The Challenge

South Africa’s unemployment rate is amongst the highest in the world and is well above other countries with similar levels of per capita income and economic ‘development’. Statistics South Africa records the unemployment rate for the country in March 2009 as 23.5% of the labour force. Lack of income exacerbates other social concerns such as poverty, crime, housing, inequality, education and HIV/AIDS.

Whilst there is little need to convice people of the immediacey of a response to the challenge of unemployment, what lacks is a model of intervention that can be easily replicated in a relatively short span of time. Various organizations, including the South African government, have highlighted the potential role that the Church can play in addressing unemployment, but no effective approach has emerged.

The Response

WorkSpring aims to unearth and nurture entrepreneurs. Recognizing that entrepreneurs are those individuals who will create employment for others, we believe that providing support to them will increase employment opportunities for others. Much of WorkSpring’s activity is thus, focused on finding both active and potential entrepreneurs.

WorkSpring’s grounding

WORKSPRING originated in October 2005 when two representatives of The Warehouse began meeting on a weekly basis with a group of unemployed men at Holy Cross Church in Nyanga. Several weeks of interaction produced the beginnings of a programme of business development and, in November 2005, businesses were launched by four of the men. The process revealed much about the difficulties surrounding employment creation--perhaps the most significant being the need for a holistic programme that deals with the spiritual and psychological concerns produced by many years of unemployment as well as the more conventional issues of skills development and access to capital.

The relative success of three out of the four businesses generated much excitement, and the obvious potential of WORKSPRING raised the possibility of replicating the programme at other locations. Such a prospect became the focus of intensive prayer and the team began to discuss the possibility of building a replicable model.

Over the past two years, WorkSpring has piloted different approaches to employment creation, running 8 ‘business development groups’ and being involved in 14 business start-ups, in order to learn what methods would be most appropriate. As such, it has identified three key aspects and three key responses that underpin WorkSpring’s operations:

1. Recognising that unemployment is a major problem in South Africa is nothing new. There have been many different efforts to address it by a wide range of parties including the private sector, various non-profit organizations and all levels of government. Sadly, we have found that very few of these efforts have actually created sustainable employment.

WorkSpring response

Target entrepreneurs, support them and focus energies on ways in which they could employ more people. Job creation by entrepreneurs will be the key indicator of WorkSpring’s impact.

2. Not everyone is an entrepreneur, but it is also true that many potential entrepreneurs never end up creating employment for other people. We have identified three factors that impact an individual’s ability to be an entrepreneur-- Skills, Self-belief and Initiative -- and believe that it is possible to identify which is lacking and, hence, what interventions would help each individual.

WorkSpring response

A process that focuses on Skills, Self-belief and Initiative as the means of unearthing and nurturing entrepreneurs. This process can be easily replicated in different settings.

3. The church is uniquely positioned to act as a vehicle through which entrepreneurs can be reached and supported. We have found that it is able to reach individuals who are often overlooked, and offers a base for interventions in particular areas.

WorkSpring response

Work with local churches by providing the tools to identify and support entrepreneurs.

How Can I Get Involved?

There are opportunities to become involved at each stage of the project, ranging from positions as ‘champions’ or ‘business partners’ to participants in the process itself. To provide feedback or acquire more information please contact Gareth, either at The Warehouse on (021) 761 1168 or via email to gareth@warehouse.org.za.