As BRICS celebrates 20 years of cooperation in 2026, the alliance has grown from its initial members - Brazil, Russia, India, and China - to include South Africa, which joined in 2011. The group has expanded its scope to include political, economic, scientific, and people-to-people cooperation, creating opportunities for young people to participate in various activities. With a new generation entering the labor market, BRICS is focusing on providing youth with the necessary skills, networks, and economic opportunities to contribute to the development of member countries.
The issue of youth unemployment is particularly pressing in South Africa, where Statistics South Africa reported that 5 million young people aged 15-34 were unemployed in the second quarter of 2026. Furthermore, 36.4% of people aged 15-24 were not in employment, education, or training. These figures indicate that the challenge is not just a lack of qualifications, but also a need for more pathways from education and training into employment, entrepreneurship, and productive economic activity.
BRICS cooperation can provide practical value in addressing youth unemployment. The association's agenda includes three interconnected areas: political and security cooperation, economic and financial cooperation, and people-to-people cooperation. Within this framework, youth policy is linked to education, skills development, entrepreneurship, science and technology, innovation, and employment. At the 2025 BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, leaders called for inclusive youth employment policies, smoother transitions from education to work, and greater access to vocational training.
The institutional foundations for youth cooperation 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. Russia's BRICS International School: New Generation, launched in 2017, has brought together over 1,000 participants from over 60 countries.
South Africa has contributed to the youth agenda, hosting the BRICS Youth Innovation Summit in Cape Town in April 2025, which focused on artificial intelligence, digital transformation, food security, the circular economy, and green technologies. In 2026, under India's Chairmanship in BRICS, the youth agenda is focusing on education and skills, entrepreneurship, science and innovation, inclusion, sustainability, and youth exchanges.
The 2026 Youth Cooperation Framework includes youth exchanges, a BRICS Volunteer Week, leadership training, and an entrepreneurship internship in India, with a greater emphasis on the participation and mentoring of adolescents. Entrepreneurship has become a direct way to connect youth cooperation with employment, with India hosting a meeting of the BRICS Youth Council's Entrepreneurship Working Group in May 2026.
For South Africa, potential benefits from BRICS cooperation are significant, particularly in addressing youth unemployment. BRICS can help create additional international opportunities, such as joint training programs, internships, research projects, entrepreneurship support, and access to business networks. The key challenge is to connect these instruments to build a continuous pathway from education and skills development to mentoring, internships, entrepreneurship, research, and employment.
Key points
- BRICS cooperation can help address youth unemployment in South Africa by creating additional international opportunities for young people.
- The youth agenda in BRICS is moving from participation to opportunity, focusing on providing youth with the necessary skills, networks, and economic opportunities.
- South Africa can benefit from BRICS cooperation in areas with significant growth potential, such as digital technologies, artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and green economy.
