Port Elizabeth, Tuesday, 12 July, 2016 – The National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality today held a Youth in Construction Dialogue aimed at empowering aspiring young entrepreneurs in the home building sector.
The Executive Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay Mr Danny Jordaan delivered a keynote address at the event, which was attended by various stakeholders in the construction industry.
Speaking on the NHBRCâs involvement in the youth programme in the Eastern Cape, Nombasa Ngoqo NHBRCâs Provincial Manager said that the Human Settlements agency had so far put 198 youth through its construction skills training under its Youth Brigade programme in partnership with the Department of Human Settlements.
âTogether with the Department we are also supporting 22 students enrolled for the Artisan Development Programme at the King Sabatha Dalidyebo FET College,â she added.
Ngoqo explained that the dialogue was part of the NHBRCâs wider social transformation programme aimed at enabling not only youth to participate in the sector but also women, military veterans and people with disabilities.
Participants on the NHBRC funded skills training programme are recruited through the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) or local municipalities. The skills programme is broken down into three phases with each focusing on:
Phase1: life skills, basic mathematics and English.
Phase 2: technical building skills training such as bricklaying, plastering, plumbing and roofing. Learners also receive practical experience on human settlements projects and are mentored by the participating contractors.
Phase 3: participants are provided with an opportunity to choose between three exit streams. These include placement on projects; further studies in the built environment offered through Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and Universities of Technology; and establish a company or cooperative to participate in the human settlements value chain.
During the event, participating organisations such as the NYDA, Coega, Financial Institutions, and the Construction Seta among others presented the various opportunities available in the sector.
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For more information, please contact Molebogeng Taunyane on 011 317 0070 or molebot@nhbrc.azurewebsites.net