ARTISANS CAN HELP THE ECONOMY GROW
ARTISANS CAN HELP THE ECONOMY GROW sadminOne of the main responsibilities of the Department of Labour is to promote skills development among South African workers and the unemployed.
Young people are encouraged to get training in scarce and critical skills as this can help our economy to grow. For example, there is a shortage of trained artisans. An artisan is a skilled worker who practices a specialised trade. Artisans include people like electricians, welders, mechanics, toolmakers, fitters and turners and millwrights. Their skills are mainly used in fields like manufacturing, construction and engineering production.
The Department of Labour has identified four paths to speed up the development of artisans. These are learnerships, apprenticeships, internships and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).
RPL is a way of recognising the experience and ability a person has in a specific skill as a result of having done work in that field over a period of time without having received formal training.
DEVELOPING ARTISTIC & CREATIVE SKILLS
DEVELOPING ARTISTIC & CREATIVE SKILLS sadminMany people have artistic or creative talents, but don't know how to develop their talents into skills, which can help them earn a living. The Department of Arts and Culture is reaching out to such people 
through different projects.
Rural Women
One such programme is the Mosadi wa Kono Kono campaign, which helps women with skills training in arts, crafts and cultural development in rural areas. It finds and helps women who show the ability to be leaders, especially in the poorest of communities. The programme has already been started in six provinces.
All Communities
Another programme is the Arts Access to All Communities project. This programme helps people to get training in the arts in all communities, especially children, women, people with disabilities, as well people in correctional centres. So far, the programme has funded the training of 20 community arts counsellors.
A further 12 community arts counsellors will have their training upgraded. When they complete their training, the graduates do their internships in community facilities. They are then placed with Community Art Centres.
Community Art Centres
Community Art Centres directly bene-fit members of the targeted communities. They offer skills development programmes in things like music, craft, heritage and sewing.
The Community Art Centres also run Women Entrepreneurial Skills Training Centres. These centres focus on training women in things like computer literacy, entrepreneurship, business and financial management.
The Department of Arts and Culture has other ongoing skills development programmes like the National Youth Expressions Campaign. It targets young people and provides skills training and employment opportunities.