14 May 2006
In the Cabinet Statement of 23 November 2005, Government notes "taking into
account the growth initiative, the National Youth Policy Development Framework
will be reviewed and so will the impact of the current array of youth
development institutions."
It is in response to this statement that the National Youth Commission
(NYC) conducted research on the approach adopted by the democratic government
to address the needs of young people post the apartheid era.
The discussion document titled "National Youth Convention: Base Document"
has been developed for discussion by all youth development stakeholders towards
the National Youth Convention scheduled to take place on 5 to 8 June 2006. The
Convention will be part of the activities to commemorate and celebrate the 30th
Anniversary of the Soweto Uprisings.
The study acknowledges a number of strides made in the form of setting up
youth development institutions such as the National Youth Commission,
Provincial Youth Commissions as well as other programmatic interventions such
as Umsobomvu Youth Fund.
However, there remain notable shortcomings in as far as promoting integrated
seamless implementation of youth development programmes. The following are some
of the shortcomings of the current state of youth development:
* lack of synergy between policy development and implementation
* while the National Youth Development Policy Framework provides for the NYC to
monitor youth development, there is no provision for recourse in case certain
implementing agencies fail to comply.
In the light of the above concerns, and also informed by the findings of the
Ten Year Review Report of Government, the research findings propose that a
"one-stop shop" Youth Development Agency (YDA) be set up as an institutional
response to the implementation of Youth Policy in South Africa.
The YDA would among its responsibilities ensure the following:
* Combine within itself the functions of policy making and interventions,
funding and implementation of programmes as well as monitoring
* Collapsing the functions of the NYC and UYF to constitute such a youth
development agency to bridge the gap between policy development and
implementation.
* The YDA should seamlessly cut across all spheres of government to pursue
common youth development policies and thus be the key in driving an Integrated
Youth Development Strategy.
* The YDA would provide a framework to massively and urgently respond to the
high incidences of youth unemployment through the implementation of the
National Youth Service Programme, Youth Learnerships, Expanded Public Works
Programme and other national development initiatives.
* The YDA must lead on skills development strategy implementation in order to
empower youth with skills relevant to the economy. It must provide active
interaction with institutions of higher learning, Further education and
Training Colleges (FETs), the Department of Education, the Department of
Labour, the private sector and all other stakeholders in the education and
skills development of our youth.
* The YDA would lead on building a patriotic South Africa that also embraces a
Pan-African solidarity perspective as well as solidarity globally on issues of
governance and multilateralism.
The study fully acknowledges that the democratic dispensation has done a lot
in terms of promoting youth development. However, challenges still remain on
the development of an integrated approach that promotes a seamless integrated
youth development and implementation approach. Also arising out of the study is
the absence of clear monitoring and evaluation tools to assess the impact of
programmes implemented to advance the youth development course.
The discussion document is meant to stimulate debate among youth development
stakeholders, including all spheres of government and civil society structures.
It is hoped that the document would lay a firm foundation for the development
and adoption of an Integrated Sustainable Youth Development Strategy during the
National Youth Convention in June 2006.
For comments:
Monde Mkalipi
Cell: 082 575 3976
Issued by: National Youth Commission
14 May 2006
