Programme Director
President of South African Youth Council, Mr Thulani Tshefuta
CEO of the Secretariat of the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities, Mr A.K. Dube
Members of the Youth & Disability Sectors
Esteemed Leaders and Representatives of the ICT sector
Representatives of State Departments
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Let me extend a warm welcome to all of you attending this conference today.
Exactly 20 years ago today it was announced that South Africa would host its first multi-racial elections that would lead to our first truly representative government. Our elation upon hearing that news reverberated throughout our country and across the world. Since then our country has traversed a long and arduous path. We have fought hard to ensure that the right to vote translated into equality for all South Africans. Today we take another step in that long walk to freedom.
Honourable delegates, I am pleased to announce the launch of the Disability and Information and communications technology (ICT) Strategy as well as Youth and ICT Strategy by the Department of Communications (DoC). Both these plans enhance the national Youth and Disability strategies that we already have in place. One of the key priorities of this administration is reducing unemployment. The two strategies launched today will go some way towards addressing unemployment in our country for two of the most under-utilised sectors of our society, the youth and the differently abled.
The launch of these strategies takes place against the backdrop of our national Disability Awareness Month and the seventh Africa Youth Day, which we marked on the 1st of November. The theme for Africa Youth Day was, “Africa must deliver as one to empower Youth for Sustainable Development.” I’m glad that these strategies are not the work of government alone, but the result of interaction between the Department of Communications, other government departments, the ICT industry, State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and youth and Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs).
The theme for Disability Awareness Month is “Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all.” I’m sure that once you’ve perused these strategies that you will agree that it does address the needs of the disabled. Over 13 Disabled People’s Organisations were consulted in drawing up this strategy. The path to freedom has many obstacles but we have proven that by working together we are able to find solutions to our country’s problems.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the 21st century ICT plays an ever-increasing role in our daily life.
ICT has changed our lives from the moment we wake up with our alarms on our phones, and check everything from our emails to the weather report. Not too long ago we would have needed an alarm clock, a computer and a television just to complete those three activities. These improvements show not only how our lives have improved through technology, but also give us an indication of the direction our economy is taking. The potential for technology to affect every aspect of our lives need to be fully explored and exploited for our country’s benefit. South Africa is a youthful country. Our young people should be active participators and contributors to the economy. ICTs provide an ideal catalyst to create an enabling environment for economic activities to take place.
To involve young people in all facets of ICTs will ensure that young people participate in the economy, not only as consumers, but also as producers and active players in the industry. It is only then we can say that freedom has truly been achieved.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Department of Communications has worked tirelessly to lay a solid foundation to create an accessible and vibrant ICT Sector that benefits young people and persons with disabilities directly.
The DoC has had a number of focused projects, which collectively leverage ICTs for the greater good of our communities. Amongst the foremost and widely reported is the migration from analogue to digital broadcasting. This will create a number of prospects for development solutions to contribute in curbing the unacceptably high unemployment levels among our youth and persons with disabilities, as well as bridge the digital divide with regard to access to broadcasting.
We hosted our Proof of Concept launch for digital broadcasting in October this year. While these strategies were being formulated the DoC has simultaneously undertaken a number of programmes to address the ICT challenges faced by the youth and the disabled. I am pleased to share some of these projects with you as a practical demonstration of our unwavering support and commitment to assisting the disabled and the youth.
These include the creation and institutionalisation of Youth and Disability issues within the Ministry and across all functions of the work of the DoC and its State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), guided in this regard by the National Policy Frameworks targeted at these areas.
The adoption of the Take a Girl Child to Work campaign is but one example of this. We have extended our involvement in this project to participation in the Cell C Career Expo and ensured that a wider selection of youth are exposed to possible careers and opportunities in the ICT sector. We have also implemented our National Youth Service Program e-Cadre Program since 2007 in partnership with fifteen Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges.
This has resulted in more than 1000 young people from across the country receiving end user computing training, as well as on-the-job experience through support from the department. These are but a few of a number of targeted and sustained sector specific initiatives to improve the accessibility and usability of ICT by all. Today we are launching the Strategies that were developed through a series of consultations with sector representatives over the last three years. Thank you to all stakeholders who participated during this consultative process. It is a firm demonstration of your support for ensuring access to ICTs by young people and persons with disabilities.
We are certainly making strides in ensuring that the benefits of freedom filter down to all South Africans.
Distinguished delegates,
Disability Awareness Month’s theme of “Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all” is quite appropriate to the ICT sector, which serves as a great equaliser for persons with disabilities. Access to mobile technologies, for example, enables disabled people to have access to banking, information and entertainment without having to face the challenges of inaccessible buildings or transport. The theme bears all the hallmarks of the global efforts to ensure that persons with disabilities and young persons are not left behind in the quest for an inclusive Information Society. Our government has identified the importance of ICTs as one of the pillars and effective tools for bridging the digital divide and to make sure that all sectors of society have access to information and opportunities.
This is more so since the event is also taking place within the fringes of the finalisation of our first Country Report on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the first ground breaking Treaty on Disability, which came into effect in May 2008. This is one of the historic milestones, in regard to disability mainstreaming which I think all of us should be proud of and support in its implementation. Interestingly and most significantly, this Convention has specific Articles, which directly relate to the mandate of the department and the provision of access to ICTs, namely, Article 9 on Accessibility and Article 21, which deals with Freedom of Expression, Opinion and Access to Information and Communication Technologies.
Ladies and gentlemen
The World Summit on Information Society’s Declaration of Principles emphasised the need to create a people-centred, all encompassing information society with specific reference to the needs and challenges of People with Disabilities and young people. We as representatives of the collective leadership of the country should make every effort to ensure that there is significant progress in the implementation of targeted initiatives, specifically on combating the unemployment of persons with disabilities. In this regard, Government has set a 2% target for the employment of persons with disabilities and I am confident that together with the service delivery arms of the state, we can achieve this target for the ICT sector.
To achieve the Millennium Development Goals we need to ensure that support to young people, especially those at school, is put in place through ensuring access to education and more specifically access to studying in the fields of Science and Technology. The Youth Development and ICT Strategy has a strong focus on ICT Skills Development and Student Support. Distinguished Guests, Let me summarise the very critical aspects of the strategies, which translate into important strategic imperatives for the department and the broader ICT sector. The Youth and Disability strategies seek to:
Institutionalise the mainstreaming of Youth and Disability interventions in the work of the Department, SOEs and the broader ICT sector through the appointment of Focal Points on each of these matters in all SOEs.
- Establish the ICT Accessibility Forum where stakeholders can debate issues of concern relating to disability and youth responsive interventions.
- Promote social cohesion through the efficient use of ICTs.
- Support the development of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) owned by young people.
- Promote self-representation by structures and disabled peoples organisations on matters affecting them, including on key policy aspects.
- Capacity building for stakeholders and laying important frameworks for economic empowerment of target groups Institutionalise awareness and sensitisation on important issues including targets, disability mainstreaming and youth development.
- Skills developments to improve the employability of young persons and persons with disabilities
- To promote the participation of young people and persons with disabilities at all international ICT platforms to enhance their understanding of international law and policies pertaining to ICT matters and to influence the discussions to be responsive and sensitive to young people and persons with disabilities.
These interventions will need the involvement of all stakeholders to promote the common principles of Universal Access and Universal Design that is the basis for the implementation of the Disability and ICT strategy. I therefore want to highlight the fact that the rights of all people, including persons with disabilities are vital, including the right to access to information and communication. Within the ICT sector the major challenge facing people with disabilities is access to ICT in accessible formats. These include ICT subtitling on television, large print, accessible technologies for computers and mobile phones, accessible websites, clear signage at public buildings, access to internet cafés and post offices to name but a few. All of the above are available in our country but, on a very small scale and hence the intention of the Disability Mainstreaming and ICT Strategy is to enable all stakeholders to collectively work towards increasing access to these technologies by persons with disabilities.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The biggest challenge faced by young people in the ICT sector is access to sustainable employment opportunities and hence the Youth Development and ICT Strategy has a strong focus on Youth Employment through ICTs. I urge our SOEs such as National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (NEMISA), South African Post Office (SAPO) and the SABC to assist with providing bursaries to young people to study in the ICT field. In addition to this we must provide internship opportunities in great numbers for young people who have completed their studies.
The above are but a few of the initiatives the department is spearheading as part of its vision to be a leader in harnessing ICTs for socio-economic development for all. The goal is to implement strategies that seek to achieve the goal of universal access to services and information for all our people thereby reversing the institutionalised stereotypes, attitudes and stigma attached to disability.
Twenty years ago South Africa participated in the first Olympics and Paralympics of the democratic era. Those Games infused our youth and disabled with hope and promise, culminating in the many national and international heroes we celebrate today. The Youth and Disability ICT Strategies herald the dawn of a new epoch, allowing us to dream of a better world for these two vital components of our society. As we move into the second decade of the 20th century ICT will continue to shape the kind of society we live in. It is just as important that we define the kind of society we want and what freedom means to us.
Thank you.
