Community Intervention Project Plan: Unemployment in South Africa

This report delves into the pervasive issue of unemployment in South Africa, examining its multifaceted causes, including structural issues, lack of competition, low trust, and educational deficiencies. It highlights the economic and social consequences, such as increased poverty and reliance on natural resources. The study applies an ecological perspective, emphasizing the need for government intervention, improved educational opportunities, and collaboration among various entities to address unemployment. The report proposes an intervention plan with objectives such as educational reforms, training, labor market policies, direct employment programs, and youth empowerment. The analysis also considers the impact of natural resources and legislation, providing a comprehensive overview of the challenges and potential solutions to unemployment in South Africa.

Running Head: COMMUNITY INTERVENTION PROJECT PLAN
COMMUNITY INTERVENTION PROJECT PLAN
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note:

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Introduction
Unemployment is one of the challenging situations a nation can face. It provides a
threat to the economic state of the nation. Researchers mentioned that unemployment
emerges when the willing workers are unable to find any jobs and hence it lowers down the
economic output of the nationality. Extremity in the field of unemployment is a signal that
the nation is going to face economic distress. South African is an example of victimizing the
situation of unemployment. The young generation of South Africa faces lot of challenges in
the field of employment. There are various reasons behind this challenging situation in South
Africa. Chella & Phiri, (2017). mentioned about various types of unemployment that include
structural, cyclical, seasonal, and frictional. The consequences of unemployment may
increase the interest rate, economic crisis, and global recession. The main reason behind
unemployment are demand deficient, wage and unemployment, and structural issues of the
government. The study will highlight the issues of unemployment in the community of South
Africa. The study will try to find out some intervention addressing the problem of
unemployment. The study will also highlight the strength and weaknesses of the intervention
to measure the effectiveness of the intervention (Zabala & Sullivan, 2018). The discussion
provide a space to intervene There is a scope for further research for the consequences of
unemployment from global perspective with the discussion extracted from the study.
Discussion
Phiri & Mukuku, (2019) mentioned about the condition of South Africa in terms of
the jobless people in the country. According to the statistical report of 2019 the rate of
unemployment increased from 0.1 percent to 29.1 percent.

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Figure 1: The Unemployment rate in South Africa
Source: (Zabala & Sullivan, 2018)
Researchers mentioned that the situation of South America is one of the worst conditions
observed in the states worldwide. Especially, the rate of unemployment in Nigeria is 23.1%
and in Turkey it is 14.0%. Researchers found some causes of unemployment in South Africa
that is worth to be mentioned in this regard. Some of the important causes are mentioned in
the following section –
 Lacking competition in various industries that reasons the economic depression in
South Africa (Zabala & Sullivan, 2018). For example, the small firms of South Africa
are restricted from frequent and easy entry in the market place that is a kind of
restriction for the growth of the economy of South Africa.
 On the other hand, the concept of low-trust is very much observed within the nation of
South Africa. It is one of the reasons for creating costly bureaucracy along with the
dispute in the labor force that makes the employers more aversive towards risks (Parr
et al., 2018). The employers also tend to hire less qualified candidates. This is the
most striking effect behind the suppressing levels of employment.
 The investors of this community are mainly unaware about the threatening aspects for
them. They are unaware about the threats for the property rights, social and political

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instability and the measurable level of corruption (Levin & Sefati, 2018). Hence, the
ignorant and the unwillingness of the investors of South Africa lack the potentiality to
offer new opportunities to the young generation of the nation.
 The notion of substitutional Industrialization introduced the concept of uncompetitive,
intensive social and economic environment from which South Africa was remarkable
excluded (Mapadimeng, 2018). The structural mismatch of South African
administration is the most remarkable limitation that gives birth to the concept of
unemployment.
 Education is the most affecting aspect of the young generation of South Africa. The
young generation of South Africa is observed with low skill that creates a mismatch
with the organisational culture (Glass & Stoudt, 2019). The employers of the country
highly criticize the low and poor skill of the young generation, rather they term the
youth of their country as unskilled. The schooling facility of South Africa is not
efficient and well equipped for to provide them right amount of education related to
the required field.
 The rate of unemployment increased the rate of poverty within the nation. Mahadea
(2016) mentioned that poverty is the main reason behind poor educational structure
and unemployment. Most of the parents remain busy for meeting the basic needs of
the human being and the important aspects of life that is education remained
unnoticed or neglected.
 From the applied ecological perspective, the South African administrative or
academic feature is not technologically sound. It refers to the scientific knowledge
about unemployment, social advantage, technical advantage, and competitive
advantage. It helps the young generation to make a connection between reward and
work. However, Twinomurinzi & Magundini, (2018) mentioned that, the young

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generation of the community are not provided with the basic education. Hence, it is
not possible for them to understand such complex terms as mentioned in explanation
of applied ecology.
 The physiology of any nation also plays an important role to construct a sound
economy of any nation (Zabala & Sullivan, 2018). The physiology of South Africa
also presents an adverse situation that do not provide them enough support to become
sound in the field of employment. Hence, the nation is observed with remarkable rate
of social violence, crime, suicide, marital divorce, and several other ways of
maltreatment.
The applied ecological model
These are the main reasons behind the increasing rate of unemployment in South
Africa. The country has various deficiencies that need to addressed to become a developed
country such as United States of America or United Kingdom (Figueiredo & Paiva, 2019).
From the perspective of applied ecology, the government of Africa needs to select some
reformative initiatives to solve the problem of unemployment. The administration needs to
improve the educational opportunities to increase the job opportunities within the country
(Macedo et al., 2018). The model also highlighted that it is very important to bring the
collaboration between various entities for making the resolving strategies of the serious
problem called unemployment. This collaborative and contextual approach is the key element
of the ecological model. It is a well-suited approach to find intervention for the South African
issue of unemployment.
The applied ecology provide value to the natural resources and consider it as
the important aspect for millions of the South Africans. The model describes that the
environment of South Africa lacks proper equipment for electrification, poor infrastructure of

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the household, and the poor income level is also provide significant impact on the structure of
South Africa. Graham & Mlatsheni, (2016) mentioned about the Timber, thatching grass and
various other resources that used as the building material. On the other hand, the majority of
the population depend on the natural pastures for living (Broekhuizen, & Berg, 2016). The
infrastructure of South African health system is also poor, there are millions of people
depending on the wild grass and plants for the medication purpose only. According to the
researchers, there are nineteen national parks in South Africa roughly range between 50 km2
to 20000 km2 . There is restriction for the common people for entering into the park and
certain group of people are allowed to enter into the parks (Zabala & Sullivan, 2018). This is
an example of inequality in the social class of South Africa. This is the way the children are
not getting enough information about the natural resources and they are unaware about their
geography.
Considering the formal rate of unemployment (29.1%) and also reflect that almost
43.5% of the entire population are employed in South Africa. Hence, the extreme rate of
unemployment enhances the dependability on the natural resources by the common people of
South Africa. It is greatly affecting the natural resources on the other hand; it is also
responsible for the poor health of the people (Khumalo, Shumba & Mkhize, 2019). For
example, the Table Mountain National Park is located at Cape Town possess almost 3.7
million people depended on the periphery of the that park. This is indirectly affecting the
harvesting and related procedure maintained in the park. It is important to mention in this
regard that, the South African people do not have any particular knowledge about the usage
of resources. Broekhuizen, & Berg (2016) defined the term resource use as a consumptive or
non-consumptive aspect where the values of indirect use also counted along with the
communal practice pertaining the non-extractive feature. The population should be provided

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with the knowledge that the biological natural resources are renewable and each component
of the resources possess original economic, social, and ecological effect.
Mapadimeng (2018) mentioned about the consumptive use of the natural
resources as another way of commercial gain. To put it simply, it can be said that, the
commercial gain can be considered as recreational use with external stakeholders and other
related beneficiaries. The applied ecological model also highlights the context of legislation
and policy. The administrative structure of South Africa is observed with practicing the Addis
Ababa principles for protecting the protection of biodiversity of South Africa (Lishchinsky,
O., & Ben-Amram, 2018). The legislation of South Africa and then international agreements
or the resource use provided remarkable knowledge and development for the protection of
resources. The key features of these regulations and policies are mentioned in the following
section –
 The citizens are allowed to use the renewable natural resources. Along with this, it
should not provide any threat for the natural resources or any other resources of
belonging to the procedure of ecosystem (Glass & Stoudt, 2019).
 Considering the complexity of the system view, some changes in the ecosystem can
be allowed and the changes need to be remained in the limitations of natural
difference as mentioned in the policies.
 There is a certain approach associated with management with proper combination of
science, cultural, and regional knowledge. Secondly, it is an iterative and timely
process to derive feedback from the monitoring resources (Mikhael & Norman, 2018).
 The national parks of South Africa possess firm believe on the procedure of
interdisciplinary research for the social, economic, and ecological scopes and
constraints of the use of resources (Lishchinsky & Ben-Amram, 2018).

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Intervention plan to address the issue of Unemployment in South Africa
Considering the applied ecological approach of the economic and social condition of
South Africa, the causes behind youth unemployment is quite clear. However, researchers
mentioned about various remedies or interventional plan to subside the issues of
unemployment from the community. Phiri & Mukuku (2019) mentioned that, the reason of
unemployment in South Africa is not only limited to the lacking potentiality of the
stakeholders. They mentioned that it is depended and determined by the insufficient
interventions and their implementation within the society. Briefing the aspects from history, it
can be said that it was the apartheid rule of 1994 that gave birth to South Africa (Phiri &
Mukuku, 2019). It was observed with the economy of the country victimized racial
discrimination that affects the access to jobs and other community related services. It was
depended on the primary production in stead of the relative diversification.
This section is solely concerned to plan for an intervention program to reduce the
condition of unemployment from the policy framework of South Africa. The supportive
interventions in the developed countries are responsible for making this program Van
(Broekhuizen & Berg, 2016). It will be helpful to enhance the prospects of the labor market.
The objective of the intervention program is to derive the possible ways to make arrangement
with real performance. The objectives of the intervention program are –
 Recommending reforms for the educational system
 Stressing on the aspect of training providence and also capital-based guidance
for the young generation of the community
 Stressing on providing remarkable policies for labor market with various
schemes including placement and subsidies

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 Creating programs for direct employment by raising the consequences of
unemployment
 Empowering the young generation by taking active participation in these types
of intervention planning
Considering the economic condition of South Africa, it is important to note that all the
objectives cannot be attained through one single intervention planning. Focusing on the
aspect of educational and training reforms, there are certain rational that will support the
main objective of the intervention program. It includes –
 It is aimed at reducing the gaps in educational and related expenditure secured
by the government.
 Reducing the harmful measures at the lower level of the academic pyramid.
 Bring out positive and effective result in elimination of the rate of dropouts to
alleviate the literacy rate of South Africa.
 Reaching the young generation to the highest level of the educational pyramid
to attain the advanced academic level.
 The young generation will be provided with the assurance of providing
appraisal for keeping them motivated towards the educational system.
 Diversifying the aim for only the formal sector, the intervention program is
aiming at both the formal and informal way of education to erase the term
‘unemployment’ from the community.
 The intervention planning is inspired by the National Open Apprenticeship
Scheme (NOAS) introduced in Nigeria. The Scheme secured vocational
training programs secured vocational training program for more than 100
occupants.

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Strength of the intervention program
Hence the intervention program is highly effective to reduce the challenging situation
of unemployment from South Africa. The program can be evaluated with certain strengths or
benefits as mentioned in the following section –
 Education is the best way to promote or empower any community of the
society. There are many instances of women empowerment that supports
promoting the women education from the global perspective. Here the
situation is not only limited to the women community. It is concerning about
the entire young generation.
 The reason to focus on the young generation only is, the young generation is
the carrier from one generation to another. They are the responsible person to
carry the generation and upgrade the economic condition of the community.
 Education will be able to teach the young generation about the usage and
importance of natural resources. As per the applied ecological theory majority
of the South African population is depended on the natural resources. Hence,
proper education will teach them about the concept of resource use. They will
be able to understand the strategies adopted by the developed countries of the
world.
 This intervention program will cover the entire young generation that also
include the women generation. As per the knowledge of sociology, an
educated woman can educate the entire family. In this regard, the intervention
program will be able to demonstrate the concept of women empowerment and
how it will take the image of community reformation program.
Limitation of the intervention program

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Every positive concept has some advantages and disadvantages. This intervention
program also has its own limitation. Firstly, the program cannot happen in real without proper
support from the government. The program will be in need of some investment and the
requirement of proper will power by the community member. The population of South Africa
lacks the will power to empower the young generation with proper education and training
program to bring proper development. Secondly, this is a lengthy procedure. The objectives
of the intervention program cover almost every domain of the community. It includes the
young generation, education and training programs, the awareness about natural resources
and the administrative department. Hence, it will take a good amount of time to make it
happen for the real world. Finally, the scope of the intervention program is restricted for the
young generation only. It did not include any reformative program for developing the
condition of the employers. The mindset of the employers also needs to be changed to uplift
the concept of unemployment within the community of South Africa.
Despite the limitation, the program will be an effective one to promote the importance
of education for the young generation of South Africa. From the beginning to the end, the
condition of the South African community is portrayed to highlight the concept of
unemployment. It is highly recommended to the government of the country to take
measurable intervention for uplifting the condition of the community. As majority of the
developed countries of the world is observed with providing enormous importance to the
concept of education, the South African government also need to acknowledge the
importance of proper education to upgrade their economic condition. It is also important for
them to understand to become a developed country from every aspect to sustain with the
universal survival.

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Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that, unemployment is a curse for the entire nation. It is
defined as the situation where people cannot find the means to meet their daily needs. On the
other hand, it is the reason to bring various misfortune for the nation. It can destroy the
economic condition of a country, it can increase the concept of violence and crime, it
increases the poverty and illiteracy, and it is the main reason that restricts any country to
attain further progression. The applied ecological model helped to understand how
unemployment is connected with the concept of ecology and biological sustainability. The
link between the ecology and unemployment is only the system of education. Education is the
only way to promote the condition of the country. On the other hand, it is the only way that
can describe the consequences of unemployment in their society. There are various instances
of such reformation program in the developed countries including America and United
Kingdom. Along with these countries, Africa is also observed with implementing several
programs to reduce the concept of unemployment as described in NOAS in Nigeria. The
intervention program mentioned in this study has highlighted various aspect including the
education forms for the young generation, the training and development program for the
employed ones, and administrative reforms. The intervention can become a successful one
only with the assistance of government assistance. With the proper help from the resources
the intervention program will be able to eliminate the concept of unemployment from the
community of South Africa. Similar to the other developed country, South Africa can gain
the glamourous image by successful implementation of such interventions.