The National School of Government, Department of National School of Government of South Africa has launched several free training courses for fresh graduates under the eLearning platform. These courses are a gateway to the job market for many. If you are interested in knowing more about them, here is a list of free government training courses for the unemployed in South Africa; so dive right in for more.
1. Ethics in the Public Service
Ethics in Public Service is a course developed for people currently working or wishing to work in public service. The course aims to instill and promote a professional code of conduct in consideration of the constitution of South Africa, essential to work in the public sector. Through this training, you will be able to understand and apply ethical standards in the workplace.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course, you will be able to achieve the following.
- Reflect on professional ethical values.
- Recognize conflict areas of ethical dilemmas as a public sector employee.
- Apply the core standards for ethical values in relevance to your employee status in the public service.
- Promote and maintain professional ethics in the workplace.
- Self-registration and Enrollment
Here is how you can enroll in this course.
- Visit the NSG website and navigate to Open eLearning Courses under the tab of eLearning.
- After this, follow the on-screen instruction prompt and register for the profile. Provide your personal and academic information.
- Next, enroll for the course from the course list.
- The registration and admission process may take up to five working days.
2. Mentoring for Public Service Managers
The two-tier mentoring course is sponsored by NSG or the National School of the Government of South Africa. It is a three-day course to train people who wish to work as managers and team lead in the public sector. The course content covers several interactive sessions, discussions, and class assessments, so they are better equipped to navigate through the communication challenges in the workplace.
Topics Covered
The following are the topics covered in this course.
- Development and application of communication skills in the public services.
- The ethical and professional attitudes required to work as an intermediate-level manager in the public sector.
- Adaptation of the ethical values when collaborating with a team.
Assessment Approach
The course includes several formative activities and summative assessments. Anyone who does not pass these assessments won’t be able to issue a certificate of competence.
3. Introduction to Financial Management Delegations of Authority in the Public Sector
This course on the introduction to financial management delegation is targeted toward people who wish to work in a financial setup. It is designed to develop the capacity for effective implementation of management delegation in the public sector. At the end of the course, you will be able to enhance financial practice in the workplace.
Learning Outcomes
After completing the course, you will be able to do the following.
- Define key processes involved in financial management that will help manage the expectations of your clients.
- Clarify roles and responsibilities relevant to financial delegations.
- Reflect on the advantages of accepting delegated authorities and fulfilling tasks on a personal level.
- Recognize the delegation changes, so you are better equipped to navigate through development tasks and develop institution-specific solutions.
- Understand the financial management legal frameworks in which the financial delegation authorities are exercised.
4. Supply Chain Management
The Supply Chain Management course is directed toward people who are currently working or wish to work as applied chain practitioners and managers in public service. The course intends to develop the capacity of officials to apply the processes and principles of the supply chain. The contents of the course are designed as prescribed by the Public Finance Management Act.
To qualify for the supply chain management course, you must fulfill the following requirements.
- Mathematical literacy with NQF Level 4
- Communication skills with NQF Level 4
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course, you will be able to do the following.
- Understand and apply the effective legislation governing supply chain management within public services.
- Identify and apply the supply chain management principles in the public sector jobs.
- Recognize the fundamentals of supply chain management and apply them to fulfill workplace functions effectively.
- Secure and maintain the supplier contracts.
Duration
- The average time allocated for this course is divided into two phases.
- Online learning and formative assessment require 9 weeks (50 hours).
- Workplace practice and summative assessment require 8 weeks (100 hours).
5. Policy, Writing, and Implementation
The training course on policy, writing, and implementation has been organized by the University of Pretoria in collaboration with the South African government. It is designed for people who wish to work in the government sector or have a similar job of writing policy briefs and white papers. The course contents are organized to give students insights into writing implementation techniques in the workplace.
Topics Covered
The topics covered in the course include,
- Understanding public policy writing and its implementation.
- Techniques and methods used for policy writing in the public sector.
- Evaluation of the skills learned in the course.
- Policy writing at the provincial, regional, and national levels.
6. Executive Development Program: Certificate in Executive Leadership
This government-sponsored youth training course in executive development trains fresh graduates to kick-start their entrepreneurial ventures. The course is organized to help students understand professional business practices, evaluate risk, manage risk-mitigating techniques, and fish investors. The course also gives students access to new investors for sponsorship deals.
To qualify for the course, you must fulfill the following requirements.
- Mathematical literacy with NQF Level 4
- Communication skills with NQF Level 4
Learning Outcomes
After completing this course, you will be able to do the following.
- Understand how to develop a business plan and find funding opportunities by tracking the right investors.
- Identify and analyze market trends to draft modern-day sales practices.
- Understand how to develop a marketing campaign.
- Find financial resources to cover the budget for your business model.
Topics Covered
Here are the following topics covered by the course.
- Development of a business model.
- Effective strategies for building and running an online business.
- Group work and drafting strategies for funding opportunities.
- Recognition and analysis of market trends.
- Modern-day customer attraction practices.
- Development of a marketing campaign.
7. Digital Marketing for Entrepreneurs
This course in digital marketing for entrepreneurs is designed for fresh graduates who have not yet got a job and want to learn rational methods of digital marketing. The course content includes website designing, online marketing, personal branding, and search engine optimization for high ranking and productivity. After completing this course, you will be able to kick-start your digital marketing journey in the job market.
Learning Outcomes
After completing this course, you will be able to do the following.
- Understand the key differences between traditional marketing and online marketing.
- Comprehend the key components of personal branding and why it is significant for entrepreneurs.
- How to find and target your customers online and convert them into revenue.
- The right digital marketing strategy, specific to your business.
- How to maximize digital marketing strategy using tactics like search engines and social media.
Topics Covered
Here are a few topics covered in the course.
- Creation of an online business.
- Development of a marketing strategy.
- Implementing digital marketing techniques and converting sales.
- Maximizing brand value using digital marketing.
8. Community Journalism: Basic Principles for Effective Storytelling
The community journalism course, organized and taught by R Alen Berry (Educator and researcher in media studies) is available to all citizens under the Young African Leadership initiative. It is a perfect opportunity for fresh graduates to get insights into how to share information ethically and professionally. The course content includes standard journalistic tools, methods, and practices to gather information and transmit data.
Learning Outcomes
After completing this course, you will have to do the following.
- Learn how to responsibly gather information and manage reliable information sources.
- Understand how to act ethically in collecting and sharing information.
- Understand the differences between sharing data and telling stories. Evaluating the best practices to share information within your community.
- Using tools and techniques available to community journals.
Topics Covered
The topics covered in this course are as follows.
- Comprehending the community journalism principles, including information dissipation, data gathering, and ethical storytelling.
- Understanding and analyzing the difference between storytelling and objectively sharing information.
- Making a comparison of the modern and traditional journalistic techniques and implementing them in real-time scenarios.
- Getting familiar with popular journalistic tools to gather data, disseminate it, and carry out stories from local communities.
In essence, the Government of South Africa has launched several programs to train the unemployed and fresh graduates. It is an excellent opportunity for them to kick-start their journey. I hope this guide has been helpful for anyone figuring out the right government training course for his/ her profile.