Four new recycling depots in the Makana area and public environmental awareness programmes have been proposed as ways to help create jobs.
Four new recycling depots in the Makana area and public environmental awareness programmes have been proposed as ways to help create jobs.
These have been some of the ideas mooted as the municipality prepares to bid for a slice of the R9 billion national job fund in its attempt to address unemployment in Grahamstown.
The President's job fund, announced by President Jacob Zuma in his state of the nation address in February, has invited bids from projects with innovative ideas on how jobs can be created. Its aim is to co-finance public- and private-sector projects that will significantly contribute to job creation.
One organisation that's been on the ball in responding is the Makana Community Services department, which reported to the social services committee recently that it had submitted its proposal before the deadline of 31 July.
The municipality, through this department, has proposed the establishment of four new recyling depots in Grahamstown. In its application form, the project is described being made up of "four mini-recycling depots". Placed locally, in various wards, they would complement the Masihlule recycling project – a private recycling initiative.
Each depot would be an enclosed area, equipped to collect recyclable material from the public. "It will then be collected by the municipal trucks and taken to Masihlule at the landfill site," the application states. These depots would also be the base for public environmental awareness programmes. The jobs fund is managed by the Development Bank of South Africa.
The funding is divided into different funding windows, namely, enterprise development, infrastructure, work-seekers and institutional capacity building. The municipality's submission to the bank applied in terms of the work-seekers' funding window.
This would support programmes with particular focus on unemployed young people, such as job-search projects, training activities, internship and mentorship programmes, support for career guidance and placement services.
