16 Nov 2014

Youth development and empowerment is one of the priority areas for government in its drive to reduce youth unemployment and poverty.

Giving the State-of-the Nation Address at the first session of the 11th Parliament, President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama said key areas of focus included information and communication technology, life skills development, mentorship, behaviour change, and character building in collaboration with different stakeholders. 

Gen. Khama said in the past, government’s attention was on the introduction of a new component under the Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) in the form of Tirelo Setshaba meant to engage youth in meaningful community development programmes, while giving them the needed work experience. 

He said the Botswana National Service Programme or new Tirelo Setshaba was launched in April 2014, and to date, 11,200 young people have enrolled in the programme. 

President Khama said government was also continuing with the National Internship Programme as a platform for skills transfer and development, adding that as of April 2014, there were 4,228 Interns enrolled in the programme. 

He said the Youth Development Fund was yet another component of YES aimed at supporting young entrepreneurs with financing for their business ideas.

He said during the 2013/14 financial year, 1,111 projects were funded to the tune of P 99 million, creating employment opportunities for youth, adding that government continued to monitor progress on youth mainstreaming through officers seconded to different Ministries. 

President Khama said reports indicated that the 2013/14 financial year also saw 592 young people being funded to the value of P 6.9 million under the LIMID programme; 2,024 plots have been allocated to the youth; and 9,794 youth freelancers were engaged.

Government, he said continued to engage youth companies and individuals with vocational skills in construction maintenance and rehabilitation of facilities. 

These youth companies benefit under the 15 per-cent maintenance reservation programme. 

He said since the programme started in 2009 to-date, maintenance tenders worth P 105 million had been awarded country wide to 171 youth-owned contractors and 177 individuals with vocational skills in the construction industry.

President Khama further said since 2013 the private sector had also participated in engaging youth companies, adding that the department of Building and Engineering Services maintained an updated database of Youth Construction Companies, while efforts to encourage others to engage Youth owned companies were bearing fruit. 

He said in in recognition of the youth as a valuable resource for development, BITRI was in the process of setting up ICT centres to engage interns to equip them with various skills for self-employment. ENDS