This essay will go about critically discussing three of South Africa’s skills-upliftment initiatives in order to raise management’s awareness on the importance of uplifting employees’ skills. Firstly we will look at three initiatives in detail, then we will move on to looking at the most important skills-upliftment reasons within the South African organizational context by focusing on the advantages and benefits that come from the initiative as well as the implications of not having them .

Skills-upliftment is defined by Coetzee, as the enhancement of employees’ applied competencies in their jobs by improving their knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes through formal education, skills training and continuous development (Coetzee, 2013).
This will help them maintain a sustainable career path and will also allow their children to learn from the parents on how to a run small business, be employed and have their own responsibility (Khayelitsha cookies company, 2010). Khayelitsha Cookies aims to focus on women in Khayelitsha and wants to build the community from within, strengthening not only business skills but also social upliftment by increasing self worth of women. The women have a 30% share of the business through a trust fund, so when there is a profit in the business the shares pay out which, teaches the women that if they work hard it will pay (Khayelitsha cookies company, 2010). Learn to Earn is a not profit organization that provide people in Khayelitsha with various skills development programmes like computer skills, baking classes, sewing, and administrative work skills, the NPO also provide life skills such as awareness, family relationships and conflict resolution skills (Khayelitsha cookies company, 2010). Many of the women who work at Khayelitsha Cookies have gone through training via Learn to Earn to broaden their skill sets. The initiative empowers not only women, but also the Khayelitsha community as a whole and wants to change their lives for the better. The advantage of this initiative is that is focuses on uplifting the social and employment sectors of women in one area, this being Khayalitsha, this ensures that the level of unemployment, crime and poverty decreases. Women fall into a minority group, and make up a large proportion of South Africa’s unemployed population, this paired with Khayelitsha being one of the biggest informal townships in Cape Town means that the skills development increases peoples standards of living from within. The implications of not having this