Together with the NWU’s unemployment research threesome, Melinda du Toit, Rachel Paver and Leoni van der Vaart, Prof Blonk presented a workshop to empower facilitators of the Qhubekela Phambili (QP) project.
Derived from the Zulu phrase “moving forward”, the project – which represents a dynamic research collaboration between KU Leuven in Belgium and Optentia – aims to prepare job seekers to enter the job market.
Experts’ views on unemployment
Prof Blonk is an expert in clinical psychology and occupational health. He says that entry to the labour market is seen as an asset to the individual, but this is by itself incorrect. There are two sides to the coin. On the one side it has to do with the individual’s competency and skills and hindrances that have to be overcome in order to enter the labour market successfully. On the other side is the employer, which has his/her own issues to deal with.
Melinda du Toit, Leoni van der Vaart, Rachell Paver, Prof Roland Blonk and Prof Ian Rothmann (Director: Optentia).
“The township community, where unemployment is the norm, is a community in crisis,” says Melinda du Toit and explains how members from a hopeless community fight for the very last resources. They believe that Ubuntu is dead. Melinda explains that empowering entrepreneurs within the township space may go a long way in moving such communities forward.
Leoni van der Vaart, another member of the team, says that they surveyed three groups in two different provinces in South Africa. Their most significant findings were that the majority of unemployed people are desperate and discouraged.
Rachel Paver, the third member of the research team, adds that the project aims to assist unemployed individuals by enhancing their self-esteem, providing the social skills necessary for networking and interacting with potential employers, but also to prepare them for the setbacks that are part of the job-search journey.
All the researchers agree that psychological interventions are important – not only to ensure well-being, but also to ensure that the unemployed remain responsive towards opportunities. This is especially important in countries with a high unemployment rate, and unfortunately these interventions are lacking in South Africa.
Unpacking the project
The QP project has a number of key components:
- Social and behavioural support: Trainers express empathy for the concerns and feelings of the group and encourage their coping efforts;
- Referent power: Trainers build trust and reduce social distance by offering participants unconditional and specific positive feedback;
- Antidote against setbacks: Participants identify possible barriers and challenges they may encounter. Together they generate possible behavioural or cognitive solutions to overcome these challenges;
- Active learning: The entire learning process is active and rests on participants using their acquired knowledge and skills.
