At the start of their career, young people need hands-on exposure to the workplace, allowing individuals to apply theoretical knowledge in real-world settings. This helps build practical skills, such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving, that are essential in most jobs. Additionally, internships provide a unique opportunity to explore different industries, helping young people make informed career decisions.
Young people are not ready for the workplace and do not have work experience
Provide youth with technical and workplace readiness skills, and work experience.
If we upskill young people they will then get (and keep) jobs and gain experience and imporove their technical skills thereby making them ’employable’
Lucha Lunako provides implementation of accredited Learnerships, TVET Internships and YES (Youth Employment Service) Youth placements, all 3 of which are regulated under the B-BBEE legislation. Under our coordination, young people receive proper support during these experiences, including guidance and mentorship, which fosters confidence and professional growth. They also gain valuable networking opportunities, which can lead to future job offers or valuable industry connections. Overall, our internships and work placements help bridge the gap between education and employment, enhancing a young person’s employability and career prospects.
Learnerships are programmes for youth who are on a SETA-accredited (Sector Education and Training Authority) learning process and need exposure to the work environment in order to receive an occupational qualification. It is part of their education. The youth receive a stipend for the duration of the learnership.
We provide affordable conversion of unaccredited internships focused on graduates, into qualifying learnerships at affordable rates. We also source and implement externally hosted learnerships or enrol existing employees (that need bona fide development only) on learnership programmes.
Our focus is on working with host environments that incorporate holistic foundational development while building technical skills. One of our focuses, through partners, is on getting people with mental health disabilities diagnosed and treated, as well as economically active.
TVET Internships are for youth who are required to complete a certain number of months actual work experience (usually 6-18 months) after completing a classroom-based diploma at a TVET (Technical Vocational Education & Training) college. The youth need exposure to the work environment as part of achieving their final qualification and are required to complete prescribed log books and a Portfolio of Evidence (POE) with their employer as part of this process. It is part of their education. Employed in a real job, the youth receive at least the minimum wage during their internship.
We work with partners to source and place TVET graduates into host site employers, where they can get relevant work experience and complete their log books and portfolios of evidence.
Many young people on learnerships actually have completed TVET studies already, without the necessary work experience to get their final qualifications. We believe that internship programmes are generally more impactful on the ground than outsourced learnership programmes.
The YES (Youth Employment Service) Programme is a business-led collaboration with government. YES is a job. It is NOT a learnership, internship, apprenticeship or training programme. It is NOT a workplace experience component for the purpose of obtaining a qualification. YES seeks to reduce youth unemployment across private and public sectors. The aim is to enable more youth to develop new skills and gain meaningful workplace experience, which will in turn significantly improve their chances of finding long-term employment. This is done by empowering businesses to create jobs for our unemployed youth.
These involve a 12-month real job, enabling “first job” work experience and general skills development where young people will either be placed with the sponsoring company’s organisation or with hosts.
Our YES Youth candidates get real work experience in real jobs across a wide range of host SMMEs, organisations and NGOs in our network. Absorption rates post our YES programmes are high, as many SMMEs are able to justify continuing youth employment post the 1 year programme. Some youth get access to opportunities post YES that substantially increases their income.
All interns and YES Youth enrolled into programmes from 2025 will benefit from our additional in-house programmes, including our income-generating programme focused on self-employment, Street Smart Upstarts.
Hear from our programme partners, ecosystem allies, host sites and other stakeholders whose work has been positively impacted by our programmes and initiatives.