As from 2026 Awarenet is implementing the YearBeyond program in Makhanda, employing 30 people between the ages of 18 and 25 years old to run literacy and numeracy programs in local primary schools for a year.

All the young people employed – called “Yeboneers” – were not in neither employment, education or training (NEET) prior to their entry into YearBeyond, the program striving to combat the extremely high unemployment figures in South Africa. Implemented in Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng the program has its eyes on the “year beyond” for the Yeboneers, dedicating one day of the week to personal mentoring and work readiness training. This is done each Friday at Awarenet’s premises at the Joza Youth Hub and coordinated by Awarenet’s dedicated YearBeyond mentor. The goal is to have the large majority of the young people either employed, in studies or running their own business the year after their one-year stint at YearBeyond ends.

The other days of the week the Yeboneers are stationed the whole day at local schools running the Catch-Up program, which is tailor-suited to improve functional literacy and numeracy in South African schools. The central focus of the Yeboneers is to do one-on-one reading and numeracy sessions with learners in grade 3 and 4. In addition they assist teachers with classroom activities. Each Yeboneer is responsible for around 12 learners, giving personalised support to learners who are selected based on their need for additional interventions in reading and mathematics. In total the program therefore consists of around 360 learners from 4 underpriviliged schools.

Through the program we therefore combat two evils prevalent in South African communities at once, high youth unemployment and low functional literacy and numeracy among our learners.