South Africa has an abundance of empowered and informed women who are making their mark in various industries. However, the opposite side of the coin is that there are young women who do not allow themselves to dream big because they believe that they are inferior to the opposite sex.
With the aim of inspiring and uplifting young women, the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) will launch the Young Women Development Programme on the 6 August 2010, an on-going developmental programme that will enable women who have excelled in different platforms to motivate young women to strive for excellence. Minister Angie Motshekga will deliver a message of support at the launch. Running under the theme “Let’s work together: lift up as you are climbing,” the programme is aimed at imparting soft skills and coordinating sustainable programmes for young women such as, mentorship, skills development and transfer, counselling, life skills, entrepreneurial exposure, peer education and dissemination of information through network.
“We also want to work with other organisations that are advocating women development and rights such as, the Department of Women, Children and persons with disabilities, The Young South African Women in Dialogue, the Women National Coalition and the South African Women Entrepreneurs Network. We hope that this initiative will give young women a voice, particularly those that are based in rural areas, so that they can share their experiences and challenges on issues that pertain to their livelihoods and development,” says Andile Lungisa, the NYDA Chairperson.
According to Lungisa because the NYDA recognises that young women are assets and active agents for change who can contribute their energy, idealism and insights to the country and their communities’ growth and progress, the various NYDA programmes and services each have targets with regards to the number of young women that must benefit.
“The minimum percentage of women that must benefit from our programmes and services is 50% and it goes as high as 60% for our enterprise finance and business development services programmes. We want to encourage young women to shed off any label that says they are inferior, no young woman should ever see a man as their ticket to success,” concludes Lungisa. In commemorating women’s month the NYDA will undertake the following activities:
- Launch of NYDA Young Women Development Programme on 6 August 2010 in Pretoria.
- Young Women Seminars on Job preparedness and Mentorship Training. In each seminar 250 young women will be trained and mentored.
- 14 August 2010 in Karoo Park, Recreational Club Beaufort West, Western Cape.
- 21 August 2010 in Kuruman, Ga-Sekgonyela Municipal Hall, Northern Cape.
- A one day seminar on “Introducing young women to the world of Diplomacy.”
In partnership with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation the seminar will introduce young women to the world of diplomacy and create awareness.
