National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) announces Provincial Advisory board members

13 Oct 2010

Following an intensive process of interviewing and appointing Provincial Advisory Board (PAB) members, the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), officially announced the names of young people who will serve in the PAB in all the nine provinces. The 63 young people coming from the length and breadth of the country were nominated through a public nomination process that began in February this year. Calls for nominations were opened to individual, organisations, institutions and civil society for suitable persons to be appointed to the PABs.

“We undertook this process in-line with our mandate of mainstreaming youth development in the country. It is important that as an institution charged with the important and critical responsibility of youth development throughout the country, we must create a unitary structure from national to provincial level,” says NYDA Executive Chairperson Andile Lungisa.

In June this year, President Jacob Zuma made a clarion call to the NYDA to prioritise the establishment of the Provincial Advisory Boards to ensure the NYDA presence at provincial level. The PABs will consist of seven members per province and will act on an advisory capacity to the NYDA board of directors on matters pertaining to youth development. They will advise the NYDA board on provincial priority programmes in respect of youth development, promote a standard approach by government departments, private sector and non-governmental organisations on youth development issues in the various provinces.

As such the NYDA is urging all Premiers and Provincial Governments to give their full support to the PAB to ensure that they are able to function optimally. “We are urging Premiers and their respective provincial governments to support the Provincial Advisory Boards to ensure that the process of mainstreaming youth development at provincial level is given true meaning. We are certain that with their support, youth development will be prioritised in-line with various provincial departmental plans,” says Lungisa. He adds that the support will ensure that young people access meaningful jobs and economic opportunities thus contribute to economic development in their communities and the country.

“As we continue to undertake the responsibility of advancing the aspirations of young South Africans, we call on all sectors of our society to join hands in making a difference by making meaningful investments in the youth of our country,” concludes Lungisa.

Provincial advisory board members:

Eastern Cape