This afternoon, Minister Anroux Marias celebrated the Year Beyond data, better known as the YeBo Data cohort, after successfully completing their training and now moving into their work placements until December. 

On Thursday, 3 December 2020, 300 youth graduated from the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport’s YearBeyond Academic Programme. This is the first step for these young people to go on to find employment opportunities, with their new skills and work experience as a base.

As part of the Western Cape’s drive to boost the local economy and jobs sectors, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, through its YearBeyond Programme, has been working to equip young people with the necessary skills and opportunities to access jobs.

The 2020 Annual YearBeyond Progression Days took place on 27 and 28 October 2020. Over the course of these two days, nearly 300 YeBoneers went through a series of workshops that included optimising their job search, crafting a CV and Cover Letter, mastering professional communication and acing the interview process.

Yesterday, Minister Anroux Marais launched the Tygerberg and Northern District’s Mask Activation, scheduled to take place every week in the area.

To kick off the activation, Minister Marais received the generous donation of 1500 masks from Old Mutual at Riverton Primary School in Bishop Lavis.

As we nationally commemorate youth this month, the Western Cape Government has developed an innovative Youth Service Programme, YearBeyond, which provides youth between the ages of 18 and 25 an opportunity to gain meaningful work experience, build their work readiness skills and CV while giving back to their communities.

The YearBeyond (YeBo) Social Innovation Challenge (SIC) and graduation ceremony took place on 15 November 2019 at the FNB Portside Building in Cape Town. This year, ninety-eight youth volunteers between the ages of 18 and 25 were deployed to various no- and low-fee schools across the Western Cape.

On Friday, 9 November 2018, 105 young people pitched their solutions to one of our wicked problems, the inability of more than three-quarters of our youth to read with comprehension.  They presented ideas of how we as a nation can build a culture of reading. Minister Anroux Marais who was one of the judges hailed the event as “inspiring and rewarding.”

On 17th October 2017, the National School of Government awarded the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport and the Department of the Premier for Excellence in Youth Development Training. The award was in recognition of the MOD YearBeyond (YeBo) programme and was conferred at the Public Sector Trainers Forum (PSTF) Awards during the 19th PTSF conference.

Ten YearBeyond programme volunteers were awarded an all-expenses paid trip to Johannesburg after claiming the top spot at the programme’s Social Innovation Challenge on 28 October 2016.