81285546-Develop and deliver eTraining to support SMMEs in South Africa on inclusive recruitment of digitally skilled youth.

DIGITAL SKILLS FOR JOBS AND INCOME (DS4JI) Introduction The broad-based improvement of quality of vocational training in South Africa is a key area of the?German?Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The Digital Skills for Jobs and Income Project (DS4JI, PN 18.2132.1-001.00, Term: 04/2020 - 03/2024), commissioned to GIZ by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) aims to increase the employment prospects of young people, especially women, within the scope of labour-market-oriented further training and networking activities. Context As the second-largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa and the only African member of the G20, the Republic of South Africa is one of the most politically and economically influential states in sub-Saharan Africa. However, stagnating economic growth has undermined this position. Especially the increasingly high unemployment undermines social cohesion and reinforces the already high inequalities in the country. Young people and especially young women are particularly affected by the poor labour market situation. At the same time, companies in South Africa complained about a shortage of well-qualified skilled workers. The labour market is experiencing stronger demand for future skills each year, with skills markets specifically focused on digital and other 21st century skills. Organisations in South Africa face the challenges of developing and maintaining multi-talented, multi-skilled workforces that meet the criteria of digital workplace demands, virtualised teams and the rapidly evolving world of work. The focus of this ToR (DS4JI, Output 3), addresses the personnel recruitment processes of selected South African small and medium-sized companies. The aim is to improve the capacity of selected South African SMMEs to recruit young people with digital skills in a gender-sensitive and inclusive way. During the appraisal mission of this project, it was found that some companies may lack the expertise and tools to identify and recruit digitally skilled workers to match the vacancies in their organization. Some of the issues that may exacerbate this problem are the following: - due to the high unemployment rate in South Africa many young South Africans apply for positions that they may not be qualified for, thus resulting in a barrage of applications that the HR personnel need to go through - the HR personnel cannot or do not have the expertise to match the correct technical, digital and soft skills to the advertised position This leads to a mismatch of the applicant to the position which creates an unnecessary burden on the small/medium companies to upskill the new employees in order to make them competent for their positions. Digitised recruitment processes in companies will facilitate the targeted selection and recruitment of digitally competent young people and especially women, thus improving access to employment. This could be accomplished by: - Introduction of new HR instruments that also comprehensively map soft skills (e.g. conduct, initiative, critical thinking). - Training of HR managers on gender-sensitive, digital approaches to human resources development and skills assessment. - Development and implementation of e-training courses.