Imagine a world where the majority of your age group is unemployed, and most of the people you know are not even in any sort of training or education programme. This is the reality for the youth of South Africa. Now, add a disability to the mix. Not being able to hear makes getting a quality education or employment that much more challenging. That is where the YES Programme, partnering with eDEAF steps into the spotlight.
Youth unemployment was at 58.5% in the third quarter of 2025. To date, the YES programme has placed around100 000 young people in work opportunities, and they continue to provide opportunities today. eDEAF partners with YES to place learners and staff in internship positions, giving them the chance at work experience.
The YES Programme and eDEAf are changing lives, one individual at a time. It makes perfect sense that the two organisations have come together to change the lives of Deaf learners. Read on, to find out more about YES, what it is, what it means, and how it’s a YES for eDEAF.
What is the YES Programme?
“Yes”. It’s the word we all want to hear. In this instance, it has a deeper meaning that makes it the word we want to hear, see signed, and delivered in an interview. It is an open door, an opportunity, a chance at a brighter future.
YES stands for Youth Employment Service. As a private sector-led initiative, they address the country’s youth unemployment crisis by empowering businesses to create jobs for our unemployed youth.
They are a non-profit organisation that receives no government funding. They work with leading businesses in various sectors to provide 12-month quality work experiences for unemployed young people. The hope is that those placed will become the future managers, skilled professionals, and entrepreneurs who will drive the economy forward.
In return, businesses fulfil a set of criteria over a few months and then receive one or two levels up on their B-BBEE scorecard and /or integrate into their ESG strategies.
How Does YES Partner With eDEAF?
According to Stats SA, the age group15-24 is facing the highest unemployment rate in South Africa. At 58.5% in the third quarter of 2025, this number is alarming.
The challenges that Deaf individuals face when attempting to enter the workforce are even greater than those of their hearing peers. Since 2007, eDEAF has been working with sponsor companies to place Deaf learners in employment opportunities. With the help of YES, we are now able to make this possible through one more channel.
When we learned about YES, it seemed like a match made in heaven. eDEAF is all about finding employment opportunities for unemployed, Deaf youth who would otherwise face insurmountable barriers.
What we do is face those barriers head-on. We educate employers about them, show them how to overcome them, and give learners the skills they need to be able to hurdle right over them.
YES provides employment opportunities and gives learners a year to gain experience. It is the hope that the learners who perform well will receive employment at their host companies. At the very least, they will have gained valuable experience and been employed for a year.
We began our partnership with YES with a number of staff members placed at eDEAF branches. The brightest stars have received permanent employment after their year’s internship, and we could not be happier.
Now, thanks to the YES programme, learners have begun to be placed with companies, too.
When we discovered YES, we quickly realized that, although we wanted to bring our learners onboard, the programmes on offer were not accessible to the Deaf.
What we have become is an implementation partner with YES. Our learners are registered with YES and then gain all the benefits of eDEAF programmes as taught to our other learners. They have access to our interpreters and Deaf facilitators and are taught in South African Sign Language.
This Deaf-specific integration is exactly what they need to gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to shine in their interviews and in the workplace.
After completing a Work Readiness component, they attend interviews at the participating companies, and the successful candidates are awarded their year-long internships.
Wrapping it Up
Knowing that we have an organisation like YES in our corner is a great feeling. We are also proud to be able to provide the support as an implementation partner for our learners who require and deserve accessibility in order to achieve as much as their hearing peers. We are excited to see where this road will lead and cannot wait to see the fantastic Deaf professionals that have come through eDEAF emerge from their YES internships with a year of solid, exciting, and life-changing experience behind them.
