The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
Millennials are broadly defined as people born after 1980. Paul Taylor of the Pew Research Centre outlines a few distinguishing characteristics of the Millennial generation based on research done in the U.S.
1) Millennials are the most non-white generation (at least insofar as research in the U.S. demonstrates).
2) They are very liberal in their social and cultural values.
3) Millennials are not attached to the idea of marriage.
4) Many Millennials are not religious.
5)...
A new global study finds that 75 million youth worldwide are unemployed, which is a huge number, but James Heintz, associate director at American research organisation, Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), argues that the bigger problem is the fact that 500 million (half a billion) youth are employed in what’s known as the informal economy where they are engaged in very low-quality jobs.
Often youth are employed in those jobs even though they have much higher qualifications...
Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen -
“Feel it, it is here!” This slogan somewhat incredulously reminds us that South Africa hosted the 2011 World Cup. A year on, the slogan still resonates in our conversations.
However, another catchphrase, the “ticking time bomb,” has emerged to underscore the strong possibility of a youth uprising in the future.
The recognition that South Africa faces a significant challenge, especially with respect to including young, unemployed, African males in our economy, marks...
Frank Meintjies -
Each year during June the focus turns to youth and the role that youth played in the struggle to end apartheid. This appreciation must advance beyond nostalgia, and should inform a hard-nosed focus on youth to have a more decisive influence on socio-economic development in South Africa.
Youth in South Africa today face many similarities with the youth in the rest of the continent. While youth increase as a proportion of the population, their socio-economic position worsens....
Liepollo Pheko -
Reflecting on June 16th in the midst of the flag waving, lung busting, slightly mind-numbing festival that is the world Cup has become almost incidental. In years to come one wonders whether June 16th will be remembered more as the day that South Africa’s self respect on the soccer pitch was severely dented or as the day which commemorates our young martyrs in the struggle for freedom.
In fact, the state of our attention span is indicative of how we have reconstructed our collective...
Dermot Peterson, a youth leader from the town of Atlantis in the Western Cape talks about a community initiative aimed at raising awareness about HIV and AIDS amongst children and teenagers. High levels of poverty and unemployment plague the residents of Atlantis, where many of the young are sexually active. This youth programme employs creative methods to take its message to the children, hoping to instill a more responsible attitude towards sexual activity.
