AN organisation at the forefront of youth development has hailed brands that are doing well
emakasi and asked them to do more.
The National Youth Development Agency’s (NYDA) senior manager for
programme design and Development, Siyabonga Mbambo, talked about all the work the agency has done and that more needed to be done.
“We have partners in areas of mutual interest like job placement,
entrepreneurship development, career guidance mentorship and many more,” he said.
But areas that need more focus and where various brands in SA could play a key role include:
, Economic participation by entrepreneurship development.
, Education and skills development.
, Health and wellbeing – discouraging underage drinking and helping distri-bute sanitary towels at schools .
, Career guidance.
, Job placements.
He said there were major programmes aimed at developing young people for this financial year, including:
, Providing 629 grants to youth-owned enterprises.
, Offering 56 329 aspiring and
established entrepreneurs with business development support services.
, Implementing nine community
projects targeting young people through the grant funding programmes.
, Creating 3 176 jobs for young people.
“We’ve set aside a budget of R64 033 000 for these activities,” he said.
In education and skills development, they plan to:
, Enrol 4 043 young people on the 2nd Chance Matric Rewrite programme.
, Support 440 young people through the Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund.
, Reach 889 350 young people through career guidance programmes.
, Train 500 young people via a technical skills-training programme.
, “Through the jobs programme, we’ll train 61 205 youngsters to be job-ready and in life skills.
“We’ve set aside R74 290 000 for these activities,” said Mbambo.
An additional R1 447 000 has been budgeted by the NYDA.
