YOUTH CLUB INNOVATION SPACE (YCIS)

More than 1,000 vulnerable children and youth have gained valuable technical skills from YCIS since its launch in 2023.

The majority of South African children who attend public school have little to no access to digital education. Many South African schools, particularly those in rural areas and serving poor and Black learners, lack the infrastructure to provide learners with any form of digital literacy. Only 22% of households have a computer while only 10% have an internet connection (source). These statistics have only been exacerbated by the pandemic. 

In April 2021, a NEIMS report found that only 0.55% of public schools have access to the internet. Fifty-eight percent of public schools do not have access to computers (source). Most youths in South Africa have access to cell phones, 72% of those between the ages of 15 and 24 have cell phones (source). However, expensive internet, unreliable electricity provision, and lack of know-how to properly utilize the technology means that the majority of South African children are ill-prepared to work in an increasingly digital job market. 

The majority of teachers are unable to provide digital education due to inadequate training and/or lack of adequate resources. These barriers are compounded by a failing education system brought to its knees during the pandemic. UNICEF and the Daily Maverick have reported that learners in South Africa lost significant amounts of school days since the pandemic began. This figure ranges between 60% and 75% of lost learning time (source). 

The Youth Club Innovation Space (YCIS), sponsored by Cisco, addresses the digital literacy gap in South Africa by providing our beneficiaries with access to digital education and skilled facilitators. We provide our beneficiaries with supplementary after-school education that will not infringe on their school learning time. For many of our beneficiaries, this will be the only formal digital education they receive in their school years. They will be taught by knowledgable facilitators and volunteers, able to share knowledge and give them individualized attention thus narrowing the technological gap.