Molatelo Boloka, 22, was unemployed, looking for work and sometimes picking up odd jobs at a nearby farm.
Nolitha Sibeni, 20, was about to give up on her small business baking muffins and scones.
And Ngoakwana Kgowa, 23, was at home, applying for jobs. “I was trying to find employment, but I was never lucky,” she says.
All three women were struggling to get by. South Africa, where they live, has one of the world’s highest unemployment rates, at 33%. That rate nearly doubles for South Africans ages 15 to 24.
“I didn’t have any opportunities that were available [to me],” Kgowa says.
This was before the three women — along with over 6,700 others — participated in a project that connected them to opportunities to expand their employment prospects.
Women break barriers
FHI 360 works to create a future of opportunity for all people. So, from 2020 to 2023, we helped equip young women in South Africa with the skills, resources and support they need to thrive economically. Our Capacity Development and Support project — funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) — implemented the Intensive Economic Strengthening stream of the Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) program.
FHI 360 joined forces with five implementing partners, including Future Families, a South African nonprofit that supports people affected by HIV. Together, we identified young women who could benefit from the 12-month program. Many of them haven’t completed school.
“Future Families exposed the young women to diverse employment opportunities, which enabled them to break into male-dominated industries,” says Veena Shaik, former intensive economic strengthening specialist at FHI 360.
The team in South Africa helped Boloka find a job as a construction worker; she is installing pipes to increase her community’s access to water. She also developed a savings habit because of the program; now, she puts aside part of her paycheck to fund her dream of starting a poultry farm.
Kgowa credits the program with giving her the motivation to persevere, despite a bleak job market. The team connected her to a boilermaker job at the Venetia Diamond Mine, where she is learning skills related to construction, welding and boilermaking. Her commitment to her job is evident in her grueling commute: To arrive at work at 8 a.m., she wakes at 3 a.m. to embark on a three-hour trip that involves a long walk and bus ride. At the end of the day, she does it all again.
Kgowa “believes in herself and doesn’t set limits when it comes to what she wants to achieve in life,” says her DREAMS program mentor, Mosima Keetse. “She’s a go-getter.”
Some people in Kgowa’s community find it unusual that Kgowa works in a mine. “They’re just like, ‘A girl working in a mine?’ They find it very strange, in a way,” she says. “There is a need for further education among young women, to remind them that there are opportunities out there.”
Labor market assessments inform job searches
To ensure that participants developed skills that employers are currently looking for, FHI 360 conducted labor market assessments in the seven provinces where the project took place.
“The labor market assessments helped us develop targeted interventions that addressed skills gaps, aligned with employment trends, identified income opportunities and fostered local partnerships,” says Shaik.
Program provides holistic HIV prevention
Secure employment meets another key goal of the program: reducing the likelihood that participants engage in transactional sex for financial survival.
“Transactional sex poses a heightened risk of HIV transmission,” says Shaik, who attributes this to a few factors. These include skewed power dynamics — which can make it challenging for women to negotiate safer sex practices, like condom use — and the fact that those engaged in transactional sex may have multiple partners, increasing their likelihood of exposure to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Plus, economic insecurity and social marginalization often push women into these situations and can make them behaviorally vulnerable to acquiring HIV.
“That’s why programs like this one are so important,” says Shaik. “They offer real benefits to both people’s livelihoods and their health.”
Mentoring and marketable-skills trainings kick-start careers
Participants enrolled in trainings — for example, on business management, facilitation, and sales and marketing skills — and then applied to jobs or started their own businesses, all with the support of FHI 360 and its partners. They also learned how to save money and received ongoing professional mentorship.
For Sibeni, who started a new business as a personal shopper because of the program, the ongoing support from her mentor has been invaluable. “If you have any problem, you can come to them and ask them anything,” she says. “They don’t help you initiate the business and [then just] leave you.”
Her mentor taught her about personal shopping, and now when clients contact Sibeni looking for something specific, it’s up to her to know where to find it, purchase it and organize its delivery.
Sibeni hopes that more young women in South Africa can be entrepreneurial. “I hope they can see what’s happening in South Africa and be able to establish new things, new businesses, even if they are very small,” she says. “If you commit yourself to a business, you can do it.”
Kgowa urges other young women to “not give up on their lives,” she says. “I want to encourage every young woman to go out there and stand up for themselves.”
ABOUT THIS STORY
FHI 360 is committed to advancing the economic and social status of women around the world. Learn more about our work in economic development and women’s economic security.
Explore our HIV prevention work here.
This story is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of FHI 360 and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
All photos and videos are credited to Nocwaka Sinxadi for FHI 360.
