Roads project empowers women and youth in Umdoni Municipality
Fifty beneficiaries have been selected, and all will be equipped with practical skills.
In an effort to address the deterioration of local road infrastructure, a road skills training programme has been launched for women and youth.
The initiative aims to provide accredited training and mentorship opportunities to participants, while fixing roads.
The Fix My Road Programme has been made possible by the South African Foundation for Empowerment Training & Innovation (SAFETI) and Umdoni Municipality.
At the programme launch on June 22, Tobs Molefe from SAFETI mentioned that the common denominator with road repair and maintenance projects is the reliance on a constant supply of asphalt to complete tasks. With this programme, the asphalt no longer needs to be procured from a commercial source, and will have a positive impact on service delivery challenges.
“By developing labour-based teams to manufacture asphalt that can be linked to the road repair teams, freshly made asphalt can now be made to order on site,” said Molefe.
“More importantly, the number of people employed on these projects can be increased substantially at no extra cost to the project demonstrating how future road maintenance projects should be structured. The asphalt technology would need to be labour intensive, meet existing quality standards, be cost effective, simplistic and backed with the right training and technical support to ensure these skills build a solid foundation for sustainable employment.”
Fifty beneficiaries have been selected for this programme from Umdoni, and all will be equipped with practical skills in labour-based asphalt manufacturing, road maintenance, stormwater drainage, road marking, pedestrian safety, and the operation of specialised road maintenance equipment.
Phase one of the training programme is a comprehensive three-month accredited incubator training phase that will cover the tasks associated with road maintenance.
Phase two will harness these newly acquired skills and put them in practice through a six-month work-based mentorship, and begin to tackle the various municipal road maintenance challenges to gain work experience.
The final three-month phase of the 12 month programme is dedicated to assisting those that wish to pursue careers in road maintenance.
Speaking at the launch, mayor Mbali Cele-Luthuli encouraged participants to embrace the programme with commitment and enthusiasm, noting that the skills gained could open doors to future employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.
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