Unemployment is a critical issue for South Africa as a developing country, with an unemployment rate projected at 36.495% at the end of December 2021 and the current youth unemployment rate of 55.75% . The lack of skilled artisans is a major barrier to job creation and economic growth hence the need to facilitate the training and upskilling of youth in artisanal trades in order to encourage job creation and economic growth locally rather than looking outside of the country for the correct skillset.

IOPSA is involved in a multitude of private and public plumbing training projects such as Appenticeships, Artisan Recognition of Prior Learning, Centres of Specialisation and Installation, repair an maintenance to name a few.