Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator

Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator is a South African nonprofit founded to address the youth unemployment crisis by connecting employers to first-time job seekers.

Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator
Formation2011
FounderNicola Galombik
Location
  • South Africa
CEO
Kasthuri Soni[1]
Key people
Maryana Iskander
Websiteharambee.co.za

About

Harambee seeks to address the South African youth unemployment crisis by helping companies hire young, first-time job seekers.[2] The organization has developed a mobile-based network that collects job-seekers' details, assesses candidates, offers training, and matches them to employers looking for their skillsets. By signing up for and showing up regularly to classes and training, candidates can demonstrate reliability, and thus employability.[3] The goal is to encourage companies to take a chance on workers with no experience, often from poor households. As of May 2019, Harambee has a network of 500,000 young job seekers and 500 company partners.[4]

According to RTI International, Harambee was involved in the development of a curriculum for digital literacy and professional networking skills[5] hosted on the gcyerti.com website.[6]

Recognition

Harambee has been the recipient of a number of grants and awards, including the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship,[7] a finalist for the 2019 Conscious Companies award[8] and the Global Center for Youth Employment award. It was one of the Aspen Institute's 2015 John P. McNulty prize laureates[9] and also received recognition from USAID[10] and a $3.5 million grant in 2020.[11] In 2019, they were voted the 8th most popular brand in South Africa in the "Coolest Campaign Targeted at Youth 2019" category.[12]

History

Harambee was founded in 2011 by Nicola Galombik, who is also the Executive Director at Yellowwoods, a global investment group based in South Africa. The name "Harambee" is Swahili for "we all pull together".[13] The organization was incubated by Yellowwoods in partnership with the South African Government's National Treasury's Jobs Fund.[14] Maryana Iskander took over as Chief Executive Officer in 2012. According to Iskander, their initial goal was to "scale and place 10,000 people into their first jobs".[8] In 2015, Harambee made an on-stage commitment at the Clinton Global Initiative to provide unemployed youth in South Africa access to 50,000 jobs and work experiences.[15] As of June 2019, Harambee had connected 100,000 young South Africans to employment.[16]

References
  1. "About". Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  2. "GSB partnership focuses on youth development". University of Cape Town. University of Cape Town. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  3. "5 Cool Things That Could Make The World A Better Place By 2030". NPR.org. NPR. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  4. "Harambee, Youth Employment Accelerator, winner in NGO's category". Mail & Guardian. Mail & Guardian Online. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  5. Urquhart, Robert; Shaw, Patrick; Lehoahoa, Edwin; Johnson, Eric M. (2020-05-14). "Increasing digital platform use to help youth find work" (PDF). doi:10.3768/rtipress.2020.pb.0023.2005. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. "LinkedIn Curriculum". 2017. Archived from the original on 2019-12-28.
  7. "Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator". Skoll Foundation. Skoll Foundation. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  8. "Conscious Companies awards applauds 2019 finalists". IOL. Independent Media and affiliated companies. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  9. "2015 McNulty Prize Laureates Announced". The Aspen Institute. The Aspen Institute. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  10. U.S. Agency for International Development (2021-07-12). "USAID Announces $18.4 Million in Support of Cutting Edge Innovations". www.usaid.gov. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
  11. "USAID gives $3.5m boost to Harambee for youth employment". Biz Community. Bizcommunity.com. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  12. "Sa's Youth Have Spoken – The 2019 Sunday Times Gen Next Winners Announced". Arena Events. Arena Events. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  13. "5 Cool Things That Could Make The World A Better Place By 2030". NPR. NPR. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  14. Kruger, Danielle. "Harambee wins 2019 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship". IT News Africa. African Innovator Group (Pty) Ltd. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  15. "Harambee's exceeds youth employment commitment to Clinton global initiative". IT News Africa. ITNews Africa. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  16. Mabaso, Sipho. "Youth-owned township businesses complain of market access barriers". IOL. Independent Media and affiliated companies. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
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