Connected Youth
National Youth Month in June each year is another great volunteering opportunity that the Telkom Foundation uses to the full. Last year, in honour of Youth Month, the Telkom Foundation hosted the Connected Youth programme in Kagiso near Krugersdorp. For this event, approximately 200 Telkom employees volunteered their services to assist unemployed young people to prepare professional CVs and use the internet to seek out job and skills development opportunities. That event was so successful that we did it again in March 2015, this time in Tembisa with partners such as the City of Ekurhuleni, Mecer Computers, the Department of Labour and the National Youth Development Agency. Again, about 200 volunteers from Telkom helped the queues of young people write their CVs, set up their email addresses and use their cellphones to search for job opportunities.
A third Connected Youth event took place in Sebokeng near Vanderbijlpark towards the end of June. Some 250 Telkom volunteers were there to assist the youth to use technology to market themselves and find study and job opportunities.
“We live in a digital society, and it’s become increasingly difficult for job-seekers to access opportunities if they’re not online,” said Jacqui O’Sullivan, Managing Executive for Group Communication. We believe that this kind of initiative could be exactly what beneficiaries need in order to change their lives.”
