Diepsloot skills initiative addresses youth unemployment and food insecurity through agricultural training

A skills development program in Diepsloot, South Africa, is tackling the country's youth unemployment crisis by providing practical training and work experience. Non-profit organization Afrika Tikkun highlights the critical need for such interventions, noting that nearly 4.7 million young South Africans are unemployed, with the youth unemployment rate at almost 61%. At Green Acres Farm in Diepsloot, an Afrika Tikkun agripreneurship initiative, 30 local candidates receive hands-on agricultural training, earn an income, and gain workplace experience. Farm manager Ryan Geere explains that participants learn crop production, irrigation management, record-keeping, fertilization schedules, and livestock care, alongside workplace processes like documentation, data collection, production planning, and teamwork. Afrika Tikkun Group CEO Marc Lubner emphasizes that intervening when young people are already job seekers is "too little, too late," advocating for their "Cradle-to-Career 360° model" which supports individuals from early childhood development through to skills training and employment placement. Over the past eight years, the organization has facilitated 24,081 work placements and produced 19,033 economically productive alumni. The agripreneurship program also addresses food insecurity by teaching affordable farming techniques that participants can replicate at home, potentially improving household food production and creating self-employment opportunities within their communi