Making the Future to Work Activity

The goal of this Request for Information (RFI) is to:1. Gather information that will help USAID/Southern Africa better understand the options to provide technical assistance to improve job growth and potential for youth to engage in the South African job market;2. Assist USAID to shape a roadmap for job creation to assist local governments across South Africa to adopt in partnership with the private sector, civil society, provincial, and national government entities; 3. Understand which entities may be interested in the resulting opportunity;4. Establish the feasibility of and approach to obtaining local government buy-in and co-development of a youth employment agenda that addresses private sector constraints to growth and a local government’s willingness to be innovative in the use of national funding instruments such as The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and Skills Education Training Authorities (SETA) funds to ensure that skills development is demand driven; and5. Understand how SETAs can be leveraged to build quality and capacity of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programs and how the private sector can engage local government and tertiary training institutions to align the supply of skills with their demands.

Note: USAID is considering restricting eligibility for any future opportunity to local South African organizations and firms.To be considered a “local” South African organization, an entity must: 1. Be organized under the laws of the South Africa; 2. Have its principal place of business in South Africa; 3. Be majority owned by individuals who are citizens or lawful permanent residents of South Africa or be managed by a governing body, the majority of whom are citizens or lawful permanent residents of South Africa; and 4. Not be controlled by a foreign entity or by an individual or individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents of South Africa. The term “controlled by” means a majority ownership or beneficiary interest as defined above, or the power, either directly or indirectly, whether exercised or exercisable, to control the election, appointment, or tenure of the organization’s managers or a majority of the organization’s governing body by any means, e.g., ownership, contract, or operation of law.