Programme Director
Chairperson of Dream for Life Africa, Mr Sibusiso Sgwane Advisory Board Members, Prof Chris Landsberg and Mr Chris Maroleng Head of Financial Consulting at Standard Bank, Ms Angela Mhlanga Chief Financial Officer at NYDA, Mr Wassim Carrim Board of Trustees at Dream for Life Africa Mentors Youth Leaders Ladies and Gentlemen
It is indeed a pleasure and privilege to address the Dream for Life Africa Opening Function today. I must confess that I had not heard of Dream for Life Africa until I received correspondence from the organisation. From receiving your correspondence and a briefing on what the organisation does, I got excited about attending this event. Your mission of “imparting knowledge and guidance to young people and children to instil hope, self-belief and discipline in them to achieve their full potential regardless of the odds against them” is at the very heart of the youth development agenda.
Your activities and events on mentorship, career guidance, entrepreneurial development, leadership development and information sharing speak to the relevance of the organisation in addressing the needs of our young men and women.
I am always thrilled when I see young people organising themselves and giving off themselves for the greater good. Dream for Life Africa is an organisation of young volunteers who have chosen to put their hands to the plough and contribute positively to the development of their communities and country.
As young people, you could have sat back and taken on the role of an armchair critic. You could bemoan everything that is going wrong in our country and theorised about how to make things right. As young people, there are many competing interests for your attention and time. You could be at the movies, playing sport and engaging in all kinds of recreational activities. Or you could just be hanging out, doing nothing with your time.
But instead you chose to be a volunteer with a youth organisation that is engaged in valuable youth and community development work. In doing so, you refused to be an arm chair critic that is stuck in the negative. Instead you chose to be part of the solution. You believed that it is more valuable for you to get your hands dirty by organising and implementing valuable youth development activities that will benefit other young people. You chose to be selfless by giving of your time to be a volunteer. And in doing so, you chose to hang out with other young people who can benefit from your mentorship to them.
This is admirable. As the Deputy Minister in The Presidency responsible for youth development, I am often confronted by well-meaning people who lament about youth being apathetic, self-seeking and having an attitude of entitlement. The next time this happens, I am going to point them to the volunteers at Dream for Life Africa. Your story is one that goes against the current narrative.
I am going to keep my comments short so that we can spend the bulk of our time together engaging each other rather than me talking at you.
Let me relate two stories:
A young Nokhanya sees the development needs in her community. She sees few spaces for youth to sing and dance and express their artistic creativity. And so she joins a community organisation as a volunteer. She volunteers her time to teach dance and the creative arts. Soon other young people are attracted to her activities and join in to find opportunities to express their creative talent. There is an explosion of artistic talent and expression in their community as a result of the voluntary activities that Nokhanya’s organises. In the process Nokhanya learns valuable skills. She learns how to lead a team of volunteers. She learns how to communicate with the young people that she mentors through dance and the creative arts. She learns how to plan activities and to raise funds. She learns how to advocate for the needs of youth in her community. Her voluntarism becomes a laboratory for leadership development.
Gregory laments the conflict in his community. He sees too many young people like himself succumb to joining gangs. He sees the potential of his peers waste away. So he joins a community youth organisation so that he can volunteer his time to teach sports.
Soon Gregory is spending much of his time coaching, training, organising sports events and inspiring the youth who come to these events. Youth in his community show interest in his events with more and more young people signing up. These young people want to belong to something positive. These young people want to channel their frustrations and the sports field becomes their outlet. And over time Gregory sees young people slowly turn away from gangs because his voluntary sports activities provides a safe and supportive space. A space where young people can learn new skills and find constructive ways to deal with conflict. These young people begin to relate better to their parents and older community members. Inter-generational dialogue starts to take place. Social cohesion is beginning to take root in this community.
Nokhanya and Gregory learn some important lessons from their voluntary efforts. They learn that volunteering is not just about helping. They had that mind-set when they started volunteering. But soon they learned that volunteering impacts the socio-economic development of our country. They learn that volunteering positively impacts on the health of our democracy. They learn more about the communities in which they come from and the people that live in these communities.
They discover that volunteering has the potential to fight stigma and inequality. They discover that volunteering can break down social divisions. They discover that volunteering can provide young people, like themselves, with new skills, networks and confidence in their search for employment. But perhaps their greatest discovery is that volunteering is a really cool thing to do.
The research on volunteering tells us that:
- Through volunteering, young people become active development agents within their communities.
- Young volunteers gain the admiration of their communities. Young volunteers help to broaden public awareness of volunteering and civic service. Volunteer programmes equip young people with new skills. Volunteering exposes youth to different situations and contexts that broaden their worldview and challenge them to deal with matters in an open-minded fashion.
- Volunteer programmes help youth to consider opportunities for further learning and new career directions
So I urge you as young people to continue volunteering. You may not recognise it, but you are responding to the National Development Plan 2030. Through your volunteer community development efforts, you are the “active citizenry” that the NDP 2030 calls for. For those that are considering volunteering, I urge you to sign up with Dream for Life Africa immediately.
I have been asked to talk briefly about the National Youth Policy 2020. As you would know, we have concluded the consultation phase. We embarked on extensive consultations with young people because the NYP 2020 is about young people. So nothing for them without them.
The five key priorities of the NYP 2020 are:
- enabling economic participation and transformation
- facilitating education, skills development and second chances (quality and access)
- health care and combating substance abuse
- facilitating nation building and social cohesion
- optimising the youth development machinery
The policy proposals within the NYP 2020 are thoroughly aligned with the NDP 2030 and the declarations within the Freedom Charter.
The NYP 2020 proposes an expansion of second chance opportunities for young people to acquire basic education as a stepping stone for decent work and sustainable livelihoods. There are policy proposals on a mass youth entrepreneurship programme including training young people in skills relevant to agriculture and agro-processing. These proposals are aimed at growing the economy and stimulating entrepreneurship. The NYP 2020 also includes policy proposals for expanding recreational facilities and diversion programmes including more centres for drug prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. There are policy proposals for better coordination and implementation of National Youth Service as well as fostering youth leadership for active citizenry.
The NYP 2020 also includes policy proposals for optimising governments youth development machinery for effective delivery and responsiveness as part of the overall effort of developing a capable and developmental state. I have highlighted just a few NYP 2020 policy proposals. I encourage you to read the National Youth Policy 2020.
The draft NYP 2020 is with the respective cabinet committees for discussions and decision and subsequently be submitted to cabinet for approval. We expect the NYP2020 to be finalised in June 2015. We are also developing the Integrated Youth Development Strategy. This strategy document will give practical expression to the implementation of the NYP 2020.
The NYP 2020 is not only about what government should do regarding youth development. It calls for a partnership with business, labour and civil society. So I appeal to Dream for Life Africa to develop and align your programmes and events to the NYP 2020. In this way we ensure that there is a determined effort from all stakeholders to address the priority areas within the policy.
I also appeal to Dream for Life Africa to use its civil society voice by holding government accountable for the implementation of the NYP 2020. A policy document, irrespective of how well it is crafted and consulted on, is not worth the paper it is written on if the policy is not effectively implemented and monitored. Strong and effective implementation and monitoring will help us learn lessons so that we can do things better.
Finally, let me reiterate my excitement about being here with you. I recognise the value of young people organising themselves into structures like Dream for Life Africa. I recognise the value of youth mobilising themselves for voluntary community service. I recognise the value of voluntarism as a key contributor towards our national development goals. I recognise the value of voluntarism in bringing new skills, expanding networks and developing agency for youth. I recognise the value of voluntarism in developing youth leadership for active citizenry.
And I can see all these values connecting right here in the work that Dream for Life Africa and its volunteers do.
We applaud your efforts. Keep going strong. We are here to support you.
I look forward to our engagement.
I thank you.
