Programme Director,
Mayor of Ekurhuleni, Councillor Mr Mondli Gungubele,
CEO of the National Youth Development Agency, Mr Steven Ngubeni
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.
I am glad to announce the launch of the Disability and Information Communications and Technology (ICT) Strategy as well as Youth and ICT Strategy. 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 our most under-utilised sectors of our society, our youth and our disabled.
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 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. It is through working together that we are able to find solutions to our common problems. No one said that the road to freedom would be without bumps.
South Africa is a youthful country and cannot afford to have its young people not to be active participators and contributors to the economy in particular to the ICT sector. As ICTs provides an ideal catalyst to create an enabling environment for economic activities to take place, to involve young people in all facets of ICTs will not only ensure that young people participate in the economy, not only as consumers, but, also as producers and active players in the industry.
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 Organisation (DPOs) were consulted in drawing up this strategy.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Department of Communications (DoC) has worked tirelessly to lay a solid foundation to create an accessible and vibrant ICT (information Communication Technology) 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 which in turn creates 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 to most importantly bridge the digital divide with regard to access to broadcasting.
Distinguished Guests
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 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.
The Development of Sector Specific Strategies on Youth Development and Disability Mainstreaming in ICT Strategies as part of the implementation of the National Policy Frameworks to improve the coordination of our National Interventions on the needs of our young people and the accessibility requirements for persons with disabilities
- Annual participation on sector specific events including honouring the international and national days on Youth and persons with Disabilities through ICT related activities such the Youth and ICT Expos and the ICT Accessibility Symposiums.
- International commitments in the arena ICTs, specifically Multi-Lateral institutions, including the International Telecommunications (ITU) development structures with focus on issues of accessibility and the involvement of the young as part of capacitating our youth and exposing them development opportunities in the ICT sector.
- The implementation of the National Youth Service Program (NYS) e- Cadre Program since 2007 in partnership with fifteen (15) FET Colleges where more than 1000 young people from across the country has received end user computing training 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 and I pleased to say thank you to all stakeholders who participated during these consultative process as a demonstration of their support for ensuring access to ICTs by young people and persons with disabilities.
This year’s theme: of the Disability Awareness Month “removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all”
Is very appropriate as is referring to and accessible society and ICTs is the great equaliser for persons with disabilities as access to ICTs such mobile technologies enables disabled people to have access to banking, information and entertainment without having to face 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, the first ground breaking Treaty on Disability, which came into effect on 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 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: on Freedom of Expression, Opinion and Access to Information and Communication Technologies.
Ladies and gentlemen
This is not to create a one sided lecture on the need to build a caring society, but as we all might be aware of the World Summit on Information Society hosted where a Declaration of Principles were adopted in Geneva 2003, and Tunisia 2005 Resolutions 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 should as collective leadership in the country make every effort to ensure there is significant progress in the implementation of targeted initiatives specifically on combating the unemployment of persons with disabilities.
To achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) we would need to ensure that support to young people especially those at school are put in place through ensuring access to education and more specifically access to studying in the fields of Science and Technology hence the Youth Development and ICT Strategy has a strong focus on ICT Skills Development and Student Support.
I am proud and happy to thank the contributions from all stakeholders in the laying down of the foundation for a more coordinated response to tackling the challenges ahead and hereby wish to make an impassioned plea to all our stakeholders including SoEs to lend their support in the collective efforts to implement the strategies as informed by the relevant legislative frameworks to achieve target of employment for persons with disabilities, broadening of participation in the economy by young persons.
In this regard, Government has set a 2% target for the employment of persons with disabilities and I am confident that together with service delivery arms of the state, we can achieve this target for the ICT sector.
Distinguished Guest
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 strategies seeks to:
- Institutionalise mainstreaming of Youth of Disability interventions in the work of the Department, SoEs and the broader ICT sector through the appointment of Focal Points on each for these matters in all SoEs.
- Establishment the ICT Accessibility Forum where stakeholders can debate issues of concern relating to disability and youth responsive interventions
- Promotion of social cohesion through efficient use of ICTs.
- Support the development of SMMEs owned by young people
- Promoting self-representation by structures and disabled peoples organisations (DPOs) on matters affecting them including on key policy aspects
- Capacity building for stakeholders and laying important frameworks for economic empowerment of target groups
- Institutionalising 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 involvement of all stakeholders to promote the common principles of Universal Access, Universal Design that is the basis for the implementation for the Disability and ICT strategy.
We are guided in this regard by informed legislations in the process for example; Section 9 of our Constitution guarantees the rights to all citizens, freedom from discrimination on a number of social criteria including disability. Of course, internationally, most countries including African countries around the globe have similar provisions in their legislations.
I therefore want to highlight the fact that the rights of all people, including persons disabilities are vital including the right to access to information and communication. Within the ICT sector the major challenge facing people with disabilities is the access ICT in accessible formats, these include ICTs 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, 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 us all as stakeholders to collectively work towards increasing access to these technologies by persons with disabilities.
Ladies and gentlemen
The biggest challenge face by young people in the ICT sector is access to sustainable employment opportunities and hence the Youth Development and ICT Strategy has a string focus on Youth Employment through ICTs and in this regard we would need support from our State Owned Enterprises such as NEMISA, SAPO and the SABC to assist with proving bursaries to young people to study in the ICT field as well as to provide internship opportunities for the young people after completing 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.
I Thank you.
