In 2023 – 72% of the youth exiting the programme remained economically active and in 2024 70% of the youth.
This figure is based on follow up calls between January and March each year to log where alumni end up. The figure correlates with our five year impact study which found that between 2019 and 2023 70% of the alumni remained economically active post the programme.
This figures must be measured against the 4.6% of 18-25 year olds who are absorbed into the economy each year and the 20% progression average from other public employment programmes.
The impact study further found that youth who had been on the programme were 10% less likely to be NEETs and 45% more likely to active in their community on a voluntary basis.
(c) how does this Department intend to expand or adapt this programme to strengthen its impact on youth development in the province?
Response:
The Department hopes to be able to scale the programme to reach at least 5 000 youth per annum going forward. This will be achieved by:
- Bringing on board new partners – YearBeyond is currently a network of 53 partners.
- Tapping into new funding sources to further blend the funding from WCG to enable more youth to benefit from the programme. Currently WCG pays 2/3 of the allowance and NYDA pays 1/3 and all the ecosystem of support is funded by donors and partners.
- Expanding into new sectors. The programme is currently piloting a playmakers programme in sport as a stepping stone into MOD, Municipal sports and recreation and NGO Programmes and is exploring similar models in health.
- Finally, YearBeyond has expanded into the Eastern Cape and Gauteng and is sharing its best practices with others in the youth service sector to scale impact.
