Internships vs Learnerships – Solving South Africa’s Youth Unemployment By Closing the Experience Gap

However, two critical pathways are helping to bridge this gap: traditional internships and more outcome-focused learnerships. These programmes provide the practical experience and skills that young people need to launch their careers. But how do you decide which path is best for your career journey?
 
Internships are short-term programmes that provide students or graduates with structured workplace exposure, building practical skills and improving employability. Learnerships, on the other hand, are  aligned to an employment opportunity from the get-go, combining theoretical training with hands-on experience and and are particularly valuable for individuals who may not have the resources to pursue tertiary education, or are battling with an experience gap.
 
At the TransUnion Global Capability Centre (GCC) Africa, learnerships are prioritised and preferred based on the positive outcomes experienced over the last four years. “Learnerships play a critical role in addressing youth unemployment by providing young people the tools they need to succeed,” said Xoe Mfokazi, Head of Operations at the TransUnion (GCC Africa. “We are committed to being part of the solution by upskilling South Africa’s youth and empowering them to build brighter futures through our learnership programme.”
 
Recognising the need for meaningful youth development, TransUnion’s GCC Africa partnered with organisations like the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator to combat youth unemployment through targeted skills development initiatives. The partnerships aim to empower South African youth by providing access to high-quality learnership programmes that focus on equipping participants with fundamental yet sought-after skills across industries with high demand for talent. “By structuring interventions to be both accessible and demand-led; young people become equipped to enter the labour market contributing to inclusive economic growth,” noted Victoria Duncan, Head of Research at Harambee.
 
“Our collaboration with Harambee specifically, is about unlocking  opportunities for young people to break into the job market and thrive,” said Xoe. “This partnership allows us to provide so much more than training — we’re closing the skills gap and facilitating access to sustainable employment within our own environment and beyond.”
 
Over the years, the partnerships have successfully enrolled almost 300 young individuals in the GCC Africa’s learnership programme, which focuses on critical areas such as IT systems support, cybersecurity, and networking, operations, customer and sales support, compliance and data analytics.
 
Partnerships like these highlight the vital role that organisations play in combating youth unemployment. By investing in skills development and empowering young people, these initiatives contribute not only to individual growth but also to the broader South African economy. At the same time companies have the opportunity to build pipelines of committed and loyal workers who can evolve and grow with the business — a mutually-beneficial, symbiotic relationship.
 
“Upskilling youth isn’t about only solving today’s unemployment challenges, it’s an opportunity to create longterm high impact change for our country and its people,” concluded Xoe.