Pretoria - Youth development remains a priority for government, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Wednesday.
As an entity of government, the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) monitors and evaluates youth development with an interdepartmental committee on youth.
“The NYDA also works with municipalities to mainstream youth development at a local level. It is through these structures that the NYDA is able to track progress on the development and implementation of appropriate strategies and programmes that target youth employment,” Motlanthe said.
He was responding to questions posed by various MPs in the National Council of Provinces.
June is declared as a Youth Month in South Africa and government, together with the NYDA, has announced a series of youth-focused activities to commemorate the month.
Motlanthe said each province will use the proposed comprehensive national monitoring and evaluation framework as a guide to compile a province specific youth development index.
He said the implementation of the Youth Employment Accord will be enhanced through the development of an implementation plan that is currently being crafted by a multi-stakeholder team led by the Department of Economic Development.
Provinces and municipalities had already submitted their input into the Plan.
As part of the Youth Month activities, the NYDA and the South African Youth Council will popularise the Youth Development Accord in all provinces.
Furthermore the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, in consultation with the NYDA is in the process of developing an instrument which will be used to monitor the implementation of youth programmes including the Youth Employment Accord. This will be done across various sectors in all spheres of government.
Motlanthe said the National Skills Development Strategy recognised that all South Africans, including youth must be given access to skills development.
“This policy directs and guides the programmes of Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) to ensure that young people have access to education and training.
“The recently introduced improved Grant Regulations will ensure that SETAs allocate funding towards structured workplace… These regulations aim to incentivize employers to enroll young graduates for experiential learning."
In terms of the Service Level Agreements with the Department of Higher Education, and Training, SETAs are obligated to deliver on various learning programmes which include the provision of bursaries, learnerships, internships and the placement of University of Technology students and FET colleges’ graduates requiring work place experience. – SAnews.gov.za
