Wilderness Foundation

Unemployment, a huge problem in South Africa, is even worse in the Eastern Cape. The Wilderness Foundation was started in 1972 to encourage, plan and protect South Africa’s wilderness and create an environmental ethos among current and future leaders. Recognizing that the protection of the wilderness environment is linked to its social and economic sustainability, in 2006, The Wilderness Foundation began to help at-risk youth to maximize the livelihood opportunities in nature-based tourism and related industries.

With EMpower’s first grant, the Wilderness Foundation is strengthening its holistic employment readiness training for unemployed job seekers to effectively access the job market, gain valuable employability skills, transforming de-motivated job seekers into highly motivated students or employees. This grant is also partial funding monitoring and evaluation of the impact on participants.