BRICS at 20: Why youth skills and jobs matter for South Africa - IOL

In 2026, BRICS marks 20 years of cooperation. What began as an alliance of Brazil, Russia, India and China has developed into a broader platform for political, economic, scientific and people-to-people cooperation, with South Africa joining in 2011 and the group subsequently expanding even further. Beyond doubts, its evolution has also been creating growing opportunities for cooperation among young people. This matters because the generation that was born as BRICS cooperation was taking shape is now entering the labour market, starting building businesses, conducting research and more and more actively taking part in public life in their countries as well as internationally.

For BRICS, youth policy is therefore not simply about organising conferences or exchanges. It is increasingly  connected to a strategic question: how to provide young people with the skills, networks and economic opportunities they need to contribute to the development of BRICS countries. The issue is particularly urgent in South Africa. According to Statistics South Africa, 5 million young people aged 15–34 were unemployed in the second quarter of 2026. At the same time, 36.4% of people aged 15–24 were not in employment, education or training. These figures demonstrate that the challenge is not simply a lack of qualifications. South Africa needs more pathways from education and training into employment, entrepreneurship and productive economic activity. This is where BRICS cooperation can become of practical value. The association's broader agenda is based on three interconnected areas: political and security cooperation, economic and financial cooperation, and people-to-people cooperation. Within this framework, youth policy is increasingly linked to education, skills development, entrepreneurship, science and technology, innovation and employment.

At the 2025 BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, leaders explicitly called for inclusive youth employment policies, smoother transitions from education to work and greater access to vocational training. They also highlighted the need to use technology responsibly, develop digital skills and prepare young people for changes in the labour market brought about by artificial intelligence. The institutional foundations for this work were established in 2015, when the five BRICS countries signed a memorandum on cooperation in youth affairs. Since then, the BRICS Youth Summit, Youth Council, and meetings of ministers and senior officials have provided a framework for coordinating joint initiatives. More importantly, youth cooperation has gradually expanded beyond dialogue. Russia’s BRICS International School: New Generation, launched in 2017, has brought together more than 1 000 participants from over 60 countries, while the BRICS International Youth Mentoring Program combines mentoring, internships and business networking for young entrepreneurs. South Africa has also contributed to this agenda: in April 2025, Cape Town hosted the BRICS Youth Innovation Summit, which focused on artificial intelligence, digital transformation, food security, the circular economy and green technologies. In 2026, this approach has become more practical. Under India’s Chairsmanship in BRICS, the youth agenda is focusing on education and skills, entrepreneurship, science and innovation, inclusion, sustainability and youth exchanges. The first BRICS Youth Coordination Meeting of the year, held in March, launched a program that included working groups, thematic meetings, volunteering activities, a Youth Development Forum, the Youth Council, the Youth Summit and a meeting of youth ministers. The 2026 Youth Cooperation Framework also provides for youth exchanges, a BRICS Volunteer Week, leadership training and an entrepreneurship internship in India, while placing greater emphasis on the participation and mentoring of adolescents.

Entrepreneurship has become one of the most direct ways to connect youth cooperation with employment. In May 2026, India hosted a meeting of the BRICS Youth Council’s Entrepreneurship Working Group, which combined practical workshops, visits to businesses and innovation ecosystems, mentoring and networking among young entrepreneurs from BRICS countries. At the September 2026 BRICS Summit in New Delhi, India also proposed a BRICS Startup Innovation Fund and an incubator network to strengthen support for young entrepreneurs and startups. The same direction is visible in science and technology. The 2026 New Delhi Declaration encouraged greater participation by young researchers and startups through existing BRICS mechanisms, including the Young Scientists Forum and the Young Innovators Prize. It also welcomed a proposed virtual platform for BRICS youth startups, designed to connect young innovators and facilitate networking across the association. For South Africa, potential benefits are particularly significant. BRICS can help address youth unemployment not by replacing national employment policies, but by creating additional international opportunities: joint training programs, internships, research projects, entrepreneurship support, access to business networks, and partnerships between universities and companies.

Cooperation in areas with significant growth potential — including digital technologies, artificial intelligence, renewable energy, green economy, manufacturing, agriculture and creative industries — can help young South Africans acquire skills that correspond to emerging demand across BRICS markets and beyond them. The key challenge is to connect these instruments. A youth summit is useful if it leads to a partnership; a training program matters if it improves employability; an internship is more valuable when it provides access to a professional network; and support for a startup has greater impact when it opens access to investors and markets in other BRICS countries. After 20 years of BRICS cooperation, the youth agenda is therefore moving from participation to opportunity. The objective should be to build a continuous pathway from education and skills development to mentoring, internships, entrepreneurship, research and employment. For South Africa, where the issue of youth employment growth is of such vital importance, turning that pathway into real economic opportunities is not merely an additional benefit of BRICS cooperation. It is one of the areas in which its practical value is to translate to the better quality of life for South Africans most clearly.