Based on our recently-released Breaking Barriers report, Sharmi Surianarain, our chief impact offer writes in Daily Maverick about the optimism our youth face. She says that according to Afrobarometer’s data from 2021, young South Africans, more than any other age group, are the least disenchanted about the future, despite being the most excluded across all dimensions. Their optimism and resilience propels them to seek opportunity wherever they can — increasingly in the informal economy, finding a way to make money in microenterprise and small-scale hustles. She say: “If society’s most excluded are still hopeful, surely we can do better than have them shoulder the burden of optimism alone?”

Source: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2022-12-04-empty-pockets-filled-with-sunshine-is-why-we-need-to-meet-youth-optimism-with-opportunity/. Published 4 December 2022.