A workshop on Public Employment Services was hosted by South Africa as the current chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Employment and Labour Sector. The workshop was held in Johannesburg from 13 - 14 February 2018

The objectives of the meeting:

1. To establish a platform or forum for Employment Services Practitioners within the SADC Member States to share experiences andchallenges, as well as come up with best practices on how to approach the youth unemployment phenomena;
2. To ensure alignment and harmonization between countries in the development of regional strategies and policies to address youth employment and women in particular.
3. To agree on areas of mutual interest in addressing youth employment in the region 

The themes that were covered are as follows:
Theme 1: Addressing youth employment in the formal sector
Theme 2: Public employment services interventions
Theme 3: Public employment programmes for those not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET)
Theme 4: Youth employment cooperatives in rural and peri-urban communities
Theme 5: Targeted employment programmes for vulnerable groups and people with disabilities
Member states, made presentations  and deliberate on issues and made recommendations.