PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how the eThekwini Municipal Academy (EMA) conducts training needs assessments for vocational skills training for unemployed and disadvantaged youths, KwaZulu-Natal province. By examining the process of training needs assessment (TNA), the focus was on determining how it might influence the success in employment outcomes of the graduates.Design/methodology/approachThe researcher used mixed research methods of qualitative and quantitative approaches. The quantitative research method was a survey questionnaire. The survey questionnaire helped produce a detailed description of respondents' opinions and experiences. The qualitative method in the form of semi-structured interviews helped to present the data from the perspective of the training managers on the process of TNA and opportunities in accessing employment for the graduates. Purposive sampling was used to select 24 training centre managers and 512 trainees. The quantitative data were analysed using SPSS software, and data from interviews were analysed using thematic analysis.FindingsThe findings revealed that the most important aspect of the TNA process was that the EMA managers selected and design a training course after consulting and engaging the stakeholders who were also prospective employers to identify needs and job availability within the companies or government departments. The author concludes that the process of TNA involving all stakeholders helped to provide vocational training programmes, which were demand-driven. The process also might promote the best and most promising practices enhancing the transition from skills acquisition to skills utilisation in the labour market.Practical implicationsThe results of the study have shown the three main factors that affect the TNA process, which are an individual or person analysis, consulting key stakeholders and labour market assessment. It is hoped that the results of the study can be used by training practitioners for better understanding of factors that can contribute to the effectiveness of vocational skills training for unemployed youth.Originality/valueThe paper is unique because it contributes to the knowledge by explaining the link between the effectiveness of vocational skills training and a proper TNA for unemployed youth. It also provides knowledge on key factors in conducting the TNA process by involving all stakeholders. Existing TNA research focuses on competency-based need analysis for employees of companies, organisations and institutions. Therefore, this paper is significant because it helps to understand the role of TNA in enhancing the effectiveness of vocational skills training for unemployed and disadvantaged youths.

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Non-formal education and training (NFET) programmes in public and private centres in South Africa aim to meet the training needs of adults who have been deprived of formal education which would have fostered skills acquisition and access to employment earlier in their lives. The concern which informs this paper is that adults who face long-term unemployment due to a lack of marketable skills often remain unemployed after completing NFET programmes. The paper assesses the extent to which material and human resources have affected skills acquisition and graduate employment in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The results show that material and human resource challenges in most public and some private centres have led to gaps in skills training. Programmes focus too strongly on academic credits and certificates and not enough on employment as an end goal. The authors argue that the existence of suitable training materials and qualified trainers with practical experience and specific technical skills constitutes favourable conditions (''enabling environments'') for graduate employment. Without improvement in material and human resources, adult trainees will continue to experience difficulties integrating into the labour market, and the cycle of poverty and social exclusion will remain unbroken.Résumé L'importance des moyens matériels et de formateurs qualifiés dans les centres d'éducation et de formation non formelles des adultes en Afrique du SudLes programmes d'éducation et de formation non formelles des adultes réalisés dans des centres publics et privés en Afrique du Sud visent à répondre aux besoins en formation des adultes qui ont été privés de l'éducation formelle. Cette dernière les aurait aidés plus tôt dans leur vie à acquérir des compétences et à accéder à un emploi. La question au coeur du présent article est que les adultes confrontés à un chômage de longue durée par manque de compétences monnayables demeurent souvent sans emploi après avoir accompli un programme de ce type. Les auteurs évaluent dans quelle mesure les ressources humaines et matérielles influent sur l'acquisition des compétences et sur l'emploi des certifiés sortants à KwaZulu-Natal (Afrique du Sud). Les résultats montrent que les défis inhérents aux ressources humaines et matérielles existant dans la majorité des centres publics et certains centres privés engendrent des lacunes dans la formation professionnelle. Les programmes sont trop axés sur les crédits académiques et les certificats, et insuffisamment sur l'emploi en tant que fin en soi. Les auteurs concluent que des moyens matériels appropriés et des formateurs qualifiés, dotés d'une expérience pratique et de savoir-faire techniques spécifiques, sont les conditions favorables (les « environnements propices ») à l'embauche des stagiaires certifiés. Sans une optimisation des ressources humaines et matérielles, ces derniers continueront à rencontrer des difficultés à intégrer le marché du travail, et le cercle vicieux de la pauvreté et de l'exclusion sociale ne pourra être rompu.

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Non-formal adult education and training (NFET) in South Africa is instrumental in breaking the high level of poverty and decreasing the social inequality the country continues to face as a post-apartheid democracy. Public and private NFET centres in South Africa aim to meet the training needs of adults who have been deprived of formal education with courses which foster access to opportunities for skills acquisition and employment and bring about social and economic inclusion. However, many adults who were facing long-term unemployment due to a lack of marketable skills remain unemployed after completing NFET programmes. This paper reports on a study which investigated what constitutes favourable conditions ("internal enabling environments") for skills acquisition inside NFET centres leading to employment and how they can be improved to contribute to coordinated efforts of increasing NFET graduates' paid and/or self-employment capacities. The authors found that centres focusing on activities suitable for self-employment during training were more likely to create internal enabling environments for skills acquisition and income generation than centres offering courses designed for entering paid employment. The authors conclude that there appears to be a significant correlation between NFET centres' training programme objectives, financial resources, trainee selection criteria, the process of training needs assessment, and skills acquisition for successful employment outcomes of NFET graduates. Without these internal enabling factors, adult trainees are likely to continue finding it difficult to integrate into the labour market or participate in economic activities and hence break the cycle of poverty and social exclusion. KeywordsNon-formal education and training Skills acquisition Training needs assessment Internal enabling environments Adult education Human capital theory South Africa RésuméLes compétences acquises dans les centres d'éducation et de formation non formelles des adultes aident-elles à trouver un emploi en Afrique du Sud ? -L'éducation et la formation non formelles des adultes jouent en Afrique du Sud un rôle important pour baisser sensiblement le taux élevé de pauvreté et réduire les inégalités sociales, auxquels cette démocratie post-apartheid est encore confrontée. Les centres publics et privés d'éducation et 2 de formation non formelles des adultes visent dans le pays à répondre aux besoins éducatifs des adultes qui n'ont pas été scolarisés, par des mesures qui leur ouvrent l'accès à l'acquisition de compétences et à l'emploi et favorisent leur intégration sociale et économique. Néanmoins, de nombreux adultes qui étaient chômeurs de longue durée par manque de compétences monnayables demeurent sans emploi après avoir accompli un programme dans ces centres. Cet article présente une étude sur la nature des conditions favorables (les « environnements internes propices ») pour acquérir dans ces centres des compétences qui débouchent sur un emploi, et sur les moyens de les renforcer pour cont...