Momentum in war to create sustainable job opportunities in the countryside
The Minister for Rural Development and Land Reform, Mr Gugile Nkwinti, together with MECs responsible for rural development in the provinces, considered and took several major decisions at yesterday’s MINMEC meeting, on issues ranging from bringing social and economic development to 160 rural wards throughout the country, jobs creation for rural youths to the speeding up of effective land reform as a lever for social and economic development in the country.
The MINMEC meeting, constituted by the Minister Nkwinti and MECS responsible for rural development, took place yesterday in Ekurhuleni, West Rand.The meeting agreed on modalities for the effective implementation and management of the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) in rural wards, strategies to create sustainable, quality jobs linked to skills development for youths in rural areas and strategies to deal with challenges facing land reform.
To rollout the CRDP sites to 160 rural wards by 2014, the meeting agreed on a CRDP management model, which amongst others, spelt out the different roles for the Rural Development and Land Reform Ministry, the Premiers’ Offices, the MECs, the District and Municipality Mayors as well as the role of the community members and the civil society in the rural areas.
Whilst the Ministry will be responsible for CRDP programme development, policy and legislation development, coordination and setting norms and standards, the provinces will be responsible for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the CRDP with the Premiers being the CRDP champion at provincial level.The Districts on the other hand, will be responsible for the actual implementation of the CRDP at ground level.
The meeting furthermore agreed that MINMEC meetings should be held quarterly and one of the key functions of MINMEC should be to evaluate progress on the implementation of the CRDP and assess whether it is meeting its objective of creating sustainable, equitable and vibrant rural communities.
Provincial Coordinating Forums, be constituted by District Mayors, Heads of Departments (HoDs) and be chaired by the MECs, should be established and meet once every two months for evaluating district reports, which are to be consolidated into provincial reports.
At the district level, District Implementation Forums, constituted by Municipal Managers, Ward representatives and representatives from Council of Stakeholders and chaired by District Mayors will also meet once in two months, to look specifically at the implementation and coordination of the CRDP at local level.
The MINMEC was also updated on the National Rural Youth Service Corps (NARYSEC), a flagship project designed to play a key role towards the creation of 500 000 job opportunities in the rural areas. To date, the less than two years old NARYSEC programme has already enrolled 7 956 rural youths into a two-year character building (which includes discipline, patriotism, life skills, rights awareness) and skills development programme.From April, the programme will be expanded to increase its intake from the current four youths per ward to six youths per ward.
“One of the outcomes we want to achieve with NARYSEC is character development – the partnership with the military is a strategic one, as the military is one of the few institutions we have were discipline is instilled and enforced. Five hundred (500) of the NAARYSEC recruits were sent to De Brug military base in Bloemfontein, and for seven weeks these youths were exposed to character building, discipline and civic duty.Only two recruits dropped out of the programme – one indicating he has to go home to look after his sick grandmother whilst the other indicated he had subsequently been offered a job opportunity” the Minister informed the MINMEC meeting.
“For seven weeks, these young people were going to church, were not indulging in alcohol or drugs. We may take these things for granted, but its importance and impact for me eloquently illustrated by one of the NARYSEC youths who requested not to be deplored to his community but somewhere else, as he had been involved in gangsterism in his hometown and does not want to go back to that life again” Minister Nkwinti reflected.
Besides the soft skills, NARYSEC recruits, who supposed to be from rural wards and minimum requirements is Grade 10, also receive hard skills training – for careers as bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, roofers, welders, etc. Throughout the two years' intensive training, recruits get a stipend of R1 320 per month.
Community service is central to NARYSEC and the “graduates” are expected to play a very critical role in the rollout of the CRDP in rural wards and this will encompass undertaking household profiling, construction of houses and other infrastructure in rural areas as well as mitigating disasters in the rural areas.
The 500 NARYSEC recruits who recently underwent the seven weeks training at De Brug are expected to undergo a household profiling training until 30 June 2011 whilst training in trades will take place from 1 July 2011 until 15 December 2011 and the allocation of NARYSEC participants to specific projects is scheduled for 15 December 2011.
In terms of the mitigation of rural disasters, 200 NARYSEC participants are to be trained as environmental monitors.These recruits, with geography and maths, will be undergo training in environmental assessment training, understanding weather patterns and climate change, GPS training, introduction to environmental management (including environmental data collection), disaster management (including flood management), first aid and fire wise training.
With regards to land reform, MINMEC deliberated on the Community Property Associations (CPAs) and its execution of its mandate in holding land on behalf of the community as well as the impact of land accumulation by dispossession and what its impact is on the conditions for successful development.How land reform can be a radical and rapid move from the past without impacting on agricultural production?
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Mr Eddie Mohoebi, Head of Communications
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