02/10/2026
How do we prepare young people for a rapidly changing job market?
Simple: We give them an incredible year of service where they develop critical skills while delivering meaningful impact in their communities through youth service. 🇿🇦🌍
This isn't just a local challenge; it’s a global imperative and it requires all of us to evolve our thinking and work together to address youth unemployment.
At this year’s Clinton Global Initiative (CGI 2026), City Year South Africa’s Executive Director, Daylene van Buuren was part of engaging global leaders across Africa, Europe, the UK, North, and Central America.
Alongside global powerhouses like AnnMaura Connolly (President, Voices for National Service) and our partners at City Year Inc. and City Year UK, we officially launched a global Commitment to Action: founding the Global Network for National Service (GNNS)!
The GNNS is a call to bring leaders together from around the world to share best practices, learn from each country as we build youth service globally.
Speaking across various platforms at CGI on education and the future of work, our Executive Director, Daylene van Buuren, drove home one major point: Young people don't just need theory, they need well structured real-world experience in order to be better prepared to transition into career opportunities or opportunities to learn or earn.
Daylene also shared that collaboration is key and learning from partners like Institute we partner through the YearBeyond Youth Service Programme and its network of partners which City Year South Africa is part of is an incredible example of the power of collaboration in scaling and coordinated by the National Youth Development Agency in South Africa. We hope these examples create opportunities for other countries to learn from.
Structured youth service is the powerful workplace launchpad as it equips young people with:
💡 Essential Soft Skills like adaptability, communication, and complex problem-solving.
🤝 Workplace Readiness through hands-on experience tackling real-world challenges in team settings.
🛣️ Pathways to Employment that create direct routes into long-term careers and further education.
When we invest in structured service, we don't just transform communities today, we build a workplace-ready generation that is prepared to lead tomorrow! 🚀
